Does Win10 need to be physically INSTALLED before July 29? Or just ISO downloaded?

[Eug]

Man these threads kill me. People have had an entire year to do this and still don't seem to understand what a deadline means.

I'm bracing myself for all the "Can I still get Win 10 for free?" posts on Saturday.

 

[ZippZ]

Man these threads kill me. People have had an entire year to do this and still don't seem to understand what a deadline means.

Can you imagine what the "day after" threads are going to be like?

 

[vailr]

Maybe they'll relent and change the terms to "as soon as we get to one billion installed devices, the free upgrade offer will be rescinded".

 

[nerp]

I'm bracing myself for all the "Can I still get Win 10 for free?" posts on Saturday.

Oh it's going to happen. I feel bad for the folks firing up their copy of Windows 7 in 6 months and realizing they want Windows 10 and FUD scared them off when they had the chance to save $100+.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Can you imagine what the "day after" threads are going to be like?

In preparation for such an event as this I have thoughtfully provided a link pertaining to meditation therapy for such individuals to help them get past the moment.
https://youtu.be/92i5m3tV5XY

 

[Ranulf]

Meh, I don't believe they'll end the free update. It may take a break for a month or two but they'll bring it back.

That said, I did do a fresh install of 10 with a never used win8 pro key recently. Installed just fine off the MS ISO tool created usb installer.

 

[Dahak]

Meh, I don't believe they'll end the free update. It may take a break for a month or two but they'll bring it back.
<snip>

If they do that would be a big about face for MS as they have repeatedly said that once July 29 comes around thats it.

I'm bracing myself for all the "Can I still get Win 10 for free?" posts on Saturday.

Yea, me too... people will be like....
/s
well why did they never tell me, I did not know
/s

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well, I'm supposed to be tech-savvy, have been an enthusiast in one way or another since 1982.

I should've anticipated the possibilities based on that experience, but I didn't. Last year, I was trying to decide what to do. I can't just leave my perfectionist Win 7 installations in the ditch.

I actually came to the conclusion "Oh, what the hell! If I need Win 10 for a new machine, I'll buy it and try it then."

M$ was promoting their free upgrade as an "upgrade" that would be easy for mainstreamers to suffer without pain or misgiving. Again -- I should've visited the download site and done some poking around a reading, but I didn't.

But the simple solution coincides with a time when nobody should have an SSD or HDD boot drive 75% occupied with their OS, software and files. If they do, some rearrangement might be in order.

But if I'm moving to a new OS, I want to guarantee that all my software works with it, and I damn don't want to overlay 10 on 7 and find out there are glitches. I'd rather do a clean install.

We've prepared all our systems as dual-boot Win7/Win10 with 10 activated. I couldn't imagine that somehow, after July 29, I would have a problem with either OS on these systems.

 

[Eug]

Dunno if it's just my Atom 330 machine being really slow or if the Windows Update servers are getting hammered, but I updated the machine tonite and it was stuck at 100% for a very, very long time. Something like half an hour.

This was a machine that was already on Windows 10 but hadn't been updated in a few months (since it was off that whole time).

 

[Craig234]

If you want to reserve 10 but keep your current OS, all you need to do is run the upgrade, then tell Windows you want to roll back. You will have your reservation, and won't be wasting time swapping out drives.

I have undone a couple upgrades for folks, and Windows will indeed go back to the same state it was in before the upgrade.

Problem is, apparently I lose all my programs and data (like a format).

 

[Craig234]

You need an 8GB flash drive.

OK. So I can go to the store and buy one. Then, what exactly, to not damage my Win 7?

 

[Ketchup]

Problem is, apparently I lose all my programs and data (like a format).

You actually did? I didn't run into that problem at all.

 

[bruceb]

If you are losing your programs and data, it is likely you are telling Windows to do a Clean Install, instead of doing an In Place Upgrade. You really have to watch the installer windows carefully and be sure to pick the correct items you want or don't want. And you should backup your existing installation before an upgrade and your data files (like browser profiles, excel, word, outlook contacts and mail, etc)

 

[Puffnstuff]

Oh boy someone doesn't understand that upgrading to 10 has no ill effect on their win 7 if they should choose to use it afterwards instead of 10. Failing up upgrade that 7 to 10 before today's 1 year deadline runs out will force you to purchase something that you can have for free right now.

 

[Eug]

Dunno if it's just my Atom 330 machine being really slow or if the Windows Update servers are getting hammered, but I updated the machine tonite and it was stuck at 100% for a very, very long time. Something like half an hour.

This was a machine that was already on Windows 10 but hadn't been updated in a few months (since it was off that whole time).

The Atom 330 failed Windows Update several times last night. This morning it finally managed to download the latest updates (including the 1511 release), so I left it running for an update this morning.

I hope this is not a symptom of Windows Update in general right now, cuz if the Windows 10 upgraders are sharing those servers and their bandwidth with my Windows 10 Update process, people late tonight might run into problems getting the update done in time.

Only ~20 hours left until the deadline folks.

 

[nerp]

OK. So I can go to the store and buy one. Then, what exactly, to not damage my Win 7?

Back it up with traditional means.

If not, upgrading Windows 7 to 10 from within Windows 7 using the MS media creation tool will upgrade you just fine. And yes, all your data, apps, and everything else is saved in a folder. When you 'revert' back to Windows 7, it will be exactly as the computer was before you upgraded. Even the placement of your desktop icons. Everything.

It's not 100% perfect and might not work. But it worked for me and milions of other folks.

 

[vailr]

OK. So I can go to the store and buy one. Then, what exactly, to not damage my Win 7?

To be fully backed up in case of some kind of unexpected foul-up, you'd want to have an external USB hard drive to hold a cloned backup copy of your existing Win7 boot drive. Your local office or electronics store would likely have a Seagate or Western Digital USB external spinning hard drive for that purpose.
There are also USB->SATA adapter cables that allow using your own spare SATA hard drive/SSD.
Then use one of the free software for cloning (or: only selectively copying important data) to the external USB drive. "Aomei Partition Assistant" or "Macrium Reflect FREE Edition" are two such cloning software. The external USB drive will usually include some kind of backup software as well.

 

[jtvang125]

So I've already upgraded to 10 from 7pro and activated. I may upgrade my cpu/mb/ram/vc in the near future. I get that I'll have to do 7 first and then do the upgrade again if I want a "clean" install but will the upgrade process know that I've already activated before the cutoff and be free?

 

[Eug]

Weird. It seems they removed the link to the Win 10 1511 ISO. This is the Win 10 link at Microsoft but now that link just redirects to the media creation tool.

 

[Ketchup]

So I've already upgraded to 10 from 7pro and activated. I may upgrade my cpu/mb/ram/vc in the near future. I get that I'll have to do 7 first and then do the upgrade again if I want a "clean" install but will the upgrade process know that I've already activated before the cutoff and be free?

Probably won't work. A parts upgrade of that magnitude will make it a new machine. Windows 7 is most likely going to stop suggesting the upgrade after the cutoff. At least they should. I can't imagine how upset people would be if MS continues to be so belligerent about (what will become) a $100 upgrade.

 

[nerp]

So I've already upgraded to 10 from 7pro and activated. I may upgrade my cpu/mb/ram/vc in the near future. I get that I'll have to do 7 first and then do the upgrade again if I want a "clean" install but will the upgrade process know that I've already activated before the cutoff and be free?

The new build won't activate the copy of Windows 10. The entitlement you're getting for free is tied to the motherboard you do it on. Windows 7 might not activate on your new gear. Windows 10 certainly wont without a new license. It's not about CD-keys anymore. It's about digital entitlements. You can move retail licenses, however, so what you'll want to do is call MS when activation fails on the new hardware and explain the situation. In the past, they've been lenient.

 

[Svnla]

I have a quick question for the experts/gurus.

So I have Dell laptop with Win7 Home Premium and an OEM license (sticker in the back). The best way for me to do is to run the Win10 tool to upgrade from Win7 to Win10 and then later, do a clean install, correct?

Is that better than do a clean install of Win10 right now because I read that clean install of Win10 may not work on OEM license?

TIA.

 

[Craig234]

You actually did? I didn't run into that problem at all.

No I'm saying I asked if I would and the answer seemed to be 'yes'.

 

[Craig234]

To be fully backed up in case of some kind of unexpected foul-up, you'd want to have an external USB hard drive to hold a cloned backup copy of your existing Win7 boot drive. Your local office or electronics store would likely have a Seagate or Western Digital USB external spinning hard drive for that purpose.
There are also USB->SATA adapter cables that allow using your own spare SATA hard drive/SSD.
Then use one of the free software for cloning (or: only selectively copying important data) to the external USB drive. "Aomei Partition Assistant" or "Macrium Reflect FREE Edition" are two such cloning software. The external USB drive will usually include some kind of backup software as well.

Right that's how to back up my system - what I was asking though, is how do I install the Windows 10 upgrade on a flash drive, while not affecting programs/data in Win 7?

 

[Craig234]

Back it up with traditional means.

If not, upgrading Windows 7 to 10 from within Windows 7 using the MS media creation tool will upgrade you just fine. And yes, all your data, apps, and everything else is saved in a folder. When you 'revert' back to Windows 7, it will be exactly as the computer was before you upgraded. Even the placement of your desktop icons. Everything.

It's not 100% perfect and might not work. But it worked for me and milions of other folks.

Well that's good news - seems to be a different answer than I'd had.

In that case I think my biggest issue is disk space - 1TB drive with 50GB free.