Windows 7 pro to Windows 10 pro - Upgrade or Clean Install?

Maidhci

I have a Toshiba Tecra with W7 pro which was pre-installed on purchase. I have not given any serious consideration to migrating to W10 before now, hoping that most bugs, fixes etc. etc. will have been corrected etc. Would like to make a decision in the coming weeks/months and am wondering whether the best method is to upgrade or do a clean install?

I have read various articles etc. etc. but as I am not very proficient in these matters, I cannot determine which method to follow.

Which method is considered to give the best end result post installation?

Do I lose out on any pre-packaged programs that were installed with W7 installation etc. etc. by choosing the clean install route?

Also, does upgrading mean patching the existing OS system with W10 and effectively leaving the original W7 in situ?

Any help / recommendation / guidance greatly appreciated.

I'd always recommend going the clean install route where possible. Quite often, strange issues can occur with an upgrade which are hard to diagnose or fix.

You will lose the Toshiba software with a clean install but personally I'd see it as a good thing. Toshiba put so much bloat on their laptops out of the box. You would also need to reinstall any of your applications.

The Windows 7 install is not left in situ with an upgrade but you can roll back within one month of doing the upgrade.

Buford T Justice

I agree with the clean install. The amount of bloatware that companies put on machines these days is rediculous, and tbf generally none of it is actually used.

Maidhci

Karsini wrote: »

I'd always recommend going the clean install route where possible. Quite often, strange issues can occur with an upgrade which are hard to diagnose or fix.

You will lose the Toshiba software with a clean install but personally I'd see it as a good thing. Toshiba put so much bloat on their laptops out of the box. You would also need to reinstall any of your applications.

The Windows 7 install is not left in situ with an upgrade but you can roll back within one month of doing the upgrade.

Thanks for that Karsini - I presume I will need to download all the required Toshiba drivers together with some or all of the following: Toshiba - Assist;Eco Utility;HDD Protect; Health Monitor; Service Station; Tempro etc. or is this what you describe as bloatware?

Very much so! You may not need any of them. Run Windows Update after the install completes and it should get most, if not all, the drivers you need. Then just download what's left over.

The only Toshiba component you really need apart from drivers is the Toshiba System Driver (or Value Added Package in older versions of Windows).

Skatedude

Unless you buy a copy, you have to upgrade. It creates a win 10 account during the process. But then you can do a clean install AFAIK.

Skatedude

Skatedude wrote: »

Unless you buy a copy, you have to upgrade. It creates a win 10 account during the process. But then you can do a clean install AFAIK.

Not true. You can activate a clean install of Windows 10 with the existing Windows 7 or 8 key. Despite what a lot of people say, the activation has absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft accounts. I never used one and I'm activated fine with a key from a boxed copy of Windows 8.

Skatedude

Karsini wrote: »

Not true. You can activate a clean install of Windows 10 with the existing Windows 7 or 8 key. Despite what a lot of people say, the activation has absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft accounts. I never used one and I'm activated fine with a key from a boxed copy of Windows 8.

I stand corrected, I do remember it now, 1 of my pc's were fine to clean install, one was not as it was an oem copy of win 8 on it and woudn't accept the oem key for a clean install, so i had to reinstall win 8 then upgrade to 10.

The majority of installs I've done have been via Windows Deployment Services. Any Windows 10 Pro clean deployment I've done to a machine with a Windows 8 key in its firmware has activated automatically, without me having to do a thing.

Maidhci

Karsini wrote: »

The majority of installs I've done have been via Windows Deployment Services. Any Windows 10 Pro clean deployment I've done to a machine with a Windows 8 key in its firmware has activated automatically, without me having to do a thing.

Not sure what is meant here - I do not have a Windows 7 disc, it was preloaded on the laptop with a Windows 8 disc included as part of the package. I have ascertained the serial number of the Windows 7 installation via Belarc software but from what I have read, I did not think I would need it? I assumed that the required W7 serial number would be automatically picked up as part of the download process? I better read through the notes again, it is becoming rather confusing at this stage! Thanks for your input.

Maidhci

Maidhci wrote: »

Not sure what is meant here - I do not have a Windows 7 disc, it was preloaded on the laptop with a Windows 8 disc included as part of the package. I have ascertained the serial number of the Windows 7 installation via Belarc software but from what I have read, I did not think I would need it? I assumed that the required W7 serial number would be automatically picked up as part of the download process? I better read through the notes again, it is becoming rather confusing at this stage! Thanks for your input.

If you do an upgrade, you won't need the key, but you will if you clean install.

Maidhci

Karsini wrote: »

If you do an upgrade, you won't need the key, but you will if you clean install.

Thank you for all the information. As my laptop came pre-installed with W7, it is an OEM version without a disc, do you consider that I can do a clean install with the serial number of the OEM?

A previous post indicates that the product key of the OEM version was not acceptable etc......

''one was not as it was an oem copy of win 8 on it and woudn't accept the oem key for a clean install, so i had to reinstall win 8 then upgrade to 10.''

Obviously, as I want to make the transfer as smooth and time efficient as possible without unnecessarily duplicating tasks, I prefer to have covered all aspects before proceeding with this.

You can use OEM keys for clean Windows 10 installs. I do it all the time.

duridian

Maidhci, if you havev a legit activated Windows 7, there is a way to upgrade by clean install and get your valid Windows 10 licence and activation, same as of you had done an upgrade through Windows Update from Windows 7.

You would first of all need to create a Windows 10 install disc, either a DVD or USB key.
Microsoft offer a easy to create this by downloading the Windows 10 install using a free tool called Media Creation Tool.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10ISO

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-media-creation-tool-create-installation-media-upgrade

Once you have created the installer disc, there is a trick to saving the legit activation information from your current Windows 7, which must be done before anything else and saved.
In the "sources" folder of any Windows 10 install disc you will find a file called "gatherosstate.exe". This file is so important, and is the key to doing a nice clean install.

I won't go through the whole explanation, as the link I'll put below will explain it all, but basically if you drag this " gatherosstate.exe" to your old Windows and run it as Administrator, it will create a "Genuineticket.xml" file. Save this file somewhere safe, as it contains all the info needed to legitimately activate your clean Windows 10 as you are entitled to do!

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/23354-clean-install-windows-10-directly-without-having-upgrade-first.html

Just to add a few final tips of my own to what they say on that site to guarantee success.

I would recommend that you install Windows 10 without an internet connection, and stay offline for the time being, just in case the activation tries to run automatically before you have a chance to restore your valid data.

If you are dealing with a laptop, I'd advise to use a USB mouse during install, as the drivers for your touchpad may not load during the install leaving you without cursor control.

I'd also recommend grabbing any drivers for your pc from the manufacturers website, before hand and saving them to a USB stick.

And lastly, I don't know if they mention it on that site, but the "ProgramData" folder is hidden by default, so in Windows 10, you will need to set the "View" option to show hidden files and folders before copying back the GenuineTicket.xml.

Hope this helps. I have found it to be very effective method as it completely bypasses the long, drawn out upgrade process and gives you a pristine Windows 10 with zero bloat ware.

Maidhci

duridian wrote: »

Maidhci, if you havev a legit activated Windows 7, there is a way to upgrade by clean install and get your valid Windows 10 licence and activation, same as of you had done an upgrade through Windows Update from Windows 7.

You would first of all need to create a Windows 10 install disc, either a DVD or USB key.
Microsoft offer a easy to create this by downloading the Windows 10 install using a free tool called Media Creation Tool.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10ISO

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-media-creation-tool-create-installation-media-upgrade

Once you have created the installer disc, there is a trick to saving the legit activation information from your current Windows 7, which must be done before anything else and saved.
In the "sources" folder of any Windows 10 install disc you will find a file called "gatherosstate.exe". This file is so important, and is the key to doing a nice clean install.

I won't go through the whole explanation, as the link I'll put below will explain it all, but basically if you drag this " gatherosstate.exe" to your old Windows and run it as Administrator, it will create a "Genuineticket.xml" file. Save this file somewhere safe, as it contains all the info needed to legitimately activate your clean Windows 10 as you are entitled to do!

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/23354-clean-install-windows-10-directly-without-having-upgrade-first.html

Just to add a few final tips of my own to what they say on that site to guarantee success.

I would recommend that you install Windows 10 without an internet connection, and stay offline for the time being, just in case the activation tries to run automatically before you have a chance to restore your valid data.

If you are dealing with a laptop, I'd advise to use a USB mouse during install, as the drivers for your touchpad may not load during the install leaving you without cursor control.

I'd also recommend grabbing any drivers for your pc from the manufacturers website, before hand and saving them to a USB stick.

And lastly, I don't know if they mention it on that site, but the "ProgramData" folder is hidden by default, so in Windows 10, you will need to set the "View" option to show hidden files and folders before copying back the GenuineTicket.xml.

Hope this helps. I have found it to be very effective method as it completely bypasses the long, drawn out upgrade process and gives you a pristine Windows 10 with zero bloat ware.

Thank you for the detailed commentary, much appreciated. It is a legitimate W7 installation, it was pre-installed on the laptop with a W8 disc provided in the event that I wished to upgrade, which I did not. Will study the information in the links which you kindly provided later on. Thanks again.

Maidhci

Karsini wrote: »

You can use OEM keys for clean Windows 10 installs. I do it all the time. [/QUOTE

Thanks again Karsini. I think you follow a different route via Windows Deployment Services, which I not familiar with at all. As stated earlier, I am not technically minded at all, I simply follow instructions to the letter without fully understanding the purpose on some occasions. It is for this reason that I want to explore and map the course of action beforehand. Thanks again for all your helpful information and suggestions.

Maidhci

Maidhci wrote: »

Thanks again Karsini. I think you follow a different route via Windows Deployment Services, which I not familiar with at all. As stated earlier, I am not technically minded at all, I simply follow instructions to the letter without fully understanding the purpose on some occasions. It is for this reason that I want to explore and map the course of action beforehand. Thanks again for all your helpful information and suggestions.

The reason I use WDS is because it's part of my job, I deploy new PCs all the time and it lets me customise and automate certain aspects of the install. But the principles regarding activation are the same. I wouldn't be expecting you to use it, you'd need a Windows server to start!

Maidhci

duridian wrote: »

Maidhci, if you havev a legit activated Windows 7, there is a way to upgrade by clean install and get your valid Windows 10 licence and activation, same as of you had done an upgrade through Windows Update from Windows 7.

You would first of all need to create a Windows 10 install disc, either a DVD or USB key.
Microsoft offer a easy to create this by downloading the Windows 10 install using a free tool called Media Creation Tool.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10ISO

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-media-creation-tool-create-installation-media-upgrade

Once you have created the installer disc, there is a trick to saving the legit activation information from your current Windows 7, which must be done before anything else and saved.
In the "sources" folder of any Windows 10 install disc you will find a file called "gatherosstate.exe". This file is so important, and is the key to doing a nice clean install.

I won't go through the whole explanation, as the link I'll put below will explain it all, but basically if you drag this " gatherosstate.exe" to your old Windows and run it as Administrator, it will create a "Genuineticket.xml" file. Save this file somewhere safe, as it contains all the info needed to legitimately activate your clean Windows 10 as you are entitled to do!

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/23354-clean-install-windows-10-directly-without-having-upgrade-first.html

Just to add a few final tips of my own to what they say on that site to guarantee success.

I would recommend that you install Windows 10 without an internet connection, and stay offline for the time being, just in case the activation tries to run automatically before you have a chance to restore your valid data.

If you are dealing with a laptop, I'd advise to use a USB mouse during install, as the drivers for your touchpad may not load during the install leaving you without cursor control.

I'd also recommend grabbing any drivers for your pc from the manufacturers website, before hand and saving them to a USB stick.

And lastly, I don't know if they mention it on that site, but the "ProgramData" folder is hidden by default, so in Windows 10, you will need to set the "View" option to show hidden files and folders before copying back the GenuineTicket.xml.

Hope this helps. I have found it to be very effective method as it completely bypasses the long, drawn out upgrade process and gives you a pristine Windows 10 with zero bloat ware.

I have sent you a pm with one or two questions regarding the clean install method (tenforums) - it would be great if you could have a look at some stage. Many thanks.

Riesen_Meal

Maidhci wrote: »

I have sent you a pm with one or two questions regarding the clean install method (tenforums) - it would be great if you could have a look at some stage. Many thanks.

What I did with my custom built PC :

I directly upgraded to Win 10 via the WDT, when the computer starts in Windows 10, let it fetch the first batch of updates via the net and reboot, after, then press windows key, type "Windows Update" and hit enter you and on the new fancy updates page will see that "Win 10 is activated"

That means it's tied to your motherboard, then, in the same section there, there is a backup and restore option somewhere (my wording could be wrong, I'm in hospital with no laptop!)

Look there and you will see you can reset everything without keeping any files, folders, personal info etc (IE Clean install) its a great new option, not sure if it was in Windows 8 as I skipped 8 and I think you needed the disc to do it to Windows 7.