XPS 8500 Upgrade to Windows 10

Driver updates are done after the upgrade since they depend on your operating system. You might not need many updates since win 10 has many available. And the list is not recommended updates--just what is available for all models like yours that are running windows 7. You could have diff hardware. You will not get drivers for win 10 from Dell. You have to depend on the builtin drivers win 10 installs or get win 10 ones from the hardware makers.

An image backup was a smart move. Make sure you have one you can use after the upgrade just in case.

IMO waiting to replace the computer with a win 10 model might be a better idea. You might miss some of the win 7 features that are removed from win 10. 

I agree that the best solution would be too buy a new computer with Windows 10 pre-installed but my XPS 8500 still has plenty of life left and I'm too frugal to junk it.

I have two other Dell computers running Windows 10 and like the changes from Windows 7 so would like to standardize. They are both newer than the XPS 8500 and Dell did test and approve them for the upgrade.

I am still looking for someone who has successfully upgraded an XPS 8500 to Windows 10 to report their experience.

Chip

I upgraded my XPS 8500 with almost no problems. Only the MaxxAudio enhancement disappeared, but this driver solves that:

www.dell.com/.../DriversDetails

Other than that, it all works perfectly fine! I don't understand why Dell doesn't want to support these models though, since they're from 2012 so they're pretty recent still.

Thanks for the update. Glad to know that Windows 10 upgrade was successful for at least one person.

There have been issues reported with the 1703 wireless adapter for both WiFi and Bluetooth. Do you use either and were there any issues?

Chip

I have updated an XPS 8300 without much problems. The Broadcom Card and Ethernet didn't like the Windows 10 Upgrade too much. In my system I ripped out the Broadcom (Dell Wireless 1501) and put in a superior Intel AC 7260 (WiFi and BT). You can do the same if you have issues.

The XPS 8500 has a UEFI BIOS and should run Windows 10 TH2 64 Bit even better.

Dell didn't release updated drivers for the XPS 8500 however they did for the XPS 8700. The XPS 8700 also has the Dell Wireless 1703 card as a variant and has a Windows 10 driver:

http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER03113559M/1/XPS-8700_Network_Driver_33H8G_WN32_10.0.0.318_A00.EXE

You are best to upgrade your UEFI BIOS to A12 before Windows 10 TH2 installation. Then you are best to download a Windows 10 TH2 .iso and make a UEFI Bootable USB (FAT32 formatted), Next enable UEFI and SecureBoot (if you are on Windows 7, these should be enabled if the system was shipped with Windows 8.x). Then clean install Windows 10 TH2. Then install the driver I listed.

For more details see:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1RkaknDn7v-Ucth4gt0U3BHVSY7oNkWr

And here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-windows-10-oem-and-retail-iso/

I don't experience any problems with the 1703 wireless adapter. Both WiFi and Bluetooth work perfectly.

I agree that the best solution would be too buy a new computer with Windows 10 pre-installed but my XPS 8500 still has plenty of life left and I'm too frugal to junk it.

Ya think? The XPS 8500 is comprised of standard components, all of which have Win 10 drivers available.

I have an XPS 8500, but I haven't used it for a couple of years. I've been meaning to upgraded it to Win 10.

The only installs I have had trouble upgrading to Win 10 were two originally created with Windows 95, and upgraded to Windows 98 and then 2000 before being upgraded to XP, then Vista, then 7.

I upgraded my Dell XPS 8500 to Windows 10 from Windows 7 in late 2015. It seemed to work fine for a while but I started to have problems with Windows Backup and then couldn't update my system. The update program would start to run then disappear. (Same problem with Windows Backup.)

MicroSoft tried to repair my system but failed. They offered me a paid service to guarantee to fix the problem but I declined.

I reloaded Windows 7.

My plan is to install Fedora before MicroSoft stops supporting Window 7 in January 2020.

Ken

Ken: try to perform a clean install of Windows 10. That'll do.

Thanks, sounded like a good idea and worth a try. So I performed a clean install of Windows 10 instead of an update from Windows 7. Everything seems to be working fine even the all wireless devices, WiFi and Bluetooth. But only time will tell. I'll report back in a month.

Thanks!

Ken

Good to read that! I had issues like you described on my Acer notebook -- updates not working and some other minor things. In my Dell, I installed an SSD and did a clean install of Win 7 with the Dell key, then upgraded to Win 10. Both my laptop and my Dell desktop have run flawlessly on Win 10 now for a couple of months.

I had the earlier version of the XPS 8300 and upgraded from Windows 7 to Win 8.1. While I am on the Microsoft Insider program and MS TechNet, we began testing Windows 10, 18 months ago. Long before the auto update button was available. Insiders deal with the raw releases (usually about 3 releases per month), which are complete OS installs per. Sure, there are times we have to deal with buggy releases, but also have the opportunity to suggest feature improvements. Part of what we do, results in automatic updates for those who are now using Windows 10, either via the button or a new PC purchase.

I did not do anything to the 8300 prior to the first install of the beta, since the release of the auto upgrade to Win 10, when that upgrade button appears on your task bar, it usually means your system is ready for the upgrade. I just purchased the newer XPS 8900 Special Edition, which has the M.2 SSD 512GB onboard hard drive (for some who may not know what an M.2 SSD is, it looks like a stick of memory, with the pins on the end of the stick, which plugs into the motherboard). Dell is the first Desktop PC I've seen with an M.2 Drive, but the next Generation is already here, it's the M.2 NVMe SSD which has a speed up to 32 Gb per second.

Did you not get a prompt to install drivers before the install would begin?  I can't seem to get past that.