Windows 10 Upgrade

[Doc-Westin]

I was wondering if an upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 SP 1 would prove to be useful. My Pavilion desktop meets all of the hardware requirements to run Win 10. It is a CTO made in Jan 2011.

I had previously attempted an in-place Win 10 upgrade over the New Year's weekend earlier this year. While the update process went smoothly, the indexing process for my Corel Photo Paint Shop Pro X3 went on for several hours with no ending in sight. It was at that time I decided to rollback to Windows 7. Unable to find the "return to previous Windows" link in the Windows 10 settings, I used my system recovery disks to reinstall the factory set-up on my Pavilion.

Before considering another upgrade attempt to Windows 10, I would like to know if it is worth my time and effort to install Win 10. Also, I would like to know which is preferable: an in-place upgrade versus clean install.

I have read Windows 7 machines that met the hardware requirements for Win 10 did not fare so well in the upgrade process, that the results were mixed at best.

Thanks for your help.

Doc Westin

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

Doc-Westin

You're right to be cautious about doing the Win10 Upgrade on a Win7 PC.

I have done that on several\ Win7 PCs and it completely trashed two of them -- to the degree that they had to be restored to original factory settings to get back into working condition.

I have written the following to advise folks regarding steps to be taken when upgrading Win7 PCs to Win10 ...

Older Win7 desktops tend to fare poorly when upgraded to Win10 -- primarily due to the lack of HP Win10 drivers for the older hardware.

If you are determined to upgrade to Win10, you must be prepared to do four things:
1) Make a complete image backup to external drive or large capacity USB stick,
2) Make changes to the reserved system partitioning scheme on your hard drive,
3) Use a different approach, and maybe more than one, than Windows Update to do the Upgrade,
4) Prepare for a clean-install.

---------------------------------
1: Image Backup:  
This is VITAL because the machine is likely to fail the upgrade, and when it does, you will learn that the Win10 GoBack function is NOT reliable, and that can leave you with a corrupted machine that will require factory reset, and losing everything on it, to get it working again.

You avoid this by making an image backup to an external drive or USB stick using Macrium Reflect (MR) which provides a FREE version that can be used to image and restore partitions or entire drives.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR)
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.
---------------------------------
2: System Reserved Resizing:  
There is a small partition on the hard drive of Win7 preinstalled machines known as System Reserved.  This holds something known as the boot loader code.  It is 100MB in size -- all that is needed for Win7.  But Win10 needs 350MB, and, in some cases, is NOT able to resize this on its own.  IF that happens, you have to manually use a partitioning tool to resize it yourself.
---------------------------------
3: Use a different Upgrade approach:  
Windows Update is the easiest, but least reliable, way to do the Win10 Upgrade.  A much better, and more reliable way, is to use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/media-creation-tool-install?ocid=ms_wol_win10   Choose the Upgrade this PC now option.

After all that, you need to know that MS installs drivers with only the most basic functionality.  Since HP does not have Win10 drivers for your PC, this limited functionality is the best you're going to get.  HP is not actively writing new Win10 drivers for the old Win7 PCs.  To retain full functionality of your PC, your best move is NOT to upgrade to Win10.
---------------------------------
4: Prepare for clean-install:
If you do all this, and after the upgrade, your PC is only partially functioning, that means that the Upgrade did not go well and stuff is still there from the prior OS corrupting the functionality of Win10.

You MIGHT be able to fix this by doing a clean-install of Win10. Problem is that a clean-install often does not recognize the prior activation, even though it should. So, BEFORE you do the upgrade, follow these instructions from the community Win10 forums about creating a genuineticket.xml file:  http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/23354-clean-install-windows-10-directly-without-having-upgrade-fi...

You will need this later to activate your Win10 pc after the clean-install.

-----------------------------------------------

Good Luck
========================================================================
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor do I represent, HP.
---------------------------------------------------------------
If my posts helped you, please click the Thumbs-Up symbol on my post to say thanks.
If my posts solved your problem please click "Accept As Solution".
========================================================================