Upgrade Windows POS Ready 7 to Windows 10

16 Jan 2021

Retailers running Windows Embedded POS Ready 7 in their Point of Sale estate will know that this retail-specific operating system will become end-of-life in October 2021.

This milestone has implications for systems support, security and associated costs. Retailers will face increased costs if they decide to maintain an unsupported operating system and, without the implementation of additional security measures, risk increased vulnerability to security threats and non-compliance with security standards such as PCI DSS. So retailers need to start thinking now about migrating their POS estate to Windows 10.

Unfortunately, there is no direct migration from Windows POS Ready 7 to Windows 10, so a fresh installation of the operating system and software is required. MWC Partners’ approach to this upgrade is expedient and proven. We create a suitable Windows installation, configured to meet your individual requirements, before isolating an image of your POS application, along with any other software running on your target devices. Once the final image passes your QA, it is used to create a project Gold Image, ready to be cloned onto a ‘seed-stock’ of HDDs or SSDs, ahead of physical installation.

Our engineers will visit your stores, to a mutually agreed schedule, and simply swap out the drives one at a time, perform any other agreed checks on your POS devices and leave each on-site terminal upgraded and ready to trade. Removed drives are returned to our facility to be reformatted and recycled, ready for use in the next batch of store visits.

This proven approach is ideal not only for users of the Cegid Retail Y2 application, but also for Retail-J users who may wish to further extend the life of that solution. We have demonstrated Retail-J running successfully on Windows 10 and this solution is now live in-store. We have also proven the upgrade for a Cegid Retail Y2 installation currently on POS Ready 7 which will go live in the spring of 2021, and we already support other Cegid Retail Y2 users using the Windows 10 POS platform.

MWC Partners can also help evaluate the migration of other retail store software to Windows 10. Scheduled engineer visits to stores present an ideal opportunity to implement other upgrades, such as switching HDDs to SSDs, subject to hardware requirements, swapping out peripherals or performing an audit of installed equipment. Contact us to discuss your requirements.