Using windows 10 with bootcamp

[Luis Ortega]

I currently run windows 7 on my mac using bootcamp with no problems.
Can I simply do the same with windows 10 or will I need something like parallels to run windows 10?
I don't need to keep windows 7, just install the latest version of windows.
Does running windows in bootcamp give a better performance or stability that running in through parallels?

 

[Saudumm]

You can upgrade your Windows 7 installation to Windows 10. It works like a charm

Running Windows in bootcamp does indeed give you better performance, because it uses your hardware directly. Paralles runs Windows virtualized on top of OSX, so your Mac has to compute both operating systems at the same time.

 

[Luis Ortega]

Thanks. Do you mean that I can simply be in my current windows 7 in bootcamp on my mac ( I use a separate drive for the windows installation) and upgrade my windows 7 to windows 10 right in there without having to reinstall windows 10 through bootcamp like I did with windows 7?
I recall having to use some sort of driver disk to get all of the windows drivers, but I'm not sure. It's been over 7 years since I did it, and it has remained stable thoughout each OSX upgrade from Leopard to Yosemite on my 2008 mac pro.

 

[Saudumm]

Yes, you can upgrade Windows 7 (and Windows 8.1) directly to Windows 10. Upgrading from an activated version of Windows (7 or 8.1) is the only way to keep your Windows 10 activated. After that upgrade process you can clean install Windows 10 on that same machine if you want and it will activate itself.

It seems that Apple only provides drivers for Windows 7 for your 2008 Mac Pro, so I don't know if they will work with Windows 10. You can download them here: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1630?locale=de_DE&viewlocale=us_US

It seems a little risky to me, but if you really want to upgrade, you should backup all your data from your Windows 7 install in case anything goes wrong.

 

[Luis Ortega]

Thanks for the advice. I was worried about that.
I read that trying to install windows 10 may not be possible on older macs because there are no drivers available but I also read that windows 10 also installed the drivers needed so no driver install disk was needed like before.
I figure that I can always reinstall windows 7 if nothing else works.