In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Prajwal Desai
Posted by Prajwal Desai

In this post we will see the steps for In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM. Most of the Organizations today are running Windows 7 OS on their computers. Looking at the stability and features of Windows 10, most of them are planning to do an upgrade of Windows 7 to Windows 10.

The simplest path to upgrade PCs currently running Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 is through an in-place upgrade using SCCM. This has never been such easy process but thanks to Microsoft who worked really hard and made it effortless to upgrade from Windows 7/8.1 to Windows 10.

You can use a SCCM task sequence to completely automate the process. If you are using SCCM 2012 R2 SP1, it adds support to manage and deploy Windows 10. Although it does not include built-in support to perform an in-place upgrade from Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.

However you can build a custom task sequence to perform the necessary tasks. But if you are running the latest version of SCCM, you have got built-in support to perform an in-place upgrade from Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.

Prerequisites for In-place upgrade to Windows 10

  1. It is always good if you have the latest version of Internet Explorer installed on your devices. IE11 is the only browser version supported in Windows 10. You can use this guide to deploy IE11 using SCCM.
  2. You will not be able to use a custom image of Windows 10 for the In-Place Upgrade.
  3. There are different ways to upgrade your existing windows version to Windows 10. SCCM or Configuration Manager is the best tool to perform an In-place upgrade to Windows 10. I would always recommend to use the latest version of SCCM available.
  4. For those looking planning to do in-place upgrades to migrate from Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 using System Center Configuration Manager task sequences, use the check for compatibility feature to check if the OS is qualified for the upgrade.

Setup Info

In my lab setup, I have got SCCM 1511 & SQL server 2014 SP1 installed on the same server. I have got the latest Windows 10 enterprise edition build downloaded.

The OS that we will be upgrading to Windows 10 is Windows 7 SP1 Professional x64. Extract the windows 10 iso file to a folder and place it under your sources folder.

You just need to follow the below steps perform an In-place upgrade of Windows 7 to Windows 10. Download the Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation ISO file for your operating system from the TechNet Evaluation Center.

Most of all you need to sign in to download Windows 10 Enterprise. If you have not registered before, you will be asked to do so.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Here are the steps to perform In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

  • Launch the ConfigMgr Console
  • Navigate to Software Library > Overview > Operating Systems.
  • Right click Operating System Upgrade Packages and click Add Operating System Upgrade Package.
  • In the next step we will add Windows 10 enterprise upgrade package.
In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Provide the path where the Windows 10 source files are present. Click Next.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Provide some information about this upgrade package. Click Next.

Important – The next step is to distribute the content to the distribution point. Right click Windows 10 enterprise package and click Distribute content. Choose the DP’s and distribute the content. Once the content is available with DP, proceed to the next step.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Choose Upgrade an operating system from upgrade package. Click Next.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Create In-place upgrade SCCM Task Sequence

Right click Task Sequences and click Create Task Sequence. Provide the TS name and description. Click Next.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

To select the upgrade package, click on Browse and select the Windows 10 enterprise upgrade package. You should find some relevant info about the package under Properties. If you have product key with you, add it in the product key box. Click Next.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

At this moment I chose Do not install any software updates. Click Next.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Click Next on rest of the screens and at final step click on Close. With this our TS is ready.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

If you right click the TS and click on Edit, you can see the first step is Prepare for Upgrade. Under this you will see Check Readiness for Upgrade step. This will check if the OS is ready for Windows 10 upgrade. The checks are against the min Memory, min processor speed and min disk space. You could modify the options in case you want to.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Some more settings for Upgrade OS step in TS. If you have made any changes here click Apply and OK.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Before you deploy the TS, create a collection of computers for which you want to deploy the TS. To deploy it to a collection, click on Browse and choose the collection where you want to deploy the TS.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Deploy the TS with Purpose as Available. Click Next.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Choose Download content locally when needed by the running task sequence. Click Next and complete the remaining steps.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Perform Windows 10 In-place upgrade

On the client computer, launch the software center. Click Windows 10 In-Place upgrade TS.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Now click Install.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

On the confirmation box, click Install Operating System.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

The upgrade operating system step is being executed.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

To take at look what’s running in the background, use the Configuration Manager Trace log tool to open the smsts.log file located under C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\ folder.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

The computer automatically restarts and the upgrade process begins.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Your PC will reboot multiple times. So just sit back and relax or grab a cup of coffee. The percentage indicator inside that circle is a nice feature.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM

Almost 86% upgrade is complete. In my case the upgrade process took around 30 minutes to complete.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM Snap21

Your device has been successfully upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 by using the In-Place Upgrade method.

In-place upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise with SCCM
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Prajwal Desai
Posted by Prajwal Desai
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Prajwal Desai is a Microsoft MVP in Intune and SCCM. He writes articles on SCCM, Intune, Windows 365, Windows Server, Windows 11, WordPress and other topics, with the goal of providing people with useful information.
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