The latest operating system from Microsoft has been on the market for over five years now. Since its beginnings as a free upgrade from Windows 7, the system requirements have hardly changed. According to the leading developers, Windows 10 should run on most PCs nowadays – especially on devices that already got Windows 8 working without any problems. Here, a Windows 10 compatibility checker turns out correspondingly short.
You won’t be able to avoid certain driver updates, though. With a bit of luck, your old operating system will still show you the white Windows logo in the taskbar and ask you to download it. If you use this tool from Microsoft, you’ll get an easy answer to the question on ‘How do I check my computer for Windows 10 compatibility?’ and you won’t run the risk of seeing the infamous “Activate Windows” watermark later. Alternatively, you can follow this guide.
If you want to be on the safe side and do a compatibility check before installing Windows 10, you can find all the system requirements here:
How do I check my Computer for Windows 10 Compatibility?
Note that the specifications listed below are the absolute minimum requirements. If your PC does not meet them, you may run into serious problems using Windows 10. For optimal use, your computer should be capable of a bit more performance.
- Screen resolution: The connected display must at least meet the 800 x 600 standard.
- Processor: Microsoft requires a SoC or CPU with 1 GHz or higher.
- Graphics card: For your Windows 10 compatibility checker to turn out positive, you need at least DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0 drivers.
- Free space: You must have 16 GB free space on your primary hard drive if you want to install the 32-bit version. For 64-bit you need 32 GB – what is the difference?
- Memory: The development team recommends 1 GB RAM for 32-bit and 2 GB for 64-bit.
What do I have to consider when switching to Windows 10?
In addition, the operating system often requires a stable Internet connection for installation. Several gigabytes download cost quite a bit of time with a slow connection. You should also regularly update Windows 10 with the integrated update service, compatibility checker or not. Access to the Internet is also required for this – unless you plan to deactivate the automatic updates anyway.
How do I check my computer for Windows 10 compatibility? Easy. But in order for all features to work smoothly, your PC should have much more than 16 or 32 GB of storage space. We recommend buying an SSD, which is available with 128 GB for considerably less than 50 USD. With this you can shorten the Windows 10 startup process and all other loading times considerably. Your working memory should also not be less than 4 GB.
Windows 10: Compatibility Checker of your Software
Regardless of the requirements that Windows 10 places on your hardware, all installed programs should also be compatible with the update. For the Windows 10 compatibility checker, Microsoft provides a suitable tool with the Media Creation Tool for the compatibility check of your software. Simply follow the individual steps of the wizard. Your PC will be checked automatically after the Windows 10 download. If an app does not pass the compatibility check, you can uninstall it on the spot.
That should answer the question of how do I check my computer for Windows 10 compatibility? You can still cancel the upgrade process of the Microsoft tool afterwards, if you only need the Windows 10 compatibility checker. You can install the operating system via USB stick, later on. If you are still about to make a purchase, feel free to take a look around in our store. On our blog page, we answer all relevant questions. For example, have you already decided whether you want Windows 10 Home or Pro?
