Rocking the free upgrade to Windows 10

[Web Police]

One more tip. If you guys are like me, you like having stuff in certain places and when new versions of Windows come out, the
rearrangement thing can be daunting. So here's the tip: Right clicking on the Start Menu icon gives you ALL the familiar quick
access buttons to stuff you probably use a lot like me; e.g. control panel, computer management, programs and applications.
You can also search "My Stuff" with magnifying glass and then pin your commonly used buttons either to the Start Menu tiles and/or
the task bar ... which is what I do for my favorite tools.

Good luck with your reinstall John!

Yeah I figurd that out as well as the log off, not sure why reboot wouldn't do the same as log off with a fresh boot.

One other thing, probably good idea to make a restore point as soon as you get 10 to boot initially.

 

[orange]

I was mistaken, you right click on your name at the top and chose SIGN OUT. That is logging off I gather.

If they'd just quit renaming every stupid thing...

 

[BlazeES]

Yep, that is where I downloaded my thumbdrive installs. The first upgrade went without a hitch and I used it for several hours, when I updated the icon sizes on the task bar it asked me to log off, so I shut down and rebootet on reboot it would look like it was loading normally and then end up with a desktop image with the network taskbar icon, but no desktop icons and no mouse pointer.

I eneded up using F8 to get the built in recovery console, but alas I did not yet have any restore points. I tried the fixboot option and it couln't complete that either I tried just about everything and as a last resort tried the roll back to last build, which hung up too, but a hard reset got it going and I am back to win 7 for now.

I may either retry on this computer later on or try a clean install if the retry doesn't work. In the mean time I'll practice on a few back computers.

Recovery options will be limited unless you have a system pre-loaded with Windows 10 from the factory.
In lieu of that, a Window Image File will be the next best thing for catastrophic recovery unless you use something
like Acronis or whatever. One thing I dig about Win X is how fast it makes older computers that don't have UEFI.

USB tools were hit or miss for me. I have a Pro version created for my main rig that works great but every attempt
I made to get a USB Home edition on USB failed and at differing times of the process. Buggy!

 

[BlazeES]

One other thing, probably good idea to make a restore point as soon as you get 10 to boot initially.

Windows won't do a restore point build inherently until certain manifests are built.
I'd recommend you do one pass of Windows Update then force a restore point build.

 

[BlazeES]

I was mistaken, you right click on your name at the top and chose SIGN OUT. That is logging off I gather.

If they'd just quit renaming every stupid thing...

"Shut Down or Sign Out" is the path on the Start Menu (right click method).
There you will find all the common sh ! t you would have previously found via the Start Menu button arrangement.

 

[Web Police]

Recovery options will be limited unless you have a system pre-loaded with Windows 10 from the factory.
In lieu of that, a Window Image File will be the next best thing for catastrophic recovery unless you use something
like Acronis or whatever. One thing I dig about Win X is how fast it makes older computers that don't have UEFI.

USB tools were hit or miss for me. I have a Pro version created for my main rig that works great but every attempt
I made to get a USB Home edition on USB failed and at differing times of the process. Buggy!

Well of course I didn't have a window image file, I have a complete clone of the drive. The console roll back option worked but of course most of the win os folders have been renamed. what the upgrade did was install win10 but leave an intact win 7 install which explains how it was able to install and revert in 10 minutes. Also explains why I have lots of win 10 residue 30gb left on my drive. I'll have to clone over the original win 7 install to get rid of that clutter. Obviously a clean install would be better.

 

[orange]

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Grab the right one ... 32 or 64 bit. And don't eff around with the USB option, it's borked. Download the ISO file and burn the DVD.

If you're asked to log-off, they call it "Sign Out" now and you get to it by right clicking on the Start Menu icon ... bottom left corner.

Something else that helps some installs is this:

Uninstall any dedicate graphics card drivers while you're still in your current version of Windows.
Then use the standard Windows graphics drivers built-in to whatever version you currently are using.
After you get to the point of letting Win X do all the Windows Update downloads and associated reboots,
then download & install the Windows X drivers for you graphics card/chip. If your card is old and doesn't
have those ... used the latest available. Win 7 or 8.1 drivers shouldn't be an issue in most cases.

Graphics drivers seem to be the one Achilles heal to a smooth upgrade for older rigs.

It's because of the new version of ActiveX I have gathered.

I had no problems with the built-in Intel chipset, except the hang on the old 7 shutdown screen that I finally solved by switching it off and restarting manually, then bingo.

 

[orange]

Well of course I didn't have a window image file, I have a complete clone of the drive. The console roll back option worked but of course most of the win os folders have been renamed. what the upgrade did was install win10 but leave an intact win 7 install which explains how it was able to install and revert in 10 minutes. Also explains why I have lots of win 10 residue 30gb left on my drive. I'll have to clone over the original win 7 install to get rid of that clutter. Obviously a clean install would be better.

No...you aren't overwriting 7, and leave the data from 10 there. Try running the Get Windows 10 app over again and see if the DL is still there to reinstall or whatever.

BTW I sent you a different email entitled RE: Here is what my budget is for May...from APRIL 2014! that contains the conversation from mid to late APRL 2014 we had about those 'builders' or refurbishers discs you burned for me, not the licensed 7 DVD you bought for me later. It was less than an hour ago, please check your email.

‏

 

[Web Police]

I may install 10 with a clean install or maybe an upgrade, but I don't trust the MS win 7 rolls back so the win 10 files will go and I wil stat a clean upgrade. They have enough problems with the upgrade then to let a bunch of uneeded files fill up my solid state drives.


I responded as well as I can remember, not sure what your question about the install discs is though?

 

[orange]

Responded to, your option was basically less than a third of getting a license here, and I'd need 2-3.

 

[BlazeES]

Well of course I didn't have a window image file, I have a complete clone of the drive. The console roll back option worked but of course most of the win os folders have been renamed. what the upgrade did was install win10 but leave an intact win 7 install which explains how it was able to install and revert in 10 minutes. Also explains why I have lots of win 10 residue 30gb left on my drive. I'll have to clone over the original win 7 install to get rid of that clutter. Obviously a clean install would be better.

After you clone recover, I'd run the full suite of DISM commands to see if your libraries have that typical fouled up thing going on.
The upgrade should go smoothly if your 7 or 8.1 library stores and registry are solid.

 

[orange]

DISM?

 

[BlazeES]

DISM?

Deployment Image Servicing and Management

Without going into a huge novel length explanation,
since Vista, Windows has built-in tools you can run
in the cmd prompt or powershell windows. Corrupt
driver, library and component stores lead to a majority of
update problems and instability. DISM can fix these
and if not, then an in-place reinstall needs to be performed
before there is any hope of a stable upgrade to follow-on
versions of Windows. A complete, unbroken Windows OS
needs to have all the image components intact and available.
Think of it as the pieces of the active Windows image within the
bowels of the OS. DISM also solves a huge list of day-to-day
operational issues ... even if you don't plan on upgrading to 10.

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

There are also powershell command lines that do the same stuff.
These command tools are only effective if you run them in Administrator mode.

eightforums.com and other venues have awesome directions on how to use these.
I live by them ...

 

[orange]

If you mean that System Recovery doesn't work well, maybe that's it.

 

[BlazeES]

If you mean that System Recovery doesn't work well, maybe that's it.

It's late, .

My point is this,
if the foundational basis of an OS is borked to begin with,
then not only will "current OS stability" be unpredictable,
but migrating that instability over to say - Win 10 - will
only compound matters further.

Trust me, I platform configure for a living.

If drivers are all up-to-date and DISM reports a clean bill of health,
everything from System Restore to Windows Update to Windows ability
to self-correct will all be golden. I'd avoid upgrading any OS without a DISM thumbs up,
because corrupted OS stores = never ending hair pulling x infinity.

Almost 2 AM,
Laters man .............................

 

[orange]

I don't know much about all that, it did restore Flash and it's probably broken our vB again.

 

[fitz43]

Deployment Image Servicing and Management

Without going into a huge novel length explanation,
since Vista, Windows has built-in tools you can run
in the cmd prompt or powershell windows. Corrupt
driver, library and component stores lead to a majority of
update problems and instability. DISM can fix these
and if not, then an in-place reinstall needs to be performed
before there is any hope of a stable upgrade to follow-on
versions of Windows. A complete, unbroken Windows OS
needs to have all the image components intact and available.
Think of it as the pieces of the active Windows image within the
bowels of the OS. DISM also solves a huge list of day-to-day
operational issues ... even if you don't plan on upgrading to 10.

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

There are also powershell command lines that do the same stuff.
They are only effective if you run them in Administrator mode.

eightforums.com and other venues have awesome directions on how to use these.
I live by them ...

Thanks for posting this.

 

[ksrigg]

My only question is........why is it free?

Microsoft has never provided a free upgrade.

I did download the "free" version prior to it being universally available and ended up having a computer which was toast. In order to fix my computer my solution was buying a new hard drive and doing a fresh load of Windows 7.

Never did like Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. I had nothing but problems.

Now that I am back to Windows 7, I am a happy camper.

I'm just not smart enough to do an upgrade. Fresh installs only for me...

 

[orange]

HOW did you kill a hard drive with a Microsoft build candidate? ARE YOU SURE???

PS I may have found a driver somewhere for the 7800 GTX but it's not from NVidia so I'm gonna guinea pig it on a temporary bulder's disc for 7 I'll use for a short while offline on another chassis.

 

[BlazeES]

It's only free for one year, to those that have active & licensed Windows 7 and 8.1 machines.
That presents a situation with much wiggle room but that's an entirely different conversation.
In general practice, if you build a new machine you are paying full price for Windows 10.

In any event, other than the packaging - the rearranged wrapping that departs from Win 7 &-
version 8.1 is hardly a broke-dick-dog operating system. Windows 8 was and the huge shift to 8.1
was rolled out free because of the demand from the user base. Windows 10 is a free upgrade because
it's the final ecosystem shift by Microsoft that will pull together computers, phones and more.
Microsoft also wants to drive wide spread adoption in light of the 8/8.1 debacle.
It's worth mentioning that Windows 8 is ineligible for direct upgrade to Windows 10.
Think about that for a minute.

Here's something else worth noting. If you don't like 8.1 or 10 as presented - structure wise -
you can download and install one of many applications that gives you back the traditional
Start Menu. Classic Shell is one and it's awesome and free. I use it on my main computer
because I do development work on it and want that compact structure and familiarity of the
old tried & true menu.

My only question is........why is it free?

Microsoft has never provided a free upgrade.

I did download the "free" version prior to it being universally available and ended up having a computer which was toast. In order to fix my computer my solution was buying a new hard drive and doing a fresh load of Windows 7.

Never did like Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. I had nothing but problems.

Now that I am back to Windows 7, I am a happy camper.

I'm just not smart enough to do an upgrade. Fresh installs only for me...