UPDATE: Microsoft has officially announced upgrade paths of Windows 8. Windows XP, Vista and 7 users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 for just $39.99. Windows 8 Pro users will be able to addWindows Media Center for free using "Add features" option. Also a packaged DVD version of the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro will be available for $69.99 during a promotion which will run through January 31st, 2013.
We all are very well aware of Microsoft's upcoming OS Windows 8 which is expected to release to manufacturing (RTM) next month (July 2012) and should be available for public this fall.
Recently Microsoft announced SKU details of Windows 8. Windows 8 will be available in 3 editions: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Enterprise. More details about these editions can be found at following link:
Microsoft Announces Windows 8 SKUs
Now people are talking about the upgrade paths of Windows 8. Will they be able to upgrade from previous Windows versions specially from Windows XP and Windows Vista? If yes, will they be able to keep their installed programs, documents and settings?
No need to worry! Now we can answer all these questions. ZDNet has shared some important details of Windows 8 upgrade plans for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. These details were provided by Microsoft to a few selected partners.
So here are the upgrade paths for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7:
Windows 8 Upgrade Path for Windows 7:
Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic and Home Premium users will be able to upgrade to both Windows 8and Windows 8 Pro editions. They'll be able to keep their installed programs, document files and personalized settings.
Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate edition users will not be able to upgrade to Windows 8 basic edition. They'll be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro edition. They'll also be able to keep their installed programs, document files and personalized settings.
Windows 7 Professional and Enterprise edition users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Enterpriseedition. Again they'll also be able to keep their installed programs, document files and personalized settings.
Windows 8 Upgrade Path for Windows Vista:
Windows Vista users will also be able to upgrade to Windows 8. But they will not be able to keep their installed programs.
If you have Windows Vista without SP1, you'll only be able to keep your document files after upgrading to Windows 8.
Windows Vista with SP1 users will be able to keep their document files as well as their personalized system settings.
Windows 8 Upgrade Path for Windows XP:
Now let's talk about Windows XP. Good news for XP users. Windows XP users will also be able to upgrade to Windows 8 but they'll only be able to keep their document files after upgrading to Windows 8 similar to Windows Vista without SP1 users.
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Cross-architecture upgrade will not be allowed i.e. if you are using a 32-bit edition of previous Windows version, you'll not be able to upgrade to a 64-bit edition of Windows 8. You'll only be able to upgrade to a 32-bit edition of Windows 8 and vice versa.
According to a recent Microsoft press release, users who purchase Windows 7 PC between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013 will be able to purchase Windows 8 Pro edition for $14.99 only.
If you want to download or order Windows 8 DVD or if you want to upgrade your existing PC to Windows 8, check out following articles:
So which Windows version are you using atm? Will you upgrade to Windows 8 once its released by Microsoft and which edition of Windows 8 would you like to upgrade to? Feel free to share your views about this upgrade path...
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