As Microsoft prepares to ship Windows later in the year, it’s a logical for users beginning to ask how the upgrade will work and which operating system will require a clean install.

Not a real surprise here, Windows Vista and Windows XP fall in the category of clean install required. According to the head of the Windows Insider program, Gabe Aul, the only upgrade supported path are Windows 7 and newer.

@Dave_256 Same for Vista as XP. The only full upgrade paths currently supported are Win7 and newer.

— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) December 30, 2014

However, you have to see the glass half-full, Microsoft is making Windows 10 such a low footprint operating system that you will be able to install it on a five-year old or even older hardware, and that by itself is a great news.

Windows 10 system requirements:

  • Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
  • RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2GB (64-bit)
  • Free hard disk space: 16 GB
  • Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

While Microsoft has not announced when Windows 10 will actually be released, the next preview aimed to show off the consumer features is due later this month. And we are expecting to see new features such as Continuum, Cortana, and a bunch of new improvements.

Source Twitter