Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Windows 10 Upgrade Test

I wanted to test out Windows 10 so during the xmas holidays i built a box and installed windows 7 64bit and then upgraded it to 10.

CONCLUSION:  DO NOT upgrade from windows 7 to windows 10 using the 'upgrade' option unless you have a computer with only 4 gig of ram. Why? Because you get the 32bit version and those lose access to your 8/16/32 gigs of ram and the default windows partitioning is not optimal but changing it is a pain.

Best Practice:

Create 64bit version on usb stick and boot to that to do a clean install. I made a bootable stick with 32/64 bit versions in case i need it someday.

Other Conclusion:

For technical types this is an incredibly annoying OS, it is designed for noobs, it is increasingly and constantly chatty.  Win 10 will not increase your productivity. Any having live tiles of ads/news/cat videos and social stuff on your desktop? This is a consumer/tablet release, not for people who work for a living.

But with a lot of work you can turn off and remove most of the new 'features' to get it to work the way you want. The questions is - are the new features worth the effort?  My answer was NO - there is nothing really in there to make me switch my main work machines from win 7 64bit to windows 10. Someday i will have to but there is no compelling reason to do so now. My main gripe with windows is it's awful network file operations - it takes forever to 'discover' directory listings and to manage many large files over a network. Win 10 is slightly better but not enough to make me upgrade.

Here is my journal notes in case i need to refer to them again...

Download and run the media creation tool

Select "For another PC" to create bootable flash media or download an ISO to burn to DVD with Windows Image Burner.  Now you have media for reinstalls or needed repairs.  But to run the Upgrade it must be opened in Windows 7/8.1,  right click Setup file to Run as Admin. 

To improve the Upgrade's chances turn off everything at Startup:

In Windows 7, type msconfig in Start Search Box, uncheck everything on Startup and Services tabs, after Hiding all MS Services.  Apply, restart.

In Windows 8.1, right click Task Bar to open Task Manager, disable everything in Startup Tab, Apply, Reboot.

Uninstall any anti-virus except Defender.  Bloated AV's like Norton, MacAfee, AVG and Avast need to have special Uninstallers (removal tools) for common antivirus software - ESET Knowledgebase.
Stick with built-in Defender in Windows 10 for best performance and adequate protection.  If you get infected add the inexpensive Real Time protection from the best-in-class free malware scanner Malwarebytes .  I'd also periodically scan with SUPERAntiSpyware or the more powerful AdwCleaner, also best-in-class and free.

Immediately after install, type Update in Start Search box to Check for Updates, expedite these through requested restart, then check again until no more are offered.  Next right click Start button to open Device Manager, import any drivers still missing from the PC or Device's Support Downloads webpage.  How to: Install and Update drivers in Windows 10 - Microsoft Community

It’s highly recommended to save a backup System Image of your existing OS before upgrading, which can be recovered using the Windows disk, Repair CD or Recovery flash drive in 20 minutes.   Type Backup in Start Search box, in Backup and Recovery Center choose Create a System Image.  You can also use a more flexible imaging program like free Macrium Imaging.

IF you are going to install the 64bit edition over the 32bit edition you need a Windows 10 product key. If you are goint to install over windows 7 or windows 8.1 you do not need a product key. So it is vital you do not run the upgrade option as then you lose your free upgrade if you have more than 3gig of ram. You have to make the boot media and upgrade from that to 64bit to have a free upgrade.

windows 10 upgrade

Navigate to your C:\Windows directory. Once there, you’ll want to configure Explorer to show hidden files and folders.

In Windows 7, you do this by clicking on “Tools,” then “Folder Options,” and finally “Show Hidden Files and Folders,” as shown below. In Windows 8/8.1, click on the View tab and then select the “Hidden items” check box.

Once this is done, check your Windows directory for a directory named $WINDOWS.~BT. The icon may be translucent, since the folder is normally hidden, so check carefully. You can delete this folder if you wish, but doing so won’t actually prevent Microsoft from downloading the setup program again. Once the OS has decided that you’re going to install Windows 10, it’s downright pushy about having the data locally. The only solution, according to various sources, is to actually remove a specific Windows Update: KB3035583.

Described by Microsoft as installing “the Get Windows 10 app, which helps users understand their Windows 10 upgrade options and device readiness.” It can be uninstalled by navigating to Windows Update from within the Control Panel, choosing “Programs and Features,” and then selecting the “View Installed Updates” option. Remove this update and then delete the folder, and you’ll reclaim your lost disk space.

KB 3035583 can then be blocked from installing again by hiding the update from within the Windows Update setting in Control Panel.

A 6GB OS download isn’t a big deal if you have a 500GB drive, but if you’re running an older Windows installation on a 128-256GB SSD, that can wind up being a significant chunk of space.

How to install and update Drivers

Windows Update is the starting point to resolve most common driver issues you experience after installing Windows 10.

Simply launch it from Start > Settings > Update and Recovery and click Check for Updates
If your driver was not detected or installed by Windows Update, you can try installing the driver manually if you have a compatible version. Windows 10 and previous versions of Windows such as Windows 7 share the same driver model, so it should work.

Click Device Manager
Once device manager is open, select the device, right click it and click Update Driver Software
If both Windows Update and driver update prove unsuccessful, the next option is Troubleshoot Compatibility. Troubleshoot Compatibility provides a simple way to make older drivers work under modern versions of Windows by making the driver believe it is being installed on a supported version of Windows.

The first thing you need to do is point where the setup files are located. If you are installing from a thumb drive or CD/DVD. Launch File Explorer (Windows key + E) and open the location where the setup files are stored.

Right click the setup file for the program, this can be designated as setup.exe or something similar. Click Troubleshoot Compatibility

Delete Window.old folder

If you use the upgrade option you are left with a windows.old folder of useless files as windows keeps a copy of your old version in case you want to revert.
Type free up disk space in the windows search box
Click the shortcut for free up disk space
Click Clean up System Files
Check Previews Windows Installations in the files to delete checkbox
Also - make sure you delete the RetailDemo offline content to free up 100mb of disk space.

Recovery Partition

Search for Computer Management or Disk Management to access the control panel
click on the disk - in this case 83gb were unallocated! so we converted it to a simple volume. We wanted to move our data to there - as data should always be on a seperate drive or partition from the system.  But this is difficult in 10 so we decide to resize the system partition. But there is no unallocated space next to the C: partition as the recovery partition is in the way. You cannot delete a recovery drive in disk management app.

Plug in a usb stick
Search recovery and use the recovery control panel to create a recovery drive
Select the usb stick and click create recovery drive (this formats the stick and copies the system files)
When done, click Delete the Recovery Partition to reclaim the disk space (you will have to reallocate or partition/format it using rthe disk management app)

PROBLEM: - does not offer option to delete the recovery partition.

Moving USERS folder to another drive

The folder is a system folder in 10 and Windows doesn’t support moving users profile folder out of the box. So moving is complex and not recommended.


A simple workaround is to create a new user account for yourself after running the Sysprep to relocate the Users folder, make it an administrator account, then copy your data from the original user account to the new account, and finally delete the original account.