To be or not to be.......a Windows 10 user.

muffler

Sorry guys, its that old chestnut again about upgrading to W10. Im considering taking that great leap of faith and going for it but Im sorta stuck on a couple of things. I have 2 PC's here - one running W8.1 and the other W7.

The one with W7 is an oldish PC (probably about 7 years old). Its a Dell Optiplex 755, Dual Core 1.8 GHz processor with 4 Gb RAM & 500 GB hard drive. It suits my needs perfectly as its used for work which is mostly Word docs & folders, scanned photos etc and I also use it for logging in here to Boards and thats about it. No internet banking, no utube videos etc - just a standard office type use PC. So my specific question on this PC is: will it be suitable for an upgrade? Even though Im getting the W10 pop ups for upgrade is the spec of the machine suitable or "strong" enough - sorry, Im not into the technical terminology. Just to add that the PC was bought second hand and came with Office 10 pre-installed (cough cough) so would that be affected by an upgrade?

The other thing about this W7 machine is that I cant see the original installation key for W7. There is a sticker on the casing with a key but thats for Vista so obviously the OS was changed at some point but its a genuine version of 7 from what I can make out.

Likewise with the newer PC I have (W8.1) it was bought new about 7 months ago and again there is no sticker with a key or no disc supplied. So if I were to upgrade to W10 on both PCs and something went wrong or I didnt like the new operating system, how can I revert to the original operating systems?

I would appreciate any help or advice but bear in mind that Im not very tech savvy when it comes to these things

Thanks in advance

AlmightyCushion

If you upgrade and don't like it you can roll back from within Windows itself. Also, a lot of OEM machines like Dell don't actually need a product key, you install Windows and Windows can pull the product key from the BIOS.

On the older PC I'd worry about software and hardware that isn't compatible with Windows 10. What version of office do you use? Is there any other specific software you use on it?

muffler

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

If you upgrade and don't like it you can roll back from within Windows itself.

Thats good to know. So its just a matter of "undoing" the new instillation then in that scenario?

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Also, a lot of OEM machines like Dell don't actually need a product key, you install Windows and Windows can pull the product key from the BIOS.

Would that be done automatically during the roll back process or is that something I would have to do in advance?

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

On the older PC I'd worry about software and hardware that isn't compatible with Windows 10. What version of office do you use? Is there any other specific software you use on it?

Its office 2010 I think. Im on a different PC now but will check for sure a little later.

The only other thing I use on the old Dell PC is a wireless printer which connects to both PCs. I might however be installing AutoCad shortly. Cant really think of other software but again I'll get a look after a wee while.

Edit/ if its any help re software you can see a list of all installed programmes in this post




.

one man clappin

How to get Windows 10 for free after July 29th

muffler

So, if I choose to upgrade and wish to go back to the original OS in both PC's I can do a "roll back", is that correct?

Apart from the obvious of backing up documents etc is there anything else I need to do before upgrading?

Fysh

muffler wrote: »

So, if I choose to upgrade and wish to go back to the original OS in both PC's I can do a "roll back", is that correct?

Apart from the obvious of backing up documents etc is there anything else I need to do before upgrading?

You may choose to file this under paranoia but I'm personally making sure I have a bootable clone of my disk before I run the upgrade on my laptop this weekend - I've read a few stories of the rollback method failing and I'm wary of it.

Having said that, I upgraded my Windows 8.1 Dell tablet to Windows 10 and ended up rolling it back due to 3G card driver flakiness - both the upgrade and rollback process were flawless and did exactly what they were supposed to with a minimum of fuss. (Ditto the in-place upgrade on my desktop, which has been fine with Win10 since shortly after the free upgrade offer was first rolled out...)

muffler

Fysh wrote: »

You may choose to file this under paranoia but I'm personally making sure I have a bootable clone of my disk before I run the upgrade on my laptop this weekend - I've read a few stories of the rollback method failing and I'm wary of it.

Yeah, this is something that I would feel more comfortable with....a "plan B" as such.

But this where I'm stuck as I'm a complete numpty when it comes to these things. How does one create a clone and getting back to one of my original questions, how do I find (or is needed) the installation key?

For the newer PC thats running W8.1 and was only bought at the beginning of the year I have emailed the firm I bought it from but 3 days later I haven't heard back from them.

CatInABox

Make sure that you've downloaded all available updates from Windows Update before upgrading, it's been known to help.

Fysh

muffler wrote: »

Yeah, this is something that I would feel more comfortable with....a "plan B" as such.

But this where I'm stuck as I'm a complete numpty when it comes to these things. How does one create a clone and getting back to one of my original questions, how do I find (or is needed) the installation key?

For the newer PC thats running W8.1 and was only bought at the beginning of the year I have emailed the firm I bought it from but 3 days later I haven't heard back from them.

There are a few ways of cloning disks - for example, you could use a Clonezilla Live CD (boot from the CD, follow these instructions, then leave it running until it finishes).

You shouldn't need the installation key for a disk clone, if it works correctly you end up with a functionally identical copy of the original disk that you can plug into your system and boot from.

muffler

Fysh wrote: »

There are a few ways of cloning disks - for example, you could use a Clonezilla Live CD (boot from the CD, follow these instructions, then leave it running until it finishes).

You shouldn't need the installation key for a disk clone, if it works correctly you end up with a functionally identical copy of the original disk that you can plug into your system and boot from.

This is going to sound like a real stupid question. Do I need the original disk at all?

Its just that I never had one as the OS came pre-installed.

CatInABox

muffler wrote: »

This is going to sound like a real stupid question. Do I need the original disk at all?

Its just that I never had one as the OS came pre-installed.

Nah, all it's going to do is make a copy of your existing windows hard drive, which is the "original disk" Fysh is referring to. Nothing else needed.

Good luck with the upgrade!

one man clappin

In my workplace, i have had to update over 30 pcs to Windows 10 and revert them back to Windows 7.
They were all new pcs with no data on them, so I did not have to worry about back up.
The easiest method I have found (and quickest) is to use this guide
You create the iso of the windows 10 product that is relevant to you ( windows home or pro) burn the iso to dvd and then run the setup. Do not tick the option to go online and download updates as it takes forever.
I have just upgraded my own pc at work to Windows 10 using this method, it took approx 1 hour, and all files etc are there.

Fysh

one man clappin wrote: »

In my workplace, i have had to update over 30 pcs to Windows 10 and revert them back to Windows 7.
They were all new pcs with no data on them, so I did not have to worry about back up.
The easiest method I have found (and quickest) is to use this guide
You create the iso of the windows 10 product that is relevant to you ( windows home or pro) burn the iso to dvd and then run the setup. Do not tick the option to go online and download updates as it takes forever.
I have just upgraded my own pc at work to Windows 10 using this method, it took approx 1 hour, and all files etc are there.

I know this is off-topic, but...If you had no data to worry about retaining and several dozen machines to upgrade, would it not have been easier to use WDS to image them over your network? I know it's a bit of effort to set up if you're not already using WDS, but then manually running 30+ OS installs would probably take at least as long...

Fysh

Back on topic - One thing worth mentioning as I ran into it over the weekend - if you have a named-brand computer, check with your vendor if your model is supported. Some vendors are better than others (e.g. I've installed 10 on several Dells with adequate hardware which were not rated for Windows 10 and they've coped fine), but it's worth checking.

In my case, my laptop upgrade went fine but my machine was locking up after 15-minutes or so requiring a hard reboot. After reading around a bit I found that my hardware (which should by rights be fine) isn't officially supported by its vendor and so they haven't bothered releasing drivers for it, so I have reluctantly rolled back down to 7 (I have an upgrade to 8.1 going spare somewhere so I'll likely apply that to it instead, but I'm disappointed as I wanted to be able to run 10 on my laptop as well as my desktop...)

CatInABox

Fysh wrote: »

Back on topic - One thing worth mentioning as I ran into it over the weekend - if you have a named-brand computer, check with your vendor if your model is supported. Some vendors are better than others (e.g. I've installed 10 on several Dells with adequate hardware which were not rated for Windows 10 and they've coped fine), but it's worth checking.

In my case, my laptop upgrade went fine but my machine was locking up after 15-minutes or so requiring a hard reboot. After reading around a bit I found that my hardware (which should by rights be fine) isn't officially supported by its vendor and so they haven't bothered releasing drivers for it, so I have reluctantly rolled back down to 7 (I have an upgrade to 8.1 going spare somewhere so I'll likely apply that to it instead, but I'm disappointed as I wanted to be able to run 10 on my laptop as well as my desktop...)

You just reminded me of one laptop upgrade I've done, where the software that came with the speakers (the drivers were fine, just the "helpful" control panel) wasn't Win10 compatible, so it would just crash the computer. Required safemode to uninstall it.

On the whole though, I'd say I've done about ten upgrades, with only that software problem being an issue. Some of those upgrades were done without any back-up either! I live on the edge! :cool:

28064212

Fysh wrote: »

my hardware (which should by rights be fine) isn't officially supported by its vendor and so they haven't bothered releasing drivers for it

Did you try installing the Windows 7 drivers on 10? I have a few bits of hardware that aren't "officially" supported on 10, but the 7 drivers work fine (sometimes installed in compatibility mode)

muffler

Fysh wrote: »

After reading around a bit I found that my hardware (which should by rights be fine) isn't officially supported by its vendor and so they haven't bothered releasing drivers for it, so I have reluctantly rolled back down to 7

This appears to be the situation with the desktop PC I bought at the beginning of the year. Its an Asus model and was advertised by the seller (large company in England) as being W10 ready or whatever the terminology was at the time. I had/have a couple of issues with the PC rebooting when in sleep mode and also after it is shut down down so I rang the Asus support number on Friday and when I was talking to one their reps I asked about the W10 upgrade and he told me not to do it as some of their drivers weren't supported. Honestly I have no idea what that means as such or what the consequences would be if I went ahead with the upgrade.

In one way Im glad he told me that as Im dreading this upgrade but on the other hand Im thinking to myself why should I not be able to do upgrade seeing as the PC is just 7 months old.

Fysh

28064212 wrote: »

Did you try installing the Windows 7 drivers on 10? I have a few bits of hardware that aren't "officially" supported on 10, but the 7 drivers work fine (sometimes installed in compatibility mode)

It was the first thing I tried, but no joy On top of the freezes after 10-15 minutes I was getting frequent on-login hard crashes with "Bad pool header" as the error, so after a few hours of trying to get to the bottom of it I gave up and rolled back. Ah well.