Experience upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8 & 8.1

[tom592]

Hi,

I have a computer that has an OEM version of Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. I have many programs installed that are old but still work great and that i use everyday for work. One of them is Solidworks 2013 which is only supported for Windows 7 or 8.1. My version of windows 7 is on a Seagate 500GB 7200rpm hard drive that is working fine.

Given the end of support for Windows 7 I was hoping to upgrade to Windows 8.1. I found and purchased a legitimate copy of Windows 8 Pro upgrade which is supposed to allow me to upgrade from windows 7 and keep my windows settings, personal files and applications. I was assuming that the upgrade from Windows 8 to 8.1 is still available for free from Microsoft. Is this still true in 2019?

My questions is does anyone have experience with this upgrade and the best way to do it. I can't afford to be down for more than one weekend.

Is it best to clone my current hard drive to a new hard drive and then upgrade the clone, if this is possible? This way if something doesn't work I can boot from the original hard drive. I'm not sure of all the issues with this method?

Or if purchasing a full version of windows 8.1 Pro 64bit is the better option and installing on the new hard drive.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Kind regards

Tom

 

[samuria]

Welcome to the forum. All the upgrades normally go without a hitch. Do you know for a fact your software won't run on 10 it maybe they qouted 8.1 as that was current at the time. The thing being you can go from 7 straight to 10 and it's still free. I would create a image of your hard drive so you can role back if needed and download the free 10 ISO and go straight to 10

 

[tom592]

Solidworks 2013 Compatibility

Thanks for the reply.

I found out that Solidworks 2013 is only compatible with Windows 8 64 bit. It is not compatible with either Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. The preferred OS is Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.

I'm not sure how to proceed. Can I upgrade to Windows 8.1 and then run Solidworks 2013 in compatibility mode for Windows 7?

Maybe that's why I was thinking of cloning the hard drive just in case it doesn't work.

Thanks and best,

Tom

 

[Megahertz07]

What I don't understand is why you're downgrading from a Very Good Win 7 to a Win 8 that is a fiasco.
If you're concerned about the win 7 end of support, read this thread
How will everyone deal with Windows 7 EOL? (In less than a year now!)

 

[tom592]

Hi,

Thanks. My only reason is EOL support. Based on the links maybe its reasonable to keep the system usable for a few more years.

 

[townsbg]

I've considered going to 8.1 or 2012 R2 when 7 goes out of support and I am testing both. This question has been posed before. Why do you prefer Windows 7 over Windows 8.1 ?