If you are reading this, you probably know that Microsoft didn’t pushed Windows 10 to all Windows 8.1 devices, as they stated initially. This was sad news for Windows Phone users, and many people started leaving the platform since then. Windows 10 Mobile requires more resources, and so do it’s apps. Most devices that were pulled was because of internal storage, or RAM, or old CPU’s mostly because they are Dual Core.
But, there are still ways to get Windows 10. It has been a long way, and on this exact moment I am writing this, things got a lot better. Running Redstone 1 on my Lumia 530 isn’t a horrific experience at all, but with 512MB of RAM there are tasks were things get bad such browsing. Also, multitasking is nearly impossible, and when you switch between apps you will most likely see a Resuming… screen. But hey, light tasks are just fine and overall the usage is smooth. Mail, Calendar, music, texting, even Office, everything runs well on Lumia 530.
I must say, once I tried Windows 10 Mobile, rolling back to Windows Phone 8.1 is a clear NO. The productivity is much higher on W10, because apps have much more features. Because the OS and apps DO MORE, it’s expected it requires more resources, and 512MB of RAM is very tight. So, I understand why Microsoft pulled those handsets. Could Microsoft invest more on the OS and optimize it for these devices? Probably, but that didn't happen so far, and probably will never happen any time soon.
On this tutorial, I will guide you how to upgrade your old Windows Phone 8.1 to 10 in case you were abandoned by Microsoft. In addition, I added a trick for devices like Lumia 530, because the update requires a lot of free space. You probably won’t get the enough memory to update, but there is a workaround.
What do you need?
First, let me summarize what method are we going to use. We will simply trick the Windows Update by changing registry values about your device information. We will make Windows Update think you have, for example, a Lumia 640 which is supported by Windows 10.
To accomplish that we need a registry editor. However, to install that, we need a special app. To deploy that special app, we need Windows Phone SDK (developer tools). Oh, you also need an SD Card, otherwise this doesn’t work. Seem to be complicated? I will try to make it easy 😉
Let’s start by downloading all the stuff we need and install the mentioned SDKs.
- Windows Phone 8/8.1 SDK. You can get a Lite version here, although if you have Visual Studio 2012/2013/2015/2017 you probably have this installed. Check under Start Menu < Windows Phone 8.1 SDK. The Windows Phone 8.0 SDK also works! If you download the LITE versions, just unzip the content and simply run InstallWP81SDKToolsLite.bat (without admin rights).
- CustomWPSystem_0601.xap
- CustomPFD003.xap
Getting started
On this section I will guide you how to deploy .XAP files using Microsoft SDK’s. Then we will modify the registry, join Insider program and talk about the workaround for low internal storage devices.
Deploy CustomWPSystem and use CustomPFD to edit registry
- Register your device with a License Developer. On WP8.1 SDK run Windows Phone 8.1 Phone Registration. You find this executable under Windows Phone 8.1 SDK on Start Menu. You should get a successful message. Make sure during the process your phone is not locked, otherwise it will fail.
- Deploy CustomWPSystem_0601.xap using Windows Phone Application Deployment 8.1 or 8.0, both work well. Just open the program from Start Menu, same folder as above, select the correct XAP file and apply.
- Go to the Store, install Windows Insider and Preview for Developers apps, both from Microsoft. Move the Preview for Developers to SD Card memory. You can do it by opening Storage Sense (you can find on Settings or App list).
- Move CustomPFD003.xap to SD card using Windows Explorer on PC. You can’t download files from browser directly to your phone, as far as I know, therefore you need to save the file somewhere on your PC’s hard drive and then move it to your SD Card. On Windows Explorer, under Computer, you should see your Windows Device.
- Open CustomWPSystem (check App List, if the deployment was successful you will find it).
- Give it SD Card permissions. Just tap the red label SD Card Permissions and browse to SD card, probably the last item, open it and then tap Apply. The label should became green.
- Select Preview for developers app. By default, this one is selected if you use the version I mentioned.
- Tap Select Xap. Now, browse to SD Card and select the CustomPFD003.xap file.
- Tap Apply XAP and wait. If the app crashes, make sure Preview for Developers is installed on SD Card and not internal storage. You can check that on Storage Sense. If you keep getting problems, try to uninstall the app from phone and deploy it using step 2. If the error persists, try to use Windows Phone Power Tools that lets you deploy unsigned XAPs and so on. You can get the tool here
- Go to App list, open Preview for developers. You will notice the icon is different. What we have done is installing a registry editor, the Custom PFD. Because we can’t do it using Windows Phone SDK’s, this CustomWPSystem app is a workaround that replaces an installed app and keeps the same privileges as Preview for developers.
- You need to change two registry keys values. Browse to HKLM/SYSTEM/Platform/DeviceTargetingInfo
- Change the following keys:
- PhoneManufacturerModelName (e.g RM-xxxx_xxx) [typically, may have more or less numbers]
- PhoneModelName (e.g Lumia 535)
- What you need to type there is a RM code and Model Name that’s supported by Windows 10. I recommend you choose similar handsets, for example, I have a Lumia 530, so I will try a 535 or 532. Some experts on this matter say it really doesn’t matter because Windows will always pick the correct drivers. I must say I tried several settings: Lumia 830, 640, 535, and so on. Never had issues. Need inspiration for a RM code and model name? Check Lumia Firmware. Anyway, I used RM-1032 and Lumia 532.
- This is the list of supported devices:
- Lumia 930
- Lumia 640
- Lumia 640XL
- Lumia 730
- Lumia 735
- Lumia 830
- Lumia 532
- Lumia 535
- Lumia 540
- Lumia 635 1GB
- Lumia 636 1GB
- Lumia 638 1GB
- Lumia 430
- Lumia 435
- BLU Win HD w510u
- BLU Win HD LTE x150q
- MCJ Madosma Q501
- Lumia 1520
- Now that you edited the registry key values, open Windows Insider app and join Fast or Slow Ring. You might need to restart your phone to join the Insider program. (if you have a Lumia with 4GB internal storage, read the next section).
- Finally, go to Settings < phone update and Check for updates. You should get the Windows 10 update! You will get 10586.107 (threshold 2).
Windows 10 update is big… The trick for 4GB internal storage devices (e.g. Lumia 530)
If you have a 4GB internal storage device, upgrading from Windows Phone 8.1 to Windows 10 is painful. On my Lumia 530 is almost impossible to free more than 1.2 GB of memory, and that’s not enough to install Windows 10. The trick here is to force updates through SD Card, an awesome feature from Windows Phone 8.1. The down side, is that this process is extremely slow. Using a Class 4 SD Card took up to 4 hours to install Windows 10. However, using a Class 10 SD Card it took 1 hour. You need to be patient!
So, how do we force an update through SD Card? WE FILL INTERNAL STORAGE! That’s right! Windows Phone will ONLY install updates using the SD Card if it notices that you have low free storage. For some reason, my phone thinks only 900MB are required, which is clearly false. That might be download size, but the installation process requires more space.
There is a way on Windows (PC) to create dummy files. They are basically junk files with 0 bits or random bits. You can tell which file size you want, which fits your needs.
So, how do we force an update through SD Card? WE FILL INTERNAL STORAGE! That’s right! Windows Phone will ONLY install updates using the SD Card if it notices that you have low free storage. For some reason, my phone thinks only 900MB are required, which is clearly false. That might be download size, but the installation process requires more space.
There is a way on Windows (PC) to create dummy files. They are basically junk files with 0 bits or random bits. You can tell which file size you want, which fits your needs.
- On the PC, run command prompt as administrator. We will use fsutil. fsutil performs tasks that are related to file allocation table (FAT) and NTFS file systems, such as managing reparse points, managing sparse files, or dismounting a volume.
- The syntax is very simple: fsutil file createnew <filename>. As an example, fsutil file createnew C:Dummy 1000000000. This creates a 1GB junk file. The size units are bytes, you can adjust it as you need. Just ensure you will have very low free space on your device.
- Move that file to your device’s internal memory.
- Join Insider Program using Windows Insider app. You can join Fast or Slow Ring. It doesn’t matter.
- Check for updates and everything should go well. Again, the download will also be more slow.
- Once the download starts, go to your phone memory and delete the Dummy file. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. If you skip this step, installation will fail. I guess Windows is not able to delete the dummy file for some reason I don’t know.
- When you restart, you should see a slightly different screen. In addition to the traditional spinning gears, there is a micro SD Card icon. I guess the icon is basically telling you TO NOT REMOVE IT DURING THE PROCESS. Yeah, don’t do it 😊
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