Question On Windows 10 Upgrade & Unsupported Systems.

I agree. I own a Dell XPS 8500 and it isn't supported when really there's no reason why it shouldn't be as it was only released mid 2012. I also went ahead with the upgrade but have had no problems so far myself, my audio works fine here. Still, I would like the option to download official supported drivers from Dell, hopefully they start supporting these systems soon.

Dell does not support the operating systems anyway, only the hardware if still under warranty. Windows 10 supplies almost all of the drivers so if Microsoft says the system is compatible, you are covered by their support for the OS. If you have a hardware warranty in effect, that is still valid.

Folks, take a chill pill.

When Dell says that one of their computers is "not supported" for an upgrade to Windows 10, that doesn't mean that it can't be done. It only means that Dell won't offer you any assistance.

For Dell to help you, they have to be 100% sure that the hardware and software on your computer will work under Windows 10. That means they have to test it. They have to take a computer exactly like yours, upgrade it to Windows 10 and see what happens. If they see problems they have to come up with solutions, including new software, so they can guarantee that your upgrade will work. That costs money.

Now consider how many thousands of configurations Dell has sold over the years, including computers that were built before anyone even heard about Windows 10. Can you imagine what it would cost Dell to support all those? And Dell is not going to make one additional cent for all the work it would have to do.

That's why the only computers that Dell does support for an upgrade are computers that were built more or less around the time that Windows 10 was officially announced. If Dell didn't do this, people would stop buying computers and wait instead to buy a computer that included Windows 10.

If your computer isn't supported by Dell for an upgrade, all that means is that you have to do the preparation on your own. Fortunately, there's a ton of information out there on how to upgrade a computer to Windows 10.

My vintage Studio XPS 8100 works just fine on Windows 10, even though Dell doesn't support it. It was upgraded from Windows 8.1, which Dell didn't support on my computer either.

Hi GEE_SIMPSON

Any pointers for upgrading the XPS 8500 ?

I plan to do mine shortly.

Thanks

Hi GEE_SIMPSON Any pointers for upgrading the XPS 8500 ? I plan to do mine shortly. Thanks

I should add that I done a clean install and not just an upgrade.

I think a bigger issue may be Dell not updated drivers for these unsupported PCs.  I have an Alienware M11x running Windows 7.  

On updating to Win 10 everything was lovely.... until I updated my graphics drivers.  At which point, my PC would boot to a black screen.  After several attempts to update and even clean install, I had to roll back to Win 7.

Laptops w win 7 that are not on the win 10 approved list but work OK with win 10 installed should not update any drivers since they need customized drivers from the computer maker that are not available.

Updating the video drivers with non dell drivers after the install caused the problems. Laptops must use the computer maker's customized drivers. If upgrading to windows 10 was working with win 10 best available drivers no driver updates should be installed. If there are problems after the upgrade, reverting to win 7 is the best option.

I disagree totally with Mary G on this. I have three very old Dells, two laptops and one desktop, which successfully upgraded to Win 10. I did no driver updates prior to the upgrades. All three had a Microsoft generic video driver installed during the upgrade, which, of course, did not allow most video parameters to be altered. All three video drivers were successfully upgraded with an appropriate Nvidea driver. All now had full video functionality. Dell, of course did not have any upgraded drivers because of the age of the units, 8-10 years old. I have seen many posts about not using drivers NOT supplied by the OEM, but it just isn't true.

Getting drivers to work on Windows 10 direct from the vendor e.g. nVidia, AMD and Intel is a trial and error scenario. Really old systems are usually fine to get an updated driver. Often the driver is installed automatically via Windows Update.

The systems with switchable graphics sometimes are a bit more tricky.

HOW? Where's the info?