It had to happen. If you have a computer running Windows XP or Vista, you will not be able to upgrade directly to Windows 8.1. Some sources suggested this much, but now Microsoft has officially confirmed this in the briefest of notes.
In fact, with the Windows 8.1 Preview already out in the wild, the software titan is slowly shifting its focus towards the final version of the upcoming OS, which is expected to launch by October.
Redmond has recently rolled out, what it calls Windows 8.1 Upgrade Scenarios for OEMs, which essentially comprises of prerelease documentation that is aimed at helping with the process of moving to the new operating system.
So here’s the lowdown — while Microsoft has confirmed that upgrading using media disks also provides the option of a clean install, Windows XP and Windows Vista users would not be able to deploy its latest operating system.
Here is the briefest of mentions about this:
“Windows 8.1 Preview upgrade installations from Windows Vista and Windows XP aren’t supported.”
What this means is that if you (or your organization) are running XP or Vista on some computers, it is impossible to jump straight to Windows 8.1, expectedly of course.
The only solution if you want to migrate to the new operating system is to purchase and install Windows 8, and then get the upgrade from the Windows Store or from downloaded ISOs.
