Upgrading from Windows 7 Professional to Windows Pro 8.1

Hello,

I have an oldish Thinkpad X220T with a Windows 7 Professional operating system. I would like to upgrade that to Windows 8.1, Professional if possible, but am not sure how, or even sure if my "oldish" laptop would allow that upgrade.

If it supports Windows 7 Professional, it likely can run Windows 8.1 Pro.

You should run the Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant for further confirmation;

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-assistant-download-online-faq

Please note though, there is no direct upgrade path from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 Pro. If you want to preserve your personal files, applications and settings, you would have to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro first, then upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro through the store or by using a Windows 8.1 Pro media which you can download.

If preserving your personal files and applications are important to you, then purchase Windows 8 Pro:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en\_US/pdp/Windows-8-Pro/productID.257987100

After doing so, you can upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro for free through the store.

How to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1

Learn more:

**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/update-from-windows-8-tutorial**

I also have no idea of the cost, or if I can buy a disk instead of just uploading the system.

You can purchase a backup disc as part of your purchase.

Finally, I like to do factory restores on my computer a couple of times a year and I'm wondering how an upgrade of an operating system will be affected; for example, will I be able to do the factory restore and then immediately upgrade again using some kind of code if I don't have a disk?

You have a couple choices here.

Option 1:

If you do a standard factory restore using the manufacturers recovery partition and functions, it will restore back to its original factory state which would be Windows 7 Professional. Which means you have to have to upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro using all the procedures provided in my previous reply.

Option 2:

After successfully upgrading to Windows 8.1 Pro, what you could do is create a custom refresh image state. So everytime you wish to refresh your computer, you don't lose Windows 8.1 Pro and have to start over.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/showcase/details.aspx?uuid=1aa3c494-9219-4a40-90b4-81723aa3b57d

Thanks