Laptops tested with Windows 10, v 1909

[Traveling_Diva]

HP Envy Touch 15t-k200 running Win 10, v 1903. Where can I find the list of laptops tested with Windows 10 v 1909?  MS Windows Update Asst says I can update to v2004 but doesn't give v1909 as an option. I don't see my laptop on the HP list for testing with v2004, so reluctant to try and wanted to see if v1909 has been tested. 

Note: The HP Virtual Asst suggestion for the test list links to the v2004 list, not the v1909. 

[WAWood]

@Traveling_Diva 

First off, sorry but I don't have any links to that info --perhaps someone else here does.

Second, I will provide info below as to HOW you can download Win10 v1909 yourself and make a bootable USB stick of that.  You can then use that to do an in-place upgrade to Win10 v1909.  MS does not provide links to this older version because they want everyone using Win10 v20.04.

Third, BEFORE you do the install, use the info below to make an image backup of your PC to an external drive or large (32GB or 64GB) USB stick.  This will come in handy later if the upgrade goes badly so that you have something to restore FROM.

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

You can try using Windows images downloaded using the tool from this site:

https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/67-microsoft-windows-iso-download-tool

Click the Download: Windows-ISO-Download.exe link. This will download that file to your PC. Double-click that file to run it.

Download the tool, run it, and do the following:
1) Select Windows 10 at the upper right
2) Under Select edition, select Windows 10 Home Pro under the version 1909 heading
3) Click the Confirm button
4) Select the product language, click confirm button
6) Select either the 64-bit download
7) Select a folder to save the file -- it's downloading 4GB or so of data, so that will take a while depending on the download speed. The progress bar might not show any progress but when the download is nearly done, a window will pop open indicating the ISO file is being moved from a temporary download directory to the folder you selected. The screen will then say Download Complete.

Once you have this, download and install RUFUS and use the option to create a bootable USB stick from the ISO file.

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

I personally prefer to use third-party Backup solutions as they tend to be both more flexible and more reliable than any built-in solutions.

Macrium Reflect (MR) 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) from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
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

My experience is that MR, when using the High Compression option, typically can compress the saved image file to about 50% of the USED space in the OS partition. This means if you have an 80GB OS partition, and 40GB is used, MR only needs about 20GB to store the image file.

I use this all the time and it typically takes less than 15 minutes to do the image backup and about the same time or less to do a restore.

Plus, MR has the option to Add a Recovery Boot Menu entry. This allows you then to boot into WinRE, and you can then use that to do a restore -- when you can't boot into Windows!

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.

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

After you have made the image backup, insert the USB stick but DO NOT boot from it!  Instead, find the USB stick using FIle Manager, open the folder, right-click on the setup.exe file and select Run as administrator.  This will start an in-place update using the USB stick and could take a couple of hours to complete.  When finally done, you will be rebooted into your new version of Windows with everything still intact.

Good Luck

[Traveling_Diva · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the quick and detailed reply and the tips on RUFUS and Macrium--good sw to have!  Made the disk image using the sw you recommended (Macrium) and downloaded the 1909 ISO but was advised to try 10v2004 first (my laptop is so old, HP probably won't bother to test).  

[WAWood]

@Traveling_Diva 

Understand -- but I would ignore that advice.

If it works well under 19.09 you can always choose later to upgrade to 20.04.

Besides, MS is still maintaining and updating v19.09 -- as the put out another patch last week.  So, it's not like you would be running an old, or obsolete, version.