Applies to Windows 8

Getting your applications and devices working in Windows 8

As you prepare to upgrade your PC to Windows 8, the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant provides a Compatibility Report listing things you might need to do to get all of your applications and devices working after the upgrade. You can print the report to refer to later, or save it to your desktop. Unless you choose the option to "keep nothing" during the upgrade, you'll be able to find the report on your desktop after the upgrade has finished.

For each issue listed in the Compatibility Report, there will be suggestions and tips to help you resolve it.

In addition to those recommendations, there are several tools that can help you find solutions to compatibility issues in your applications and devices:

  • Action Center

  • Windows Compatibility Center

  • Program Compatibility Assistant

  • Run programs made for previous versions of Windows

Action Center

For some issues, you'll need to go to Action Center and follow the instructions provided. For example, you may be asked to download a new driver or update, or to change a setting.

To find solutions in Action Center:

  1. From Start, swipe in from the right-hand edge of the screen and then tap Search (or if you're using a mouse, point to the top-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, then click Search).

  2. Enter Action Center in the search box, choose Settings, then choose Action Center.

Windows Compatibility Center

You can find more information to help you get your applications and devices working in the Windows Compatibility Center.

The Windows Compatibility Center has information about thousands of applications and devices to help you identify what will or won't work with Windows 8. You can search the Compatibility Center for a particular product that you're having trouble with. The details view for each product provides links to drivers or updates, and additional troubleshooting info from the community.

Program Compatibility Assistant

When you install or run an application, Windows monitors the application for symptoms of known compatibility issues. If it finds an issue, Program Compatibility Assistant provides some recommended actions that you can take to help the application run properly on Windows 8.

Note that Program Compatibility Assistant doesn't monitor applications that work at low system levels (for example, kernel mode drivers, security and backup applications). Due to the dependency of these applications on Windows system internals, you generally can't apply compatibility fixes to them.

If you try to run an application with known incompatibilities, you'll see a message telling you about the problem, and, depending on the severity of the problem, Program Compatibility Assistant might prevent the application from running.

Run programs made for previous versions of Windows

If you're having trouble running an application that worked in a previous version of Windows, you might be able to run it in a compatibility mode, such as Windows Vista or Windows 7 compatibility modes.

Troubleshooting for application compatibility

  1. From Start, swipe in from the right-hand edge of the screen and then tap Search (or if you're using a mouse, point to the top-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, then click Search).

  2. Enter troubleshoot in the search box, choose Settings, then choose Troubleshooting.

  3. Tap or click Run programs made for previous versions of Windows.

  4. Follow the steps provided.

Apply a compatibility mode

If you know the compatibility mode that your application needs to run, here is how to apply it:

  1. From Start, enter the name of the application that you want to run in compatibility mode, and in the search results list, swipe down or right-click to select the application and choose Open file location.

  2. In File Explorer, swipe down on the application or right-click it, and choose Properties.

  3. In the Properties dialogue, choose the Compatibility tab.

  4. Select the compatibility mode and other options that you want to apply, then click OK.

In addition to different operating system compatibility modes, you can also run applications in reduced colour modes or with administrator permissions. You can apply the settings for everyone who uses the computer or only for you.