Win 7 to 8

Hello
I was watching a tuorial and the person upgrading from Win 7 to 8 lost the bluetooth he bought with his pc and needs like I do.
Is there a way to buy back or regain use of the programs the upgrade from 7 to 8 will not allow? How do you get the needed bluetooth for example?
Thank you

 

Install the correct drivers and/or compatible software.

 

>>I assume you update your drivers before you attempt the installation, or do you stopp the installation when you are told which programs are not allowed?

 

No...update after the installation.

Honestly, a clean install is the way to go, but otherwise just update them after the upgrade.

 

Hello again
Do you mean that if I just do a clean install that I don't have to worry about the incompatibilities?
This is a note I wrote to a friend;

The following were not compatible with my Win 7 prior to the Win 8 upgrade;
1-dvds -does this mean I cannot play commercial videos but can still play my home dvds? How do I get get a codec for commercial dvds?

2-secure boot -I do not know how to rectify this -is this Bios?

3-screen resolution and snap I assume does not apply to my desktop
4-tv -I do not want
5-MSE -I can use Win 8 Defender in its place, I think
6-Avisynth2.5 - I can reinstall but do not know where to get it

If you could briefly point me in the right direction I would be very grateful; especially the first two.
I wonder if these can be done after upgrading?
Thank you
Peter

 

Let me try and address these individually.

1. Windows 8 cannot play DVD movies out of the box. You have to either purchase a Media Center Edition key (MCE), or use a third party solution. There are rumors that if you had MCE in Windows 7, upgrading keeps DVD compatibility. I cannot verify that.

2. Secure boot doesn't matter to most people. I won't go into the specifics, but your machine is not required to support it. In other words, don't worry about it.

3. These apply to the video drivers and Windows 7 only features. They may have to be reinstalled with Windows 8 versions.

4. Comes with MCE. See # 2.

5. Windows Defender replaces it for malware and antivirus, correct.

6. I couldn't tell you either.

These issues will need to be addressed whether you upgrade or clean install. I just recommend clean installs because less problems occur usually.

 

I bought 2 nice Dells with good stuff in them like Intel i5, 1T, 6Gb etc b/c historically if you had good firmware you could upgrade to a new OS rather than buy a new pc. Well it seems neither has the secure boot caability in them never mind turned off so I cannot install Win 8 no matter what.
The Chrome notebook is looking pretty good.

I do appreciate your help. , I'm just pssd at M$ for their proprietary bs.

 

You don't need secure boot to install Windows 8. Windows 8 will use secure boot if its there, but does not require it.

 

Have to agree with Adrynalyne peter - it's far less hassle going for a clean install. The issues you are running into are all arising as a result of trying to upgrade 7 to 8.

My advice would be to start again with a clean install on one of your machines and take your time trying to find your way through 8 as it's a pretty steep learning curve. I would also advise reverting your other machine to 7 with Acronis so you have a working system that you are familiar with.

Once you start to feel your way in 8 you can start addressing the gaps in your software. If you have the Pro version of 8 you can, for a while, get Media Center for free (this is what you need for your DVDs).

 

Hi B
Apparently my naivete is causing a problem here. Are you saying that my machines will accept Win 8 if I choose a clean install?
I do not have secure boot and thought for that reason i could not install Win 8It sound as though I cannot upgrade.

How can I go about this clean install instead of a clean upgrade. Can I take advantage of the $40 Pro version or do I have to buy retail Win 8?
I installed Win 7 cd from scratch so could probably do so with Win 8.
This is news to me as I thought the incompatibility with secure boot disallowed my machines from using Win 8.
I wouldd like to have a disc for furure reinstallations so how do I do this/?
Peter

 

>>I read that Win 8 will reject the installation if the pc does not have secure boot!

 

>>This is what I am reading,"This means your system is not using a UEFI BIOS that supports Secure Boot. Your system in theory could be using UEFI and simply using a revision that doesn't support it. If thats the case you have no other option but to wait on Dell to release an update."

 

That sounds like a bunch of hogwash because Windows 8 supports MBR. I don't think my desktop supports the required UEFI standard, and yet I am typing this in Windows 8.

It will complain about secure boot, but it is not a hard block. In other words, it is telling you secure boot won't work, which for all intents and purposes doesn't matter to you anyway.

If you get an error during install, that is something we can probably work with. At some point you need to decide whether to take a leap and try it or not.

Just make sure you backup your data first.

 

You are reading too much into the results from the upgrade advisor peter. I've just run it and it only says you won't be able to use Secure Boot, it does not say that you can't install Win 8 because your firmware doesn't support it. The DVDs question is easily resolved as with the Pro version you can download Media Center for free and install it.

You would perform a clean install (or an upgrade install) by downloading the Win 8 iso, burning it to DVD and then booting to your DVD.

Stop worrying and just get on with it - it will work just fine.

 

Thank you both or your very helpful advice.
Sorry to be a bit of a pain but when you need answers sometimes you get too many on the web. You simplified that. I have Ashampoo for my MP4 files but maybe IMGBURN is better for this?

 

>>I am ready for a clean install. Where do i go to begin this?

 

You just insert your Win 8 DVD and reboot. You will be asked a few questions, including to which partition if the drive is partitioned, and whether you want to keep your files or not. For a clean install you don't want to keep anything so just make sure everything you need has been separately backed up or you will never see it again. The installation itself is completely automatic.

Are you converting one of your laptops to Win 8 or setting up a 7 and 8 dual boot? The latter is preferable.

 

I was told partitioning for 7 and 8 is not good as the drivers get confused. They said to use seperate hard drives for each so I won't dual boot . I wanted to but i can't install another hard drive.
I remember you said to keep one pc with 7 until I transition to 8 with the other so that is what i will do.
I am not sure where to start this iso file download for $ 40.
I read that I should eliminate all partitons when it comes to that and Win 8 will format and partiton itself.
I think I download the iso file to dsktop then burn the dvd. Once done I insert the dvd, set boot order and follow prompts.
Would you say the one I pointed out in the prntscrn is the right one.?

 

Who has told you that peter? It's simply not true - I have three OSs on this modest PC - XP, 7 and 8, each with its own partition, no issues at all. But perhaps partitioning and dual booting might be a step too far for you just now so just do a clean install to your Win 7 partition. Take an Acronis image first.

Here's your download link -

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy?ocid=GA8_O_WOL_DIS_ShopHP_FPP_Light

Yes, that's how to burn the DVD

 

Hi B
I sent you a link via email, regarding the page that told me about the dual boot.
They also seem to say that Win 7 is no longer valid if I upgrade because it is one license-Eula.
Isn't my Win 7 still valid if I choose to use it even if I have Win 8?

When I do as you suggest, should I I delete all partitions and do a clean install -right?
I guess I am confused about an ugrade and a clean install.
An upgrade would be to build upon Win 7 but a clean install would be to buy a Win 8 cd or the iso file process you are sending me to, correct?
Thank you
Peter

 

It seems it isn't, that for your $40/£25 you get an upgrade only and will no longer be able legally to use Win 7. Not a great option imo, as Win 8 is essentially Win 7 with this largely useless Metro interface stuck on the front. I've been using Win 8 for about a week now and once I had found out how to add the Start menu back I couldn't really tell much difference from using Win 7. OK, it's laid out rather differently, so you have to scratch your head as to how to perform familiar functions, but once you've found what you want it's just as it was in Win 7. Kidology^2 rolleyes

No, you simply install 8 to the 7 partition. Don't delete any other partitions as they may contain your recovery system.

You can do either an upgrade or a clean install with either the $40 upgrade version or the System Builder version. The installer asks you if you want to keep your files - that's upgrading and keeps all your personal stuff and settings. Saying No to that you perform a clean install, simply keeping nothing at all from the system you are upgrading from. ppl recommend doing a clean install because it usually is problem free, not always so with an upgrade.

 

Sorry for all the work - my replies are in your inbox and thank you.