I finally did it.

[donkpow]

Upgraded the Windows 7 Pro machine to Windows 10. I hated to but support is ending in January. I still got the upgrade for free.

[Road Runner]

I haven't done it yet.  Was it much trouble?

[jdc2000]

His troubles are just beginning.

 

[donkpow]

8 hours ago, Road Runner said:

I haven't done it yet.  Was it much trouble?

Only in the matter of the consumption of time.

[JerrySTL ★]

9 hours ago, donkpow said:

Upgraded the Windows 7 Pro machine to Windows 10. I hated to but support is ending in January. I still got the upgrade for free.

How do you get it free? My daughter has a laptop that's still on Win7.

[donkpow]

2 hours ago, JerrySTL said:

How do you get it free? My daughter has a laptop that's still on Win7.

I followed this guide. Once you initiate the upgrade, there are no questions re. product key, etc. A new W10 was issued automagically.

I cloned the hdd to sdd a couple of weeks ago and am holding the old W7 drive intact in reserve just in case. I used Belarc Advisor to record the W7 product key. After that, it's all download and updates for the day.

I'm thinking we are approaching an actual close out of the free download. The official close out was in 2016. End of life of W7 is near. It's the only decent Windows operating system out there. When it's gone, life as we know it will be over.

[Road Runner]

What would happen if I don't upgrade to 10?  I know they stop issuing updates and stuff for 7, but what does that really mean for my system? 

[donkpow]

27 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

What would happen if I don't upgrade to 10?  I know they stop issuing updates and stuff for 7, but what does that really mean for my system? 

Nothing other than that stated. If you don't access internet or other networks, security wouldn't be a problem. You'll have to scan all your software updates with another machine, one with current security definitions. 

Quite a few people are still using xp in their systems.

[Road Runner]

5 minutes ago, donkpow said:

If you don't access internet or other networks, security wouldn't be a problem.

The internet will be a problem?  That's kind of what I use my computer for, mostly.   

[Razors Edge ★]

13 hours ago, donkpow said:

Upgraded the Windows 7 Pro machine to Windows 10. I hated to but support is ending in January. I still got the upgrade for free.

Win 10 is much better, so I'm not sure why you waited.

I did a fresh installation on the one Win 7 laptop I initially had simply upgraded from 7 -> 10. It was a good idea since I was adding a larger SSD.  Easy peasy.

[Indy]

Guess I will try this method on my old Windows 7 machine.  During the initial upgrade process it kept telling me it was incompatible, but will try this route and see if it decides to play.

Kind of ticks me off because it's still a decent old laptop.

[donkpow]

1 minute ago, Indy said:

During the initial upgrade process it kept telling me it was incompatible,

The first thing the tool you download does is check for compatibility. It may be that your system is simply not compatible. Vista and before are not eligible for upgrade. Has this machine always had W7 installed?

I received notifications during installation that some of the W10 features would not work on my machine.

[donkpow]

18 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Win 10 is much better, so I'm not sure why you waited.

I did a fresh installation on the one Win 7 laptop I initially had simply upgraded from 7 -> 10. It was a good idea since I was adding a larger SSD.  Easy peasy.

That was back when I was running all those video programs. I simply could not afford to lose those capabilities at the time. Most of the programs I use are now up to date with W10, bugs cleared, etc.

[Indy]

2 minutes ago, donkpow said:

The first thing the tool you download does is check for compatibility. It may be that your system is simply not compatible. Vista and before are not eligible for upgrade. Has this machine always had W7 installed?

I received notifications during installation that some of the W10 features would not work on my machine.

Yes, it was one of the very last machines you could get with Windows 7.  I had to search to find it because Windows 8 sucked so bad.  Dell, 17" screen, I7 processor and totally maxed out memory.  Freaking killer machine when new.

[Kzoo]

1 hour ago, Road Runner said:

What would happen if I don't upgrade to 10?  I know they stop issuing updates and stuff for 7, but what does that really mean for my system? 

I suppose it will run for as long as you want it to.

[donkpow]

36 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

The internet will be a problem?  That's kind of what I use my computer for, mostly.   

Microsoft won't be updating security definitions for the W7 system. You can use an after market security tool. Market forces will be at work for that. Or you could clean your system of sensitive and important information. Then just run it for internet applications.

[Razors Edge ★]

Just now, Indy said:

Yes, it was one of the very last machines you could get with Windows 7.  I had to search to find it because Windows 8 sucked so bad.  Dell, 17" screen, I7 processor and totally maxed out memory.  Freaking killer machine when new.

Then it sort of makes no sense, since Win 7 laptops have been getting upgraded.

I'd yank the current drive, swap in a new faster drive, try a clean Win10 install.

[donkpow]

2 minutes ago, Indy said:

Yes, it was one of the very last machines you could get with Windows 7.  I had to search to find it because Windows 8 sucked so bad.  Dell, 17" screen, I7 processor and totally maxed out memory.  Freaking killer machine when new.

Should work. I'd definitely try it. We are 4-5 years into the transition so if their were problems to be fixed, MS is likely to have fixed them. They tend to get rid of tools they are finished with.

[Indy]

1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

Then it sort of makes no sense, since Win 7 laptops have been getting upgraded.

I'd yank the current drive, swap in a new faster drive, try a clean Win10 install.

Exactly, I think it was graphic card driver.  You'd think they would eventually add support as it wasn't some odd ball thing.  For a laptop, it's a good Intel one.  The computer was bought for video editing and some gaming.

[Indy]

HOLY SHIT!!!

IT'S WORKING!!!

Windows 10 is actually installing on that machine, though I probably just cursed myself and it will fail somehow.

[Razors Edge ★]

17 minutes ago, Indy said:

Exactly, I think it was graphic card driver.  You'd think they would eventually add support as it wasn't some odd ball thing.  For a laptop, it's a good Intel one.  The computer was bought for video editing and some gaming.

Aren't video drivers - beyond standard ones - the GPU manufacturer's problem to update? Did they EOL the card for some reason (profit/greed)?

[MickinMD ★]

I hope the machine runs on Win 10 as well as it did on Win 7.

In the late 90's a physics student of mine, whose relative worked for Microsoft, was able to get me into the Beta testing program for Win 98 (code-named "Memphis") when Win 95 was out.  My laptop ran fine under Win 95 but there were some incompatibilities with Win 98 - sometimes I had to cold-boot it a few times before Win 98 would load - sometimes an embarrassment when other teachers would ask me to show it to them.

My current laptop came with Win 10.0 and when it automatically updated to Win 10.1, my Avira antivirus would no longer run because it used some of the same memory addresses as Win 10.1.  I switched to another good freebie, Avast, until the problem was resolved by either Avira or HP or a later update of Win 10.1, and everything runs fine now.

[donkpow]

23 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Aren't video drivers - beyond standard ones - the GPU manufacturer's problem to update? Did they EOL the card for some reason (profit/greed)?

Windows has approved drivers available for most things. OEM drivers are available from the OEM. I try to update my Nvidia Quadro driver regularly. When I did the upgrade on this W8.1 machine, Windows offered to update the driver. I ignored the message and went to Nvidia to get the latest.

I will say that on both this W8.1 and the W7 machines, graphics drivers were an issue. I had to make the settings manually and wait for the system to pick up the Nvidia drivers and settings. Then I updated the drivers via the OEM installation tool.

[Square Wheels]

I have an old laptop that now has 7 on it.  The integrated graphics card does not have a 10 driver.

It will go in the trash soon.

I dont use it anymore anyhow.  Its ancient and weighs over 10 pounds. 

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, Square Wheels said:

I have an old laptop that now has 7 on it.  The integrated graphics card does not have a 10 driver.

It will go in the trash soon.

I dont use it anymore anyhow.  Its ancient and weighs over 10 pounds. 

I've got a graveyard of old laptops and desktops.  Maybe I ought to dust off my 2010 Dell XPS laptop and see if Win 10 runs on it.  Gotta think the battery is shot, so would have to stay plugged in all the time, and I doubt the discrete graphics card has up-to-date Win10 drivers, but it might be fun???

[Indy]

And of course it failed.  yeah.

[donkpow]

32 minutes ago, Indy said:

And of course it failed.  yeah.

Well, sorry to hear that.

[Indy]

1 minute ago, donkpow said:

Well, sorry to hear that.

Did a little cleaning and going for try two.  Quick research shows I am not doomed yet.

[donkpow]

5 minutes ago, Indy said:

Did a little cleaning and going for try two.  Quick research shows I am not doomed yet.

?

[Indy]

It was a fight, but in the end I finally got it.  My old Dell is up and running on Windows 10 and it is running better than it has in a long time.  Thing is like new now, of course I had to go fresh install route.

[Ralphie ★]

I think I’ll maybe get a ssd to put 10 on. Just need to see if everything else is supported on the old dell laptop. 

[donkpow]

2 hours ago, Indy said:

It was a fight, but in the end I finally got it.  My old Dell is up and running on Windows 10 and it is running better than it has in a long time.  Thing is like new now, of course I had to go fresh install route.

Awesome!

[donkpow]

1 hour ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

I think I’ll maybe get a ssd to put 10 on. Just need to see if everything else is supported on the old dell laptop. 

Sym-links drive me crazy. All the clutter is supposed to be managed automagically by Windows 10.

[Indy]

16 minutes ago, donkpow said:

Awesome!

Hardest part ended up being remembering how to set everything up.  Haven't had to mess with network settings for so long and I can never find anything in Windows 10.  But finally found it (thanks Google) and back on the network with access to my server.

Other hard part, finding my freaking MS Office disc.  Couldn't remember where I put it since I haven't used any of that stuff since I moved last summer.

[Indy]

And if people are scared about having to do the "custom install" off a USB boot.  While I backed all my stuff up onto my server since the upgrade option would not work, I didn't need to.  The install is smart enough that it creates a directory (Windows.old) and puts the entire hard drive contents into it, so you can move stuff back and then delete everything else.  Pretty slick.

[donkpow]

1 minute ago, Indy said:

Hardest part ended up being remembering how to set everything up.  Haven't had to mess with network settings for so long and I can never find anything in Windows 10.  But finally found it (thanks Google) and back on the network with access to my server.

Other hard part, finding my freaking MS Office disc.  Couldn't remember where I put it since I haven't used any of that stuff since I moved last summer.

I made half a plan before I started. Since I installed W10 on this little pc that I use for surfing and light duty stuff, I was a little more confident when I converted the W7 Pro machine. Even so, I waited to the last possible minute to upgrade.

[Indy]

2 minutes ago, donkpow said:

I made half a plan before I started. Since I installed W10 on this little pc that I use for surfing and light duty stuff, I was a little more confident when I converted the W7 Pro machine. Even so, I waited to the last possible minute to upgrade.

I keep trying the option in the Windows upgrade when it was first announced since this is my old backup machine and always got it wasn't compatible.  Tried again several times when I heard the program was ending, so was thrilled when you posted another way to do it and it freaking worked this time.