They have some line-of-business software on there, that apparently popped up a message that the PC that it is running on, must be running Windows 10 by Jan. 1, 2019. (Interesting.)
So, I was contacted, to upgrade it to Win10.
I asked them around how old that the laptop is, they couldn't tell me. (Seems like a bad sign to me.)
If it came with an OEM Win7 installation, that should qualify for an in-place upgrade to Win10.
I'm thinking, though, since such things are "risky", especially with a work laptop, that I had better make an image backup of the original drive, using a bootable Macrium USB stick, and an external HDD, before attempting an in-place upgrade.
In fact, to make it "safer", as well as result in a faster system, I was going to propose to the customer, not only backing up the system, but also swapping the (presumably SATA) HDD, for an SSD of sufficient size, and sufficient quality for a "work laptop". (Samsung, Crucial, and Intel come to mind here.)
Then restoring the OS disk image to the SSD, perform the upgrade, and then make another image backup, once the upgrade is completed, and drivers squared away.
Then sell the customer the (started with brand-new) backup HDD, the SSD, and charge labor for the backup, and the upgrade installation.
If they don't have a legit copy of Windows 7 already installed (or 8.1), then a legit license for Win10 / Win10 Pro would have to be obtained, and product key installed.
Edit: Is there anything that I'm forgetting about? Does MS still offer the "Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor"? I will run that before the upgrade, to make sure that there are no conflicting or unsupported programs / drivers installed.
Edit: I'm not going into this completely blind, I'm familiar with Win7 and Win10, and did almost the same thing for a friend with a long-term Win7 install, moving to Win10 onto a Ryzen rig, after being on an AM2+ rig for a long time. I was successful with the procedure, which involved a hardware swap, whereas this upgrade probably won't.
So, I was contacted, to upgrade it to Win10.
I asked them around how old that the laptop is, they couldn't tell me. (Seems like a bad sign to me.)
If it came with an OEM Win7 installation, that should qualify for an in-place upgrade to Win10.
I'm thinking, though, since such things are "risky", especially with a work laptop, that I had better make an image backup of the original drive, using a bootable Macrium USB stick, and an external HDD, before attempting an in-place upgrade.
In fact, to make it "safer", as well as result in a faster system, I was going to propose to the customer, not only backing up the system, but also swapping the (presumably SATA) HDD, for an SSD of sufficient size, and sufficient quality for a "work laptop". (Samsung, Crucial, and Intel come to mind here.)
Then restoring the OS disk image to the SSD, perform the upgrade, and then make another image backup, once the upgrade is completed, and drivers squared away.
Then sell the customer the (started with brand-new) backup HDD, the SSD, and charge labor for the backup, and the upgrade installation.
If they don't have a legit copy of Windows 7 already installed (or 8.1), then a legit license for Win10 / Win10 Pro would have to be obtained, and product key installed.
Edit: Is there anything that I'm forgetting about? Does MS still offer the "Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor"? I will run that before the upgrade, to make sure that there are no conflicting or unsupported programs / drivers installed.
Edit: I'm not going into this completely blind, I'm familiar with Win7 and Win10, and did almost the same thing for a friend with a long-term Win7 install, moving to Win10 onto a Ryzen rig, after being on an AM2+ rig for a long time. I was successful with the procedure, which involved a hardware swap, whereas this upgrade probably won't.