What are you doing to prepare for Windows 10 update?

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mi7chy

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Should've done it out of the box but on a branded Thinkpad Helix2 tablet which I'll be using as the test device since it'll benefit most from the upgrade I backed up the factory recovery partition using Windows 8.1 'create a recovery drive' onto a USB stick. It suggested a 16GB but ended up using more ~21GB so fortunately had a 32GB handy. Also, confirmed the newly created stick is bootable. In theory, this will allow reverting back to clean factory Windows 8.1.

What I'm weighing next to see if it's worthwhile in time saving is using Windows 8.1 built-in tools to do a system image backup of the current state versus doing factory restore, uninstall bloat, customizations, install OS patches and install apps. Only roadblock is if it's even doable over WIFI especially the restore part. Anyone have experience in this area?

Helpful info and forum regarding the upgrade:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq?ocid=win10_auxapp_ReserveConf_win10faq

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10_1-win_upgrade
 
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Getting an SSD loading a fresh version of 7 on it and then upgrading to 10. Trying to avoid any problems with my primary drive,
 
watching out for KB2990214 and KB3035583 and never installing them
 
is clicking that notification in Windows 7 the only way to get the free upgrade or can I get it another way?
 
Only checking the vaguely worded "important updates" to avoid adware from being installed. :p
 
Instead of making a hat, I'm using my tinfoil to cook some taters on the grill. In the meantime, I clicked the button and reserved my copy. We'll see what happens... I can recover from whatever happens...
 
polonyc2 said:
is clicking that notification in Windows 7 the only way to get the free upgrade or can I get it another way?
Click to expand...

Probably want to refer to the FAQ and forum linked in the first post. That's the only official publicized way so far. There might be other ways or loopholes but too soon to tell until people get the install files and understand how the upgrade eligibility is enforced. For example, with Windows 8.x upgrade you can actually do a clean install with a common placeholder key then activate with upgrade key.
 
I'm going to wait for MS to release a DVD full install OEM version of Windows 10...not taking any chances that upgrading will invalidate my Windows 7 license
 
Nothing, I'm just sitting quietly and embracing Windows 7 until it's no longer supported.
 
Easy...system image.....try it, if yes - ok, if no - re-load image/
 
Bought a WD Blue drive and cloned my Windows 7 drive. Any problems with 10 and I'll just swap them out and go back to Windows 7. Also bought a new sound card (Sound Blaster Z) so I don't have to wait for drivers (Scheduled for October) for my XFI Titanium HD.
 
I will make a working image of my main drive just in case. Then I will do it and move on. (Oh, and disable Malwarebytes as well as remove Virtualbox.)
 
mi7chy said:
Probably want to refer to the FAQ and forum linked in the first post. That's the only official publicized way so far. There might be other ways or loopholes but too soon to tell until people get the install files and understand how the upgrade eligibility is enforced. For example, with Windows 8.x upgrade you can actually do a clean install with a common placeholder key then activate with upgrade key.
Click to expand...

I would not be surprised that after downloading the files, there will be an option to create bootable media. I recall there is a way to do that with Windows 8.1 as well.
 
absolutely nothing. I'll wait for the masses to beta tes-- er go through the first few rounds of Windows Updates. :)

But, save the ISO files!
 
installing it on my usual victim notebook and if me = likey, backup and migrate meaning wiping and fresh installing on it all home toy boxes (4). will bother with that when its released because im so happy with win8 for the past three years that i didnt ever bother trying 10, my assumption is they gonna fuck it up, have to test it though.
 
Not going to upgrade anytime soon.

I prefer waiting for things to settle down, better drivers and application support etc. before moving to Win 10.

My only reason to upgrade is gaming in DX12. So that can wait. Not like we'll see plenty of DX12 games at launch anyway
 
Depending on the availability of an ISO, I'm backing up a lot of misc. files and getting ready for a clean install. Hopefully on UEFI this time.
 
Preparing to convert ESXi-01 to a Windows Server 2012 R2 box so that my workstation doesn't have to be on all the time for my Inifiniband network to function. Instead, my NAS/vCenter Server box will be an all-in-one, using Storage Spaces instead of ZFSonLinux. With any luck, they'll enable RDMA on Windows 10 instead of restricting it to Server OS's like they did with Windows 8/8.1. This will of course require renaming all my other ESXi boxes, because starting at 02 seems silly. It will also bring me down to 9 ESXi hosts, which makes me wonder if the preceding "0" is necessary. I'll probably also pull the Infiniband card out of the Windows 10 workstation, and use 10Gb fiber instead. Knowing Mellanox, there will be no driver support for the Connect-X2 cards. While I've got everything down, I may as well even out the RAM between the hosts. A simple Windows server doesn't need 32GB, but my virtualization hosts could always use more.

So what am I doing? I'm redoing my entire setup.
 
I would love to be able to clean install Windows 10 from a USB stick / DVD, but if that's not possible, then I will just reformat, install Windows 8, immediately upgrade to 8.1, and immediately upgrade to 10. Upgrades feel really dirty with an old install, and a new OS is a great reason to start fresh.
 
PornoSatan said:
I would love to be able to clean install Windows 10 from a USB stick / DVD, but if that's not possible, then I will just reformat, install Windows 8, immediately upgrade to 8.1, and immediately upgrade to 10. Upgrades feel really dirty with an old install, and a new OS is a great reason to start fresh.
Click to expand...

Reason you don't just start with installing 8.1? All of my Win 8.0 installs I just start with the 8.1 ESD, no reason to install 8.0 --> 8.1 (at least in my case).
 
If Microsoft offers the free update for a full year (and no more), then I will simply wait until 2016 in late Spring or early Summer when Windows 10 will have matured.
 
ir0nw0lf said:
Reason you don't just start with installing 8.1? All of my Win 8.0 installs I just start with the 8.1 ESD, no reason to install 8.0 --> 8.1 (at least in my case).
Click to expand...

Indeed. You should be able to go straight to 8.1. Not sure how public they are about it, but there are ISO's you can get from MS, too.

I'm also planning on going this route if there's no way to clean install Windows 10. With previous OS's you could always install the OS with no serial # and then install it again as an "upgrade" on top of the no serial version. A little bit of a pain, but it worked well enough. At the very least I'm hoping that still works. I think the important question is how serials are going to work.
 
There's really no need to go from 8 to 8.1 when you can install clean 8.1 from ISO with 'generic placeholder key' (Google search this) then once installed activate with upgrade key.

Anyhow, went through the exercise of creating system image backup of 8.1 by running built-in 'sdclt.exe' from admin command prompt to a second 32GB USB stick. Installed Windows 10 build 10122 preview then restored 8.1 fine by 1st booting up system restore USB stick then feeding it the 2nd stick with restore image. 10 was missing audio so no sound (tried Realtek's 10 driver but no go), it was using basic video although it seem to play 1080p YouTube without choppiness, various other missing system device drivers, etc.

Things learned along the way. Had a spare SanDisk 64GB micro SDXC card that I would've preferred to use for the 4 to 5x faster write speed vs USB stick but SanDisk seems to have locked it into exFAT only while system image tool wants NTFS. Couldn't even format it with SD Association official tool. Have to call SanDisk support to see what's up with that and get them to exchange it.

Ready for 10 release barring any driver availability issues with a tested working roll back to 8.1 plan.
 
the_servicer said:
If Microsoft offers the free update for a full year (and no more), then I will simply wait until 2016 in late Spring or early Summer when Windows 10 will have matured.
Click to expand...

Or you could try out the preview right now and see it works just as well as 8.1 already.
 
Sp33dFr33k said:
Nothing, I'm just sitting quietly and embracing Windows 7 until it's no longer supported.
Click to expand...

Exactly. My PC has been running rock solid for 3 years and there is zero reason to upgrade hardware or software at this point. It ain't broke, so I ain't going to fix it.
 
I'm planning to clone my current setup a few days before release, then just let the upgrade do it's thing. If all works fine, then great, if not, I'll just swap my cloned drive back in.
 
Hornet said:
Not going to upgrade anytime soon.

I prefer waiting for things to settle down, better drivers and application support etc. before moving to Win 10.

My only reason to upgrade is gaming in DX12. So that can wait. Not like we'll see plenty of DX12 games at launch anyway
Click to expand...

the_servicer said:
If Microsoft offers the free update for a full year (and no more), then I will simply wait until 2016 in late Spring or early Summer when Windows 10 will have matured.
Click to expand...
Both of these. I'm probably going to end up waiting until the last possible minute to upgrade, and then do a clean install of 8.1 -> 10. Everything I want to keep is backed up on a 1TB HDD and 1TB external.
 
Armenius said:
Both of these. I'm probably going to end up waiting until the last possible minute to upgrade, and then do a clean install of 8.1 -> 10. Everything I want to keep is backed up on a 1TB HDD and 1TB external.
Click to expand...

I would never wait until the last minute. For me, sure as the sun rises in the east, I would forget about it and miss out. Anyways, I am upgrading on day one anyways. :D However, I am cloning my drive just in case something goes wrong because at home, I have lots of games installed.
 
Gaming performance still isn't quite what Win 8.1 is. Drivers are almost assuredly the culprit, though. Still, it was enough to get me to go back to 8.1.
 
polonyc2 said:
I'm going to wait for MS to release a DVD full install OEM version of Windows 10...not taking any chances that upgrading will invalidate my Windows 7 license
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Will you be able to do that legally?

I too want to do a clean install, and I also want to retain a Win 7 partition until I'm satisfied that I can get Win 10 to do what I want. After all, we have a full year to do this free upgrade. Why rush in?
 
Something to think about if you intend on cloning your Win 7/8 system to later restore if Win10 isnt to your liking...

We dont know if the old windows key will still be valid after the upgrade.
I cant imagine they will continue to allow both keys to be valid otherwise you could run 2 machines at the same time from the one license purchase.
It would also not suit their plan of getting people to stay on windows 10.

This brings up another issue.
If the old OS key is invalidated, you may not be able to do an OS re-install.
It might be that you need to save an image of the OS or risk losing it.

I'm also worried about my current home license that I can transfer to another PC - being tied to the exact hardware at the time of the OS upgrade.
If I upgrade my PCs hardware I may suddenly not have a valid OS license.
Unacceptable risk.

There are too many unqualified issues.
When I am asked for advice on what to do, I have to say wait and see what the situation is after launch.
There is too much info being touted as fact when there is no proof and there is plenty of reason to believe they could pull a fast one.
 
Nenu said:
We dont know if the old windows key will still be valid after the upgrade.
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It probably won't become invalidated. The last time the key was supposedly "invalidated" with Vista upgrades from XP, it turned out to just be a rumor based on a bad reading of the terms. The license terms users agree to for the upgrade are what prevents someone from using both. There's nothing preventing it if people actually want to run both.
 
Demon10000 said:
Instead of making a hat, I'm using my tinfoil to cook some taters on the grill. In the meantime, I clicked the button and reserved my copy. We'll see what happens... I can recover from whatever happens...
Click to expand...

You reserved a .. digital download. Thank goodness, just in case they run out.

If you turn that tinfoil hat upside down it makes a great kool-aid chalice.
 
They won't run out of downloads, but that doesn't mean it'll be free forever. Anyway, if you're really concerned, you could buy a shiny new Vidya card and an oem license for 7, install that, and upgrade it to 10. That way you'd have two license keys and wouldn't have to worry about losing your original.

...not that I really care. I'm going to install 10, and if it sucks I still have my ArchLinux partition. :]
 
Microsoft promotes right to downgrade to Windows 7 when you buy Windows 8.x license so I don't see that changing. If they really need to enforce one copy at a time it makes sense that they reuse the existing license key or link them together.
 
I've been running the technical preview for awhile and I'd say while I hate the way settings have all moved around, 10 is definitely a lot faster than 7.

I view it a lot like the Vista/7 cycle -- Vista made a lot of under the hood improvements but sucked when it came to UX, 7 made no real improvements under the hood but nailed the UX.

That said... the start menu might still be a little too tablet-y for some.

I'll just leave this here.
http://classicshell.net/
 
I'm going to put the image on my flash drive and install it.

I've been on the preview since the very start and see no meaningful reason not to continue using it.
 
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