Installed it on the unbranded tablet that I got for $50 and it's been a breeze. I'm so surprised by how well Cortana works with the crappy mic it comes with and mostly generic stuff. I'm super impressed so far by how quick the bugs are being cleaned up. I mean I checked in the morning today and was getting various crashes on some apps and now they no longer happen at night. It also has to be the most reliable upgrade I've ever done. I remember when I first upgraded from a WIn 98 SE to XP and that took a few hours at least and nothing worked after that. Had to do a clean install. Still playing around and I keep finding newer things I never noticed in the insider builds.
I'm using a desktop with a Samsung 830, 120GB SSD running Windows 7 Pro. Last Black Friday, I bought an Intel 730 Series 2.5" 240GB SSD which I wanted to use to replace the 830 freeing the 830 to transfer to my old Dell laptop. Since I have both SSDs installed in my desktop, can I install W10 (when it becomes available to me) to the Intel SSD and set that as my default drive in the Bios without tripping a Non-genuine Windows response? The current hard drive in my laptop already has windows 10 through the Preview program but it's not the Samsung 830 SSD. How can I get both devices with the windows 10 OS upgrades?
You will probably need to do an in place upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10 at some point during the procedure to get Windows 10 to activate on that machine. You could probably either image the smaller SSD to the bigger SSD then perform the upgrade, or perform the upgrade, remove the smaller SSD, then do a clean install onto the larger SSD.
Getting Windows 10 to activate on the laptop might be an issue though. I haven't been able to activate build 10240 on my laptop through the Preview program even though I maintained an active Microsoft Account for the login and have set it to install preview builds.
You can make a USB install key specifically to use on other computers if you have a MS insider account or know someone that does. I upgraded my pc first then made a key that was allowed to be used on other machines I wished to upgrade. It even says so in the wording when you make a USB drive and pick the 2nd option, "create installation media for another PC." You just gots ta know someone what has it or have "mediaCreationToolx86 0r x64."
You MUST do the UPGRADE First and make sure its Activates. Then you can do clean installs. Make sure not to enter any keys when prompted and it should Activate once the install is done. You don't need Keys now as its tired to your machine ID, which is why you have to do the upgrade FIRST.
Sounds like the article describes a way to trigger the upgrade despite setting up a disk for a clean install...I guess I'm just waiting though for any of my other systems to get the upgrade. Microsoft's only offered one of my system's so far.
I like Windows 8.1 a lot, and I'm not 100% sure about 10, whether I'm actually thrilled about jumping to it or not. Don't like that Wifi Sense "feature", that's for sure! Don't think I like the GUI's look as much as 8.1 either, though probably I'll get used to it and end up loving it like I always do.
Sure seems like a lot of hype surrounding this release. Is it always this way with Windows or has Microsoft beefed up its marketing department since last time around?
Nothing new, every release is like this. In fact, Windows 95 had way more hype as I recall. I don't think it's unmerited though, a Windows release touches 100's of millions, more than pretty much any other consumer electronics product. Perhaps iOS is right up there.
There were 3 releases that were duds: Windows Milennium, Windows Vista, and Windows 8. Those releases didn't cause the expected uptick in computer sales, and had a general negative perception by consumers. All other releases of Windows had positive hype and positive sales effects.
The negativity surrounding both Vista and 8 were nonsensical though. Vista's was caused by people trying to run it on terrible, low end hardware, and people forgetting that truly new OSes break stuff-it had been so long since XP that people seemed to forget that driver support and the like wasn't completely smooth with it either. Vista was great though.
8 hatred is just hilariously unspecific and inane. Like it's virtually the exact same OS as 7, virtually an identical interface, with tons of minor little improvements all over the place, and the fact that the start menu is full screen seemed to cause some people to completely lose it
After 2 years of using it I actually did run into something that was missing on 8 that was present on 7, though I can't remember what it was now. Ask any 8 haters though what SPECIFICALLY they don't like about it, and it's hilarious-they can never name anything, or everything they claim is just factually untrue. That usually quickly devolves to personal attacks and threats.
Heck, my *mom* isn't computer savy at all, and she had no trouble with the upgrade. I'm like "it's pretty much like Windows 7, but the start menu is full screen", and she's like "oh, okay" and that was that lol.
Actually ME was just fine for the time too. All it was was Windows 98 third edition. Dual booted that and 2000 for a while (up from 98 and NT 4 dual boots).
LOL I'm with you! I don't get the hate. I loved Windows Me - it had a wonderful start sound and worked quite well. I didn't like Windows 8 at first, but got used to it pretty quickly. I hate its metro control panel apps, but the rest of it's just fine. The only person that would truly have a reason to hate 8 is the dude who ripped out his Windows key back in the day and now can't access his start menu without having to flail about with the mouse trying to find the hot spot in the corner.:D
I sort of liked Windows ME as well. I really liked its generic USB driver that allowed me to use many of my USB drives without installing specific drivers which was a huge time-saver back then. The automatic updates feature was pretty nice too. It worked well for my toshiba laptop that I used it on. As for Windows 8, with classic shell installed I don't see what's very different from 7, except that it crashes a lot less. I'm sure it depends on your hardware, but at least for my comp the BSOD almost completely disappeared.
Did an in-place install from my W7 SP1 box at home and it has been basically perfect. This was a really old install with tons and tons of stuff, think several versions of visual studio, sql server, etc. Everything so far has been absolutely great. Quite impressed so far!!
Oh, forgot to mention, I did this process but I did select the 'Upgrade This PC' option and it worked just fine. I did also create a USB stick, so I have that as well. After the upgrade it does show that windows IS indeed activated!
One key question: can I do a clean install through this process? I mean like in the old days when I could actually format the partition before starting the install... :D
Yes you can. The upgrade ended up bricking my notebook so I just tried using it for clean install and it worked. I skipped the "enter activation key" steps and it automatically activated on its own after setup.
You can't do a clean install, as in wipe out everything, until you've at least upgraded once. However during the upgrade you can choose to "Keep Nothing" which will remove all of your installed programs and files and it will be like a fresh PC.
You have to upgrade though to get activated, at which point you should then be able to do a clean install but I've not tried that yet and would recommend you ensure you have a backup.
If Windows 10 (any build) was previously activated on a device via whatever method; RTM upgrade or via the insider program, then said device will be permanently activated on Windows 10 instantly when you install, or automatically after a short while.
This has been sort of confirmed. I'll post a link if I find where I've read it.
Microsoft are pushing Windows 10 hard. There are lots of reports that pirated copies of Windows 7 and 8.x are getting activated upgrades to Windows 10.
In short, no one needs to worry about activation. lol
Are they morons there at Microsoft? I am using tools that can resume a download from 2000 (Jetcar/Flashget) but in 2015, the programmers at Microsoft that are given simple tasks like this tool are probably a few kids that where just offered their first temporary job at Microsoft.
I used the x64 tool to start downloading the ISO and manually disconnected from the internet just to see how this tool will react. Then reconnected. Well, the tool didn't resumed. After 15 minutes doing nothing, not resuming the download, I closed it and reopened it. It started the download from the beginning. It's 2015 you morons. Quick the programmer's job and go to McDonalds.
With download speeds these days being nothing like they were in 2000, building in download resumes seems pointless. Sure, the download may take a little bit of time during a world-freaking-wide roll out, but once that's caught up it won't be long.
In 2000 you could spend days downloading something. Resume was kind of important then. Not so much now. But given your level of anger over the lack of the feature, maybe they should have done it just to calm you down.
I did this for my two computers. Read about it at Tom's HW.
The Windows 8.1 one (2014) upgraded without any major problems.
My older Windows 7 (i5 750 from 2010) started exhibiting BSODs anytime I tried to reboot. Sometimes it would repair with one go, sometimes it would take multiple tries. Couldn't fix it with multiple tries, so ended up doing a fresh install.
So as always, there is a chance something may go wrong. Better be prepared to not have a working computer for a while, or to spend a couple of hours getting it back in working order (with the applications and tools you need).
You need to upgrade once per computer to get the license transferred. After that as long as you don't change your components, you can fresh install and the OS will be authorized automatically. Just skip the product key queries, since product keys from previous Windowses won't be recognized.
Since once of my computers was eligible for the Home version and the other for Professional, I downloaded both images. The Home version is 2.98 GiB and the Pro is 3.11 GiB, so both fit on 4 GB USB sticks. Be warned, that all data previously on the stick will be lost.
It didn't activate for me on a clean install. I had to upgrade again, trust me, I did the upgrade then clean install and got some jabber about key being blocked, so I reinstalled 8.1 and upgraded fine a 2nd time.
Interesting to see all these successes. I have been able to upgrade two laptops from work so far, one from Windows 7 and one from 8.1. They both had Windows installs done about a week ago. All updates installed. I used the media creator I found on launch day to perform both. The Windows 7 machine was not simple, after several failed attempts, I found some instructions someone had made for failed upgrades to Windows 8.1. It basically involved running several commands to clean space on the hidden boot/utility partition. The Windows 8.1 machine's upgrade was a walk in the park. Insert media run setup and let it go. I've also tried updating a Windows 7 machine at home and I haven't figured out what is wrong with that one so far. The worst error message ever: "Windows upgrade failed" with an ok button below it. No details at all. I guess I'll have to go searching for a log file somewhere on the machine when I get some time.
Interesting that Brett has no luck with the Upgrade this Computer now option. This has worked without literally any problem on 4 PCs for me - 2 custom builds and 2 Sony laptops with Win 7 and Win 8.1 on one of each respectively. I was frankly expecting the laptops to have issues with custom keys not working but everything was working just fine, including the over 6 year old one. The only thing I had to do on the most recent custom build was update the Nvidia drivers for a GTX970 using Nvidia's own tool. So far rock solid on all machines although there are definitely UI issues (primarily inconsistencies) to be addressed as well as design decisions that just don't work (like white headers on apps). Edge also clearly needs a lot of work but I suppose they have been somewhat open about that.
It was instantly failing on the machine I was trying it on, but since I have about a dozen devices to upgrade creating the USB key was the right thing to do anyway.
You have to ensure all of your Windows Updates are installed. Failing that, there's a couple of things to try on the internet that may help you out. But this was delivered via Windows Update so that's the place to start.
Download the MediaCreationTool (choose whether you want 32 or 64 bit), run the file, choose "Upgrade This PC Now", and you're all set. Make sure you upgrade FIRST on that PC to activated, then you can later create installation media if you want to clean install (format)...
When I first ran the tool, I got an error simply saying "Something Happened". I fixed it by changing my locale to English (United States) (it was originally set to English (Canada), because that's where I am!). After rebooting, the tool worked like a charm!
You can change your locale by going to Run > intl.cpl, selecting the Administrative tab, and clicking "Change system locale". Hope this helps!
I had big problems but finally installed on a laptop. However, could someone tell me the following: 1) have you found a way to choose which win10 updates you can download rather than automatically download and install all of them? i tried with group policy but it doesnt work. 2) if u install to a desktop, then upgrade to a new motherboard, it will no longer be activated and u will have to reinstall win7/8 and do the upgrade again (and it will prob still not activate). so this seems like a terrible choice of an OS for a desktop..
"if u install to a desktop, then upgrade to a new motherboard, it will no longer be activated and u will have to reinstall win7/8 and do the upgrade again (and it will prob still not activate).
Phone Activation
"so this seems like a terrible choice of an OS for a desktop.."
Right the number 1 OS in the world is a bad choice ???? Oh well you're free to use something else.
I downloaded and install Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool and now I can't log into my computer. I get the message "The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded." When I click OK, I have to accounts labeled "defaultuser0". I have tried to set my boot mode to CD so I can reinstall my Windows 7 but I can't change my boot options anymore. Please help a newbie.
Brett is there any chance of a small article detailing exactly what the options are relating to upgrade and/or clean install? MS haven't been very clear from what I can see on people who want to clean install their free upgrade or who may want to reload 6 months later.
Also, what happens with the licence key? I read earlier in the comments it becomes tied to the machine ID. My Windows 7 licence is retail so I can move it when I change my machine. What happens if I move to Windows 10? Does it become like an OEM licence now? Can I still format and use my Windows 7 licence after activating to Windows 10?
I really think an article to clear all this up would be useful.
Guess people are talking about their upgrades, so...
I've gotten the upgrade on a single system so far, that had been running 8.1 Home, and it mostly seems fine. There's some bug where I basically can't use Sleep now though, as after I wake it from sleep, it ignores my sleep settings and just sleeps after a few minutes no matter how I set it.
This could be some kind of existing bug from earlier versions of Windows even-couldn't find much about it but did find someone describing something similar on 8.1. I didn't have that issue previously on 8.1 though.
Might do a clean install...I used to ALWAYS do clean installs, but I've gotten lazy. Plus honestly all this activation nonsense makes installs WAY harder than they used to be back in the 90s.
I installed Windows 10 pro on my Desktop and Laptop today - the only complaint I have is it removed my Bitdefender total security 2015 software from my systems during the upgrade even when it gave a report saying all my software was compatible prior to upgrading.
According to the Microsoft website you do not need anything aside from Windows Defender for defense against viruses etc and that may be why it uninstalled Bitdefender during my upgrades. I strongly disagree with Microsoft in regards to only needing Windows Defender.
I performed a clean install on both my desktop and laptop after upgrading both so I simply installed Bitdefender again= and all is working as designed and very fast compared to windows 7 pro.
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51 Comments
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faizoff - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I'll repost what I said in the other thread:Installed it on the unbranded tablet that I got for $50 and it's been a breeze. I'm so surprised by how well Cortana works with the crappy mic it comes with and mostly generic stuff. I'm super impressed so far by how quick the bugs are being cleaned up. I mean I checked in the morning today and was getting various crashes on some apps and now they no longer happen at night. It also has to be the most reliable upgrade I've ever done. I remember when I first upgraded from a WIn 98 SE to XP and that took a few hours at least and nothing worked after that. Had to do a clean install.
Still playing around and I keep finding newer things I never noticed in the insider builds.
bupkus - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I'm using a desktop with a Samsung 830, 120GB SSD running Windows 7 Pro. Last Black Friday, I bought an Intel 730 Series 2.5" 240GB SSD which I wanted to use to replace the 830 freeing the 830 to transfer to my old Dell laptop.Since I have both SSDs installed in my desktop, can I install W10 (when it becomes available to me) to the Intel SSD and set that as my default drive in the Bios without tripping a Non-genuine Windows response?
The current hard drive in my laptop already has windows 10 through the Preview program but it's not the Samsung 830 SSD.
How can I get both devices with the windows 10 OS upgrades?
Gigaplex - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
You will probably need to do an in place upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10 at some point during the procedure to get Windows 10 to activate on that machine. You could probably either image the smaller SSD to the bigger SSD then perform the upgrade, or perform the upgrade, remove the smaller SSD, then do a clean install onto the larger SSD.Getting Windows 10 to activate on the laptop might be an issue though. I haven't been able to activate build 10240 on my laptop through the Preview program even though I maintained an active Microsoft Account for the login and have set it to install preview builds.
royalcrown - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
You can make a USB install key specifically to use on other computers if you have a MS insider account or know someone that does. I upgraded my pc first then made a key that was allowed to be used on other machines I wished to upgrade. It even says so in the wording when you make a USB drive and pick the 2nd option, "create installation media for another PC." You just gots ta know someone what has it or have "mediaCreationToolx86 0r x64."Crucial - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
You don't need an insider account to get the tool. Just download it from MS.http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/w...
royalcrown - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I saw that today, and after they made me log in at midnight on the 29th...oh well.piiman - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
You MUST do the UPGRADE First and make sure its Activates. Then you can do clean installs. Make sure not to enter any keys when prompted and it should Activate once the install is done. You don't need Keys now as its tired to your machine ID, which is why you have to do the upgrade FIRST.Wolfpup - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Glad you posted this.Sounds like the article describes a way to trigger the upgrade despite setting up a disk for a clean install...I guess I'm just waiting though for any of my other systems to get the upgrade. Microsoft's only offered one of my system's so far.
I like Windows 8.1 a lot, and I'm not 100% sure about 10, whether I'm actually thrilled about jumping to it or not. Don't like that Wifi Sense "feature", that's for sure! Don't think I like the GUI's look as much as 8.1 either, though probably I'll get used to it and end up loving it like I always do.
ABR - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Sure seems like a lot of hype surrounding this release. Is it always this way with Windows or has Microsoft beefed up its marketing department since last time around?FwFred - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Nothing new, every release is like this. In fact, Windows 95 had way more hype as I recall. I don't think it's unmerited though, a Windows release touches 100's of millions, more than pretty much any other consumer electronics product. Perhaps iOS is right up there.barleyguy - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
There were 3 releases that were duds: Windows Milennium, Windows Vista, and Windows 8. Those releases didn't cause the expected uptick in computer sales, and had a general negative perception by consumers. All other releases of Windows had positive hype and positive sales effects.Wolfpup - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
The negativity surrounding both Vista and 8 were nonsensical though. Vista's was caused by people trying to run it on terrible, low end hardware, and people forgetting that truly new OSes break stuff-it had been so long since XP that people seemed to forget that driver support and the like wasn't completely smooth with it either. Vista was great though.8 hatred is just hilariously unspecific and inane. Like it's virtually the exact same OS as 7, virtually an identical interface, with tons of minor little improvements all over the place, and the fact that the start menu is full screen seemed to cause some people to completely lose it
After 2 years of using it I actually did run into something that was missing on 8 that was present on 7, though I can't remember what it was now. Ask any 8 haters though what SPECIFICALLY they don't like about it, and it's hilarious-they can never name anything, or everything they claim is just factually untrue. That usually quickly devolves to personal attacks and threats.
Heck, my *mom* isn't computer savy at all, and she had no trouble with the upgrade. I'm like "it's pretty much like Windows 7, but the start menu is full screen", and she's like "oh, okay" and that was that lol.
Actually ME was just fine for the time too. All it was was Windows 98 third edition. Dual booted that and 2000 for a while (up from 98 and NT 4 dual boots).
dalewb - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
LOL I'm with you! I don't get the hate. I loved Windows Me - it had a wonderful start sound and worked quite well. I didn't like Windows 8 at first, but got used to it pretty quickly. I hate its metro control panel apps, but the rest of it's just fine. The only person that would truly have a reason to hate 8 is the dude who ripped out his Windows key back in the day and now can't access his start menu without having to flail about with the mouse trying to find the hot spot in the corner.:DPincers - Monday, August 10, 2015 - link
I sort of liked Windows ME as well. I really liked its generic USB driver that allowed me to use many of my USB drives without installing specific drivers which was a huge time-saver back then. The automatic updates feature was pretty nice too. It worked well for my toshiba laptop that I used it on.As for Windows 8, with classic shell installed I don't see what's very different from 7, except that it crashes a lot less. I'm sure it depends on your hardware, but at least for my comp the BSOD almost completely disappeared.
extide - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Did an in-place install from my W7 SP1 box at home and it has been basically perfect. This was a really old install with tons and tons of stuff, think several versions of visual studio, sql server, etc. Everything so far has been absolutely great. Quite impressed so far!!extide - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Oh, forgot to mention, I did this process but I did select the 'Upgrade This PC' option and it worked just fine. I did also create a USB stick, so I have that as well. After the upgrade it does show that windows IS indeed activated!banvetor - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
One key question: can I do a clean install through this process? I mean like in the old days when I could actually format the partition before starting the install... :Detamin - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Yes you can. The upgrade ended up bricking my notebook so I just tried using it for clean install and it worked. I skipped the "enter activation key" steps and it automatically activated on its own after setup.royalcrown - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Be careful, unlike the other poster, it DID NOT activate for me on a clean install, but I did not pick the N option when I created the USB installer.Brett Howse - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
You can't do a clean install, as in wipe out everything, until you've at least upgraded once. However during the upgrade you can choose to "Keep Nothing" which will remove all of your installed programs and files and it will be like a fresh PC.You have to upgrade though to get activated, at which point you should then be able to do a clean install but I've not tried that yet and would recommend you ensure you have a backup.
lilmoe - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
If Windows 10 (any build) was previously activated on a device via whatever method; RTM upgrade or via the insider program, then said device will be permanently activated on Windows 10 instantly when you install, or automatically after a short while.This has been sort of confirmed. I'll post a link if I find where I've read it.
Microsoft are pushing Windows 10 hard. There are lots of reports that pirated copies of Windows 7 and 8.x are getting activated upgrades to Windows 10.
In short, no one needs to worry about activation. lol
royalcrown - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I haven't tried it again, I just said it did not work when i tried it on the 29th. May have been too soon or the option I chose for my usb key.royalcrown - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I did get activated then redo the clean install. That is when I had the key blocked business, so I then just reisnstalled 10 over a new, clean 8.1.piiman - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
"I did get activated then redo the clean install. That is when I had the key blocked business, so I then just reisnstalled 10 over a new, clean 8.1."The servers were being hammered I got same message but kept hitting "activate button" and it finally activated.
yannigr2 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Are they morons there at Microsoft? I am using tools that can resume a download from 2000 (Jetcar/Flashget) but in 2015, the programmers at Microsoft that are given simple tasks like this tool are probably a few kids that where just offered their first temporary job at Microsoft.I used the x64 tool to start downloading the ISO and manually disconnected from the internet just to see how this tool will react. Then reconnected. Well, the tool didn't resumed. After 15 minutes doing nothing, not resuming the download, I closed it and reopened it. It started the download from the beginning. It's 2015 you morons. Quick the programmer's job and go to McDonalds.
reign99 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
With download speeds these days being nothing like they were in 2000, building in download resumes seems pointless. Sure, the download may take a little bit of time during a world-freaking-wide roll out, but once that's caught up it won't be long.In 2000 you could spend days downloading something. Resume was kind of important then. Not so much now. But given your level of anger over the lack of the feature, maybe they should have done it just to calm you down.
Now get back to your McDonalds job.
Coup27 - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
Think you need to get a life mate.hulu - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I did this for my two computers. Read about it at Tom's HW.The Windows 8.1 one (2014) upgraded without any major problems.
My older Windows 7 (i5 750 from 2010) started exhibiting BSODs anytime I tried to reboot. Sometimes it would repair with one go, sometimes it would take multiple tries. Couldn't fix it with multiple tries, so ended up doing a fresh install.
So as always, there is a chance something may go wrong. Better be prepared to not have a working computer for a while, or to spend a couple of hours getting it back in working order (with the applications and tools you need).
You need to upgrade once per computer to get the license transferred. After that as long as you don't change your components, you can fresh install and the OS will be authorized automatically. Just skip the product key queries, since product keys from previous Windowses won't be recognized.
Since once of my computers was eligible for the Home version and the other for Professional, I downloaded both images. The Home version is 2.98 GiB and the Pro is 3.11 GiB, so both fit on 4 GB USB sticks. Be warned, that all data previously on the stick will be lost.
royalcrown - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
It didn't activate for me on a clean install. I had to upgrade again, trust me, I did the upgrade then clean install and got some jabber about key being blocked, so I reinstalled 8.1 and upgraded fine a 2nd time.jabber - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Or you could have just let it run through in one go as intended and as everyone else would have used it and you wouldn't have had to post that.Einy0 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Interesting to see all these successes. I have been able to upgrade two laptops from work so far, one from Windows 7 and one from 8.1. They both had Windows installs done about a week ago. All updates installed. I used the media creator I found on launch day to perform both. The Windows 7 machine was not simple, after several failed attempts, I found some instructions someone had made for failed upgrades to Windows 8.1. It basically involved running several commands to clean space on the hidden boot/utility partition. The Windows 8.1 machine's upgrade was a walk in the park. Insert media run setup and let it go. I've also tried updating a Windows 7 machine at home and I haven't figured out what is wrong with that one so far. The worst error message ever: "Windows upgrade failed" with an ok button below it. No details at all. I guess I'll have to go searching for a log file somewhere on the machine when I get some time.JonHK - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Interesting that Brett has no luck with the Upgrade this Computer now option. This has worked without literally any problem on 4 PCs for me - 2 custom builds and 2 Sony laptops with Win 7 and Win 8.1 on one of each respectively. I was frankly expecting the laptops to have issues with custom keys not working but everything was working just fine, including the over 6 year old one. The only thing I had to do on the most recent custom build was update the Nvidia drivers for a GTX970 using Nvidia's own tool. So far rock solid on all machines although there are definitely UI issues (primarily inconsistencies) to be addressed as well as design decisions that just don't work (like white headers on apps). Edge also clearly needs a lot of work but I suppose they have been somewhat open about that.Brett Howse - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
It was instantly failing on the machine I was trying it on, but since I have about a dozen devices to upgrade creating the USB key was the right thing to do anyway.marraco - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I ask Anandtech to review with a lawyer the Windows 10 license. Particularly the "Microsoft Privacy Statement".I'm deeply worried by that.
lilmoe - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
If you're that worried, hire a lawyer yourself.Flunk - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
If you don't like it, you're free to not install it. Just like anything else.TemjinGold - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
So I don't have the reservation icon and can't seem to get it. Does anyone know how to manually get that icon?Brett Howse - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
You have to ensure all of your Windows Updates are installed. Failing that, there's a couple of things to try on the internet that may help you out. But this was delivered via Windows Update so that's the place to start.lilmoe - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/w...Download the MediaCreationTool (choose whether you want 32 or 64 bit), run the file, choose "Upgrade This PC Now", and you're all set. Make sure you upgrade FIRST on that PC to activated, then you can later create installation media if you want to clean install (format)...
lilmoe - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
to *get activatedTemjinGold - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
Awesome, that worked!ChrisCScott - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
When I first ran the tool, I got an error simply saying "Something Happened". I fixed it by changing my locale to English (United States) (it was originally set to English (Canada), because that's where I am!). After rebooting, the tool worked like a charm!You can change your locale by going to Run > intl.cpl, selecting the Administrative tab, and clicking "Change system locale". Hope this helps!
brainiiii - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
I had big problems but finally installed on a laptop.However, could someone tell me the following:
1) have you found a way to choose which win10 updates you can download rather than automatically download and install all of them? i tried with group policy but it doesnt work.
2) if u install to a desktop, then upgrade to a new motherboard, it will no longer be activated and u will have to reinstall win7/8 and do the upgrade again (and it will prob still not activate). so this seems like a terrible choice of an OS for a desktop..
piiman - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
"if u install to a desktop, then upgrade to a new motherboard, it will no longer be activated and u will have to reinstall win7/8 and do the upgrade again (and it will prob still not activate).Phone Activation
"so this seems like a terrible choice of an OS for a desktop.."
Right the number 1 OS in the world is a bad choice ???? Oh well you're free to use something else.
meacupla - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
I think you should add in a warning, that Win10 does not work with most Pentium-K, G3258, setups, especially overclocked ones, at the moment.All thanks to a single microcode update from intel, KB3064209
Sandy00 - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
I downloaded and install Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool and now I can't log into my computer. I get the message "The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded." When I click OK, I have to accounts labeled "defaultuser0". I have tried to set my boot mode to CD so I can reinstall my Windows 7 but I can't change my boot options anymore. Please help a newbie.docbones - Sunday, August 2, 2015 - link
Anybody get it to work with Win 7 Starter? I keep getting blocked at entering the key doing a upgrade install. (My Win 7 is activated with valid key)Coup27 - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
Brett is there any chance of a small article detailing exactly what the options are relating to upgrade and/or clean install? MS haven't been very clear from what I can see on people who want to clean install their free upgrade or who may want to reload 6 months later.Also, what happens with the licence key? I read earlier in the comments it becomes tied to the machine ID. My Windows 7 licence is retail so I can move it when I change my machine. What happens if I move to Windows 10? Does it become like an OEM licence now? Can I still format and use my Windows 7 licence after activating to Windows 10?
I really think an article to clear all this up would be useful.
Cheers.
Wolfpup - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Guess people are talking about their upgrades, so...I've gotten the upgrade on a single system so far, that had been running 8.1 Home, and it mostly seems fine. There's some bug where I basically can't use Sleep now though, as after I wake it from sleep, it ignores my sleep settings and just sleeps after a few minutes no matter how I set it.
This could be some kind of existing bug from earlier versions of Windows even-couldn't find much about it but did find someone describing something similar on 8.1. I didn't have that issue previously on 8.1 though.
Might do a clean install...I used to ALWAYS do clean installs, but I've gotten lazy. Plus honestly all this activation nonsense makes installs WAY harder than they used to be back in the 90s.
jdjoseph2000 - Thursday, August 6, 2015 - link
There was a sleep/wake but in earlier preview versions but I believe it was fixed..Aplustek - Sunday, August 9, 2015 - link
I installed Windows 10 pro on my Desktop and Laptop today - the only complaint I have is it removed my Bitdefender total security 2015 software from my systems during the upgrade even when it gave a report saying all my software was compatible prior to upgrading.According to the Microsoft website you do not need anything aside from Windows Defender for defense against viruses etc and that may be why it uninstalled Bitdefender during my upgrades. I strongly disagree with Microsoft in regards to only needing Windows Defender.
I performed a clean install on both my desktop and laptop after upgrading both so I simply installed Bitdefender again= and all is working as designed and very fast compared to windows 7 pro.