| | | Will Windows 10 work on that computer with old drivers?
I've been experimenting with Windows 10 since the Technical Previews were made available.
I've managed to install it on my oldest ACPI compliant computer, a Dell OptiPlex 520, circa 2006.
Note: This machine has 512Mb of memory, so installation takes a bit of hand-holding and coaxing because Windows Install checks for a 1024Mb minimum and kicks up a fuss.
Enough of strolling down memory lane. . .
Your question was about drivers.
Early builds of Windows 10 had some "sketchy" driver support for my ancient hardware. This shouldn't surprise anyone, but I expected my Brother laser printer, purchased in 2015, to be welcomed by Windows 10 -- it wasn't! (I managed to find drivers for older Brother printers that worked.)
But as Microsoft made later builds of Windows 10 available, each one seemed to be friendlier to my hardware.
Now that I'm running Build 10130, I have NO ISSUES with any of my hardware. The oldest and the newest work seamlessly -- even my old Epson "Jackhammer" printer, circa 1988 is supported.
As for video drivers, I needed to find and install new ones when I moved to Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. With Windows 10, the correct drivers were installed automatically at installation time, with no intervention or effort on my part. (The screen "Flicked" once or twice, then displayed at the full native resolution of my monitor.) Since finding the correct video drivers can be a nuisance, I was delighted with this improvement.
Of course, consider installing Windows 10 as an additional operating system. That way, you can easily revert to the original if you find Windows 10 unsuitable. And above all, create a system image BEFORE you start!
Cheers, PW. |
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