Performing an in-place upgrade
In this section, we will look at the in-place upgrade method. An in-place upgrade is also known as an upgrade. For example, you may have several Windows 7 desktops or laptops and you want to upgrade these desktop machines to Windows 10.
During an in-place upgrade, all user applications, hardware device settings, data, files, and other configuration information are retained. An in-place upgrade consists of four phases that occur throughout the upgrade process:
- System check
- Installing Windows 10 with Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE)
- First startup
- Installing the OS and a second startup
Important Note
During the upgrade installation, you can rollback in any of these four phases. However, always back up any important data before doing the upgrade.
You can upgrade any Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 edition to a Windows 10 edition. If you want to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10, then you must install the Windows 8.1 update.
The following table shows some of the upgrade paths to Windows 10:
Table 2.1 - Upgrade paths to Windows 10
In the preceding table, you can see which upgrade paths are supported for Windows 10. For example, Windows 8.1 Pro can seamlessly upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise.
Selecting the right tools for upgrading
You can use different tools to perform an in-place upgrade. In this section, we will choose the appropriate method for this and highlight a few of them.
The following diagram shows four of the different methods that are available for carrying out an in-place upgrade:
Figure 2.1 - Windows 10 upgrade options
We'll look at the four methods shown in the preceding diagram, one by one, in the following sections. This will allow us to understand why one method may be more suitable than another in certain projects.
Understanding the High-touch deployment method
This type of deployment strategy is time-consuming. However, it can be ideal for small organizations with less than 100 computers and no IT staff. For this, you need to go to each computer and manually start the Windows 10 installation from a Digital Video Disc (DVD) or Universal Serial Bus (USB), which requires you to provide an answer for each prompt during the setup stage.
Learning about the lite-touch deployment method
This type of deployment strategy is ideal for medium-sized organizations with between 200 and 500 computers. In most cases, this deployment type uses the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) in combination with Windows Deployment Services (WDS). MDT automates most of the installation of Windows 10 together with installing applications, device drivers, and updates.
Important Note
Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) must be installed on the MDT server before you can install the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit.
Understanding the Zero-touch deployment method
This type of deployment strategy is ideal for large organizations with more than 500 computers. This strategy uses the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) in combination with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) for a more streamlined and fully automated deployment without any user intervention. In some organizations, you will see that they have SCCM without MDT. That also works perfectly because many options that you can configure in MDT can also be configured in SCCM with Task Sequences.
Learning about provisioning packages
With the Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD) tool, you can create provisioning packages, which you can use to deploy to computers via email, network share, or removable media.
These packages modify a Windows 10 installation and configure it without reinstalling the Windows OS. This type of provisioning eases the installation process and helps reduce the costs of deploying Windows 10 installations.
You can install the Windows ICD tool from the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK). The following screenshot shows the Windows Configuration Designer application, along with an example setting that can be changed:
Figure 2.2 - Windows Configuration Designer
In the preceding example application, we can see that we set the EnableCortanaVoice setting to True. Provisioning packages contain many rules for customizing a Windows 10 installation. These include the following:
- Change edition upgrade
- Configure settings (such as computer name, domain, local users, Start Menu customization, and so on)
- Add or remove Universal Apps
- Deploy drivers, applications, and execute scripts
- Configure VPN and/or Wi-Fi profiles
In this section, you learned about the different tools you can use to do an in-place upgrade. Choose the right solution for your organization to save time and effort. In the next section, we will take a closer look at why you should do an in-place upgrade or a migration scenario.
Learning about High-touch in-place upgrades
Since there are several in-place upgrade methods, we will look at this topic as a step-by-step guide to performing a High-touch in-place upgrade. Before you do the in-place upgrade on any computer, the recommendation is to create a backup first, before proceeding with the upgrade. In this example, we have a running Windows 8.1 Enterprise edition and we will do an in-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise edition:
- Run the setup.exe program from the root of the Windows 10 installation media:
Figure 2.3 - Opening Windows installation media
- On the User Account Control window, click Yes to allow the program to make changes:
Figure 2.4 - User Account Control window
- Then, on the Install Windows 10 page, click Next:
Figure 2.5 - Install Windows 10 screen
- On the Select Image page, choose the appropriate Windows 10 edition and click Next:
Figure 2.6 - Select Image screen
- On the Applicable notices and license terms page, click Accept:
Figure 2.7 - Accepting license terms screen
- Then, on the Ready to install page, adjust the Change what to keep setting so that it's relevant to you and click Install:
Figure 2.8 - Ready to install screen
The in-place upgrade will now start, and your computer will restart several times. This might take some time:
Figure 2.9 - Working on updates blue screen
After the setup is finished, you can log in with your account and proceed with finishing the upgrade.
- Now, on the Do more with your voice page, select the option of your choice and select Accept:
Figure 2.10 - Activating online speech recognition
- Then, on the Let Microsoft and apps use your location page, select the option of your choice and select Accept:
Figure 2.11 - Selecting to use your location
- After that, on the Find my device page, select the option of your choice and select Accept:
Figure 2.12 - Choosing to turn on the Find my device option
- Then, on the Send diagnostic data to Microsoft page, select the option of your choice and select Accept:
Figure 2.13 - Choosing to Send diagnostic data to Microsoft
- After that, on the Improve inking & typing page, select the option of your choice and select Accept:
Figure 2.14 - Choosing to send inking and typing data to Microsoft
- Then, on the Get tailored experiences with diagnostic data page, select the option of your choice and select Accept:
Figure 2.15 - Choosing to let Microsoft offer you more relevant tips
- After that, on the Let apps use advertising ID page, select the option of your choice and select Accept:
Figure 2.16 - Choosing to let apps use advertising ID
After the last step, you will see your desktop. With this, your computer has been successfully upgraded from Windows 8.1 Enterprise to Windows 10 Enterprise.
Choosing between an in-place upgrade and migration
In this (and the previous) section, you will learn about the difference between an in-place upgrade and a migration of Windows 10. Each upgrade project is a different upgrade, especially in larger organizations. The following tables show some of the advantages and disadvantages of the two scenarios for in-place upgrade:
Table 2.2 - In-place upgrade comparison
The in-place upgrade is the recommended way to move from an existing Windows OS to Windows 10. You perform an in-place upgrade when you want to retain all user applications, files, and settings. During an in-place upgrade, the installation program will do this automatically for you.
The following table shows the advantages and disadvantages of a migration scenario:
Table 2.3 - Migration comparison
You can perform a migration when you have a computer already running the Windows OS and you need to move files and settings to a new Windows 10-based computer. You can perform the migration as follows:
- Back up the user's settings and data.
- Perform a clean installation.
- Reinstall the necessary applications.
- Restore the user's settings and data.
Now, we will move on to the next section about configuring language packs.