Upgrading From Windows 1.0 To Windows 11 On Real Hardware - 4x Speed

Hello! In this video, I will show that it is possible to upgrade from Windows 1.0 to Windows 11 on actual hardware without a VM (Virtual Machine) and without a fresh install (yes, it is possible). If you're watching this video, you've probably seen other videos showing that it's possible to upgrade from Windows 1.0 to 8 or 10 without a fresh install, whether it was on a VM or an actual PC. That was possible because there were 32-bit releases available of every version of Windows from XP onwards, but with Windows 11, there is no 32-bit version available. Because of this, many people that want to perform a Windows 1.0 to 11 upgrade must now clean install a 64-bit version of Windows, which defeats the purpose of the "true" upgrade path. Though with the proper workarounds, it is possible to keep your files and do a true upgrade through every version of Windows on an actual PC still, and this video takes you on that journey. I'll put some useful information about the upgrade (as well as credit to the videos that made my journey possible) down below for those interested.

Please read the pinned comment if you're curious why I didn't include Windows 2000 or other earlier versions of Windows running on the NT kernel.

*NOTE: I am in no way affiliated with Microsoft or with any individuals/companies linked in the description of this video. This video is purely for entertainment/educational purposes and I do not recommend doing this unless it's on a VM*

I performed this upgrade path on a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop which has the following specs
-Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 64-bit CPU
-2GB RAM
-120GB SATA HDD

Here is the upgrade path I followed:
00:00 - DOS 7.1
00:18 - Windows 1.01
00:38 - Windows 2.03
01:29 - Windows 3.0
01:55 - Windows 3.1
02:39 - Windows 95
04:19 - Windows 98
08:48 - Windows ME
13:12 - Windows XP Home Edition
22:16 - Windows Vista Home Premium
33:20 - Windows 7 Home Premium
45:13 - Windows 8 Beta (Build 7963)
56:24 - Windows 8 Pro
1:06:42 - Windows 8.1 Pro
1:20:07 - Windows 10 Pro
1:38:32 - Windows 11 Pro

These keys will NOT activate your copy of Windows, they are only used for getting Windows installed.

In Windows 2.03, you will see I deleted some files. These files prevented the upgrade to Windows 3.0 and had to be removed first.

In Windows 3.1, I had to go into the file SYSTEM.INI and add a line that limits how much RAM Windows 95/98/ME can see or else they would crash.

I also had to rename the WIN.COM and WINVER.EXE files in 3.1 before the upgrade to 95.

In Windows 98, I used the drive converter to convert the drive to FAT32. I then used Parted Magic to extend the Windows install to fill the 120GB of space (which allowed me to copy the remaining Windows installers to the HDD).

In Windows XP, I converted the drive to NTFS which was needed to continue the upgrade.

After Windows 7, I had to upgrade to a specific build of the Windows 8 beta, build 7963. To force it to upgrade, I had to use a program called ShowHideControls to show me the option to upgrade. Doing this allowed me to "upgrade" from a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version without wiping my current install. This is a workaround which I never knew existed and all credit goes to ChrisEric1 and their amazing guide on how to do it!
INSTALLING A BETA OS IS NOT RECOMMENDED AS IT COULD RESULT IN A LOSS OF DATA!

Due to the age of the laptop I used, I had to bypass the system requirement check of Windows 11 by replacing one of the files in the Sources folder of the installer with an older version within the article I linked. (You can also remove the file)
BYPASSING/IGNORING WINDOWS 11 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS IS NOT RECOMMENDED WHEN INSTALLING WINDOWS 11 AND I DO NOT ADVISE OR ENCOURAGE ANYONE TO DO IT!

Sorry about the camera shifting and cuts in the video. The camera I was using has terrible battery life and can only be charged when powered off :(

I did not include music in this video since I have very bad taste in music :P This video is incredibly long even though I sped it up to 4x (thanks to Windows 10 and 11 taking forever to upgrade) so if I were you, I'd sit back, put on some music, and get ready for a long ride!

If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments below!
I hope you all enjoy and have a great day!

[ComputingCanuck]

**IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHY WINDOWS 2000 OR OTHER VERSIONS OF WINDOWS NT DOES NOT APPEAR IN THIS VIDEO, PLEASE READ THIS!**

I have received a handful of comments asking about what happened to versions of Windows like Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 and why they were not included in the video, so I wanted to answer that all here.

Before Windows XP, Microsoft released versions of Windows that targeted two specific areas. There were releases for regular consumers/home users, and there were releases for businesses/organizations. The home versions (Windows 95, 98, ME, etc.) are all DOS-based and are what this video focused on. The business versions (Windows NT 3.x, NT 4.0, Windows 2000, etc.) are NT-based. The general rule is that you can not upgrade from a DOS-based version of Windows to an NT-based version, and you can not upgrade from an NT-based version of Windows to a DOS-based one, because of incompatibilities. Windows 2000, to my knowledge, is the first NT release to allow for an upgrade from a DOS-based Windows version to an NT one, but it was still technically a "business-targeted" release while Windows ME was targeted at home users and was released in the same year as Windows 2000. Windows XP was also an NT release but, unlike Windows 2000, it was released in both a "home" edition for home users and a "professional" edition for businesses.

There is another version of this project someone could (theoretically) do in a virtual machine called the "NT Upgrade Path" which covers all the NT-based of Windows, from Windows NT 3.x to Windows NT 4.0, to Windows 2000, then to XP Professional edition, etc.
I did want to try and do that project as well but there seem to be weird bugs that occur whenever someone tries to do the NT Upgrade Path. I've seen other people have the same issues with it and I have no idea what the problem is. If I ever do figure it out, I will most certainly do an NT Upgrade Path that includes all the NT releases.

So long story short, I excluded Windows 2000 because it's a part of the NT releases of Windows meant for businesses and it's also a part of the NT Upgrade Path (It just happens to also support DOS-based upgrades from 95/98/ME) and I excluded earlier versions of Windows NT (3.x/4.0) due to the NT Upgrade path too, as well as technical limitations imposed by Windows/Microsoft which made it impossible to upgrade anyways.

Hopefully this clarifies most questions regarding Windows 2000, Windows NT 4.0, and other NT-based versions of Windows in this video :)

[ironimous]

This really took me back to the good old times when me and my older brother got our first Windows 95 PC from our parents. I was 6 at this time & i think this was the time my interest for PC's starts growing massively. Now, nearly 30 years later, i'm a manager from an IT department of a large Software company.

[frlano]

Wow. First time seeing a machine being able to install all windows versions. Nice work keep it up!

[gearedtogame]

The sheer effort that is put in creating this video is commendable.👏👏

[honkhonkler]

It's crazy how small the Window in time was where the hardware was so highly forward (for now) and backwards compatible with almost the entire range of the IBM PC compatible ecosystem. That time was around 2005-2007. Systems had 64 bit multicore CPUs, PCIe, SATA and supported just enough RAM to be usable today while also supporting things like IDE, legacy non UEFI BIOS, SATA legacy mode and sometimes, even mobo chipsets and network adapters with DOS or Win9X drivers.

[andreeapopescu]

I'm gonna upgrade 1.0 to 11 on a virtual machine. I hope that I can do it!
Excellent video! I love it!

[Maestro]

That was a long trip. I can't imagine how much time you've spent on gathering knowledge and making first attempts before recording this (like facing some errors with compatibility, etc). Bravo!

[adlertc]

Absolutely amazing. THAT was something I really wanted to see as all other endeavors are just VMs or wouldn't reach W11. Congrats and kudos ^^

[reliuo]

Underrated Af keep up the good work,





Imagine if he forgot to record

[Tony-rxgc]

That is amazing! Very interesting to see how windows got changed over time! Nice Job!

[bradleypagliaro]

Very well done! I have seem similar videos but this is the best presentation so far. I am curious as to why you have not included Windows NT4 or Windows 2000, both of which were very common in corporate settings, and both of which use a version of the NTFS file system. Again, great job here !

[ComputingCanuck]

Timestamps when installs/upgrades begin:
DOS 7.1 - 0:01
Windows 1.01 - 0:18
Windows 2.03 - 0:38
Windows 3.0 - 1:29
Windows 3.1 - 1:55
Windows 95 - 2:39
Windows 98 - 4:19
Windows ME - 8:48
Windows XP - 13:12
Windows Vista - 22:16
Windows 7 - 33:20
Windows 8 beta (build 7963) - 45:13
Windows 8 - 56:24
Windows 8.1 - 1:06:42
Windows 10 - 1:20:07
Windows 11 - 1:38:32

These timestamps are also available in the video's description.

[arshkhanlm]

Microsoft while making Windows 8 beta: Shhh... Let's not leak our hard work

Meanwhile Windows 8 beta: *Ends up getting leaked*

[Jesse]

Core 2 Duo-era PCs seem to have some of the best driver support in terms of the most versions of Windows, if you go beyond the 2nd gen Intel CPUs you begin to lose support for XP/Vista and you go below the Core 2 Duo newer versions of Windows start to become much slower

[verovieira]

I loved this "marathon", thanks for sharing, best regards from Brazil !

[Electronica]

Great watch iv setup these through the years and its great to go back in time and watch it all happen at once trip down memory lane guessing windows 10 11 are current so will need to keep living with those installs for a bit longer :)

[_WeiXian]

*Timestamps:*
DOS 7.1, Windows 1.01, Windows 2.03 (0:43)
Windows 3.0 (1:40)
Windows 3.1 (2:09)
Windows 95 (4:01)
Windows 98 (6:43)
Windows ME (12:36)
Windows XP Home Edition (20:58)
Windows Vista Home Premium (32:32)
Windows 7 Home Premium (44:45)
Windows 8 Beta (Build 7963) (55:43)
Windows 8 Pro (1:06:13)
Windows 8.1 Pro (1:19:47)
Windows 10 Pro (1:37:29)
Windows 11 Pro (2:12:05)

[DanielC_YT]

Good video!

Note on what you said in the description about beta builds resulting in loss of data - I have a brief story that proves it.

Basically, I once installed build 8002 of Windows 8 on my computer, dualbooting it with Windows 10 Home. Somehow, that made it impossible to boot into Windows 10. I had Windows 10 on a ~170GB partition and Windows 7 and the Win8 build on 40GB partitions. This didn't result in any noticeable data loss (except some boot file for Windows 10). (I didn't test Windows 7, though.) Thus, I spent hours trying to fix this, and ended up reinstalling Windows 8.1 on the computer, wiping everything (but backing everything up, obviously).

If you really want to use a beta build on your computer, use a program to back up your hard drive and all its partitions, wipe the hard drive, and install the beta build. Don't use it as your daily OS.

[ComeonWindows]

Now that must take a long time. Awesome video mate!

[LYF]

That's a Brilliant Work right there 👍👍👍👍