[EnVy26]

I'm planning to upgrade my laptop to windows 8 and wondering if the driver from windows 7 can be used on it.

[waldojim]

EnVy26, on 16 November 2012 - 05:09 PM, said:

I'm planning to upgrade my laptop to windows 8 and wondering if the driver from windows 7 can be used on it.

A lot of that depends on the specific hardware, and drivers. For many of my drivers on my older desktop, I actually used Windows Vista drivers.

So the tentative answer here is yes. Sort of. Sound drivers will likely need to be Windows 8 specific (due to massive changes there), wifi drivers you are probably better off finding updated generic drivers, than using Windows 7 drivers. If you give us the system details, we can help locate drivers for you.

The other option, probably a better one, is to run the Windows Upgrade Assistant, and see what it comes back with.

[LiveBrianD]

I should note that I've been using VMware WS 8 with guest Windows 7 additions so far with no issues. (that version doesn't actually support win8) Chances are that it'll work - I've seen plenty of XP drivers work on Vista and 7, which use a completely different driver model for everything.

[EnVy26]

waldojim, on 16 November 2012 - 05:17 PM, said:

EnVy26, on 16 November 2012 - 05:09 PM, said:

I'm planning to upgrade my laptop to windows 8 and wondering if the driver from windows 7 can be used on it.

A lot of that depends on the specific hardware, and drivers. For many of my drivers on my older desktop, I actually used Windows Vista drivers.

So the tentative answer here is yes. Sort of. Sound drivers will likely need to be Windows 8 specific (due to massive changes there), wifi drivers you are probably better off finding updated generic drivers, than using Windows 7 drivers. If you give us the system details, we can help locate drivers for you.

The other option, probably a better one, is to run the Windows Upgrade Assistant, and see what it comes back with.

Sorry if my question sound stupid but what do you mean by finding updated generic driver for wifi? Currently I'm using broadcom wifi driver.

[LiveBrianD]

What wireless card do you have? (or just your laptop's brand and model) Chances are that the existing drivers will work without a problem though.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 16 November 2012 - 08:14 PM

[EnVy26]

LiveBrianD, on 16 November 2012 - 08:14 PM, said:

What wireless card do you have? (or just your laptop's brand and model) Chances are that the existing drivers will work without a problem though.

my wireless is broadcom, as for my laptop it acer aspire 4741z

[LiveBrianD]

Dang it... I can't seem to find the exact wireless card model that uses. However, there's a pretty good chance the existing Windows 7 drivers will work without issue. (You might want to download the 90-day trial off technet first to see if it works and you're willing to put up with metro before you shell out some money for it.)

[waldojim]

EnVy26, on 16 November 2012 - 08:51 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 16 November 2012 - 08:14 PM, said:

What wireless card do you have? (or just your laptop's brand and model) Chances are that the existing drivers will work without a problem though.

my wireless is broadcom, as for my laptop it acer aspire 4741z

Most broadcom cards actually have excellent out of the box support in windows 8. The only remaining issue may be sound. I will investigate.

[waldojim]

Ok good news. The aspire you listed uses a stard realtek driver. Windows has a driver included for that as well. So everything should be golden.

[EnVy26]

So, about the wifi. I should just use the windows 7 driver right? or I just have to find other alternatives...

[waldojim]

EnVy26, on 16 November 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

So, about the wifi. I should just use the windows 7 driver right? or I just have to find other alternatives...

You should be using the drivers that come with windows 8. If the dont work the try the latest version of the drivers from acers site.

[EnVy26]

I've found this but which one should I download?

Quote

http://www.broadcom....s-LAN-Solutions

[EnVy26]

I'm happy to announce that windows 8 have been successfully installed.

But I'm a little disappointed that they didn't include microsoft .net framework 2.0 & 3.5 cuz some of my drivers really need those things to installed. But it's not a big deal, I can download those things later.

Now the only thing to do is getting used to the metro ui

[waldojim]

EnVy26, on 18 November 2012 - 07:26 AM, said:

I'm happy to announce that windows 8 have been successfully installed.

But I'm a little disappointed that they didn't include microsoft .net framework 2.0 & 3.5 cuz some of my drivers really need those things to installed. But it's not a big deal, I can download those things later.

Now the only thing to do is getting used to the metro ui

Go into "Programs and Features" then "Turn Windows Features on or off". In there you will find .Net 3.5 (includes 2.0 and 3.0), and .NET 4.5.