Vista to Windows 10 on Gateway

I would look at buying and installing a new SSD, download the Windows 10 installer, and see how well it works.  If it does, then you can buy the license for Windows 10 and make it legal for the long term.

A new SSD is not very expensive and will give you a substantial performance boost.

I don't believe that there is away to do an in-place upgrade from Vista to Windows 10 without doing some intermediate upgrade (Vista to 7? first.  That may not result in a reliable installation of 10.

It may well be that your computer isn't well suited for Windows 10, though.  Drivers may be tricky to locate and it is entirely possible that a later version of Windows 10 won't work.

Any machine that came with Vista must be seriously old, as in 8-12 years old. I doubt it is worth a new battery, or anything other than linux or DOS.

Windows 10 may run on it, but I would say a laptop that old is worth maybe $20, so why bother?

Thank you for your response; this will be a laptop for someone to practice and learn things on not necessarily with windows 10 but somehow to make it functional. More to investigate and my ears remain open thank you  
Maybe Windows 7 is better?

There is no direct upgrade path from vista to 10.
There is a Windows 10 update advisor that you can use to see if the hardware is compatible/suitable.
...

I will try the windows 10 upgrade advisor to see about compatibility issues and also will explore the SSD ...  which is a new thing for me  
Any links?

SSD is a solid state drive replacing a Hard drive, in your case, before you do that, check your device manager to see what harddrive you have. Check the model. If it is a sata drive, an SSD could work, if it is an IDE drive, your upgrade consideration is disadvantaged.

a vista system is likely more than 11 years ago. Recently looked at a win7 system that was from 2009 meaning vista is likely from 2006-2008 time frame.

A better way is to tell us the spec of your computer by going to the Device Manager.

From my experience to do a clean install of Windows 10 to computers which has bundled Windows Vista, it is very likely that the video display is outdated and there is no device driver for Windows 10.

Monday I will have access to it and update. Thanks a lot.

windows 7 has been stopped -  so it is not recommended for upgrade or install
can you post some specs on the laptop ?  model  - or installed ram, and disk model (find it in device manager - hard disks)
that can tell us more on what is possible.
many cheap systems came in the Vista time with 1 or 2 GB ram, and 120 GB harddisk ; and both are at the  very low limit for upgrade to another OS

I have a change of plans here upgraded to Windows 7 ultimate there is a hard drive with 190 GB free of a 228 total gigabyte HD. 3 GB RAM. Lots of updates went well until Microsoft security essentials that keeps failing  and McAfee can’t be installed because of missing system files

The error message that comes 0X802420022 and when the MS security essentials tries to update definition files there is Eric code 800B0109.  was helping from this point to try the windows 10 upgrade advisor

Windows 7 is unsupported and have a zero day critical issue in IE that we know of right now, and it is likely to never get patched. You should go to at least windows 8.1, or linux.

Looking at the registry it’s huge

Did not want to spend anymore money and he had this uninstalled Windows 7 ultimate upgrade for which he qualified from Vista which is why that was installed   And yes Internet explorer is a disaster.  is outdated and can’t be updated

Windows 7 support ended :January 14 th and as they said, "While you could continue to use your PC running Windows 7, without continued software and security updates, it will be at greater risk for viruses and malware. Going forward, the best way for you to stay secure is on Windows 10. And the best way to experience Windows 10 is on a new PC. While it is possible to install Windows 10 on your older device, it is not recommended." .... it's all over.

This Gateway can be a learning tool for him and stay offline, maybe just to enjoy listening to CDs or playing local DVD games.

Thanks to all who helped.  I will close this shortly, having spent (wasted) tons of time on this Gateway box.  The person I've been helping appreciates all the experience he gleaned as well.

Miles of smiles.  ":0)
Asta

Thank you all for your help I hope I closed this correctly.

I'm curious... if he was just wanting to listen to CDs or to play DVDs, why not just stay with Vista?

Many multi media apps and graphics along with music ripped to create playlists etc.  Also creativity film options that I tested and work fine.  None of these things will require online stuff and internet is off... no protections on.

Not following.... you found those for Windows 7 but not for Vista?

i did install windows 7 without problems about a week ago - for testing
i must add i needed to update to SP1, and IE11 - but i have the necessary software for it on a stick

Thank you nobus, I was able to upgrade to SP1 but Internet explorer was dead could not be updated

You can download IE 11 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40902
now you can directly upgrade to windows

Thank you, arnold also; will check it out the next opportunity to see that system.

Was this question still open?  Sorry for the confusion.

it is closed -  but hat does not mean you cannot post

Thank you very much

Back again with confirmation that SP1 and MS Security Essentials did install successfully on January 27, 2020 but Malicious Software components fail consistently from Windows Update.  When installing IE11 from the above link, BSOD and after second reboot and attempt, the update to IE11 began and then was stopped stating other items must be installed first.  No Clue which they could be.  Sigh.  Valiant efforts all around.  

When attempting to install the two items that pop up as important prerequisites (but undefined), error 8024605 blocks the installation efforts.  sfc /scannow finds no problems.  Event log full of consistent errors that Microsoft Antimalware cannot update signatures.  That's event code 2001.

Does this merit a new Question?  Or is it a lost cause.

New Q is here:
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29171523/Gateway-updated-to-Windows-7-SP1.html

All issues were resolved after uninstalling the MS Security Essentials, downloading and installing IE11, and prereq KB3033929 which was required to install McAfee protections.

Did not visit the http site in the other Windows 7 question noted above, it showed not secure.

Thank you all.  Miles of smiles.
":0)
Asta