Windows 8.1 Bible

APPENDIX A: Upgrading to Windows 8.1

IN THIS APPENDIX

Windows 8.1 system requirements

Pre-installation housekeeping

Installing Windows 8.1

If you purchased your PC with Windows 8.1 already installed and have no interest in dual-booting, you need to hang a U-turn. There's nothing in this appendix for you. Go straight to the Introduction, or Chapter 1, at the beginning of this book, and forget all about this appendix.

If you purchased an upgrade version of Windows 8.1 to replace your current version of Windows and you haven't yet installed that upgrade, this is the place to be. To tell you the truth, you really don't have to read this entire appendix to install your upgrade. You really just have to do this:

1. Insert the disk that came with your Windows 8.1 upgrade into your computer's disk drive and wait a few seconds.
2. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to install Windows 8.1 by upgrading your current version of Windows.

When the installation is complete, remove the new disk from your disk drive, put it someplace safe, and ignore the rest of this appendix. If these two steps don't quite get the job done, read on.

Note

There is one point that we need to stress. It's important that you know that Windows 8.1 can upgrade only from Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you have a version of Windows other than Windows 7 or Windows 8, you'll need to back up all your data and then perform a “clean install” of Windows 8.1 on the computer. Doing so will cause all the data on your computer ...