Win 10 upgrade

Would it make sense to image to a fresh install of Win 8.1 before upgrading to Win 10 for those of us not too techy?

Hi Peter,

I'm a great believer in making an "disc image" (or two!) before undertaking any significant change…then if the worst comes to the worst at least you can re-image back to a satisfactory working state.

 

It's a form of "insurance" that we hope will not need to be used….. but if things do go wrong, then a good disc image is a jolly re-assuring thing to have in one's armoury of tools, and can have the system back up and running again in less time than it takes to walk the dog!

Regards

paws

Hi Paws

I absolutely agree.

In this case what I meant was, if you have to upgrade, instead of taking a lot of clutter with you, if you had a fresh install from a clean image as I always keep, would that be a good way of upgrading cleanly?

Or do all upgrades have more clutter than a clean install?

My desktop has a fresh clean image but my laptop does not. If a clean image would help I would reinstall the laptop now and image it too. The laptop's image is good but not brand new.

 

I am influenced  by on all the installations of 10 I have viewed which need to manipulate the partitions etc.

They recommend a clean install.

 

If  you can do a clean install, would it be as straight forward  as the 8.1 was by just burning the iso to disc and installing OR  do you have to work on partitions as I have seen those who want the preview of 10 now?

 

I don't understand why they are all working on the partitions to install the preview of 10.

 

Windows 8.1 is my favorite OS to date and I hope they do not regress. with a combination of 7 and 8 to appease all who were upset about the start menu.

Thank you,

 

Peter

I don't see the point. If you want to image a running Windows 8.1 that you have customized and used for awhile then yes, a backup image is good, but if it's a freshly installed 8.1, why bother as you can simply do a fresh install of 8.1 if necessary.

 

I did an upgrade to Win 10 TP via windows update from Win 8.1 on my Dell 15R laptop. I did an image backup first as it was setup the way I wanted it, including data, pics, etc. The upgrade process was easy and once started, completed by itself with no further input from me.

 

8.1 had been a Clean Install to a un-partitioned drive, letting the install create any partitions it needed.

 

A Clean Install of Windows 10 is definitely the best way to go but an upgrade is nice as it leaves you with almost everything still working. If you have 8.1 setup the way you want it, then try the upgrade. You can always Clean Install later if your not happy with it.

 

The current build of 10 has some bugs, one of which is really annoying, the Start button doesn't work. I don't see how that got released by MS. They should be doing a better job of testing before releasing each build.
 

 

If  you can do a clean install, would it be as straight forward  as the 8.1 was by just burning the iso to disc and installing OR  do you have to work on partitions as I have seen those who want the preview of 10 now?

 

You don't have to mess with partitioning at all. Just remove all partitions and let the Windows 10 installer create the partitions it needs during the install.

That is what I wanted to know. The tutorials of installing now show everyone messing with partitions.

 

I don't want to mess up my families pc so will wait till the final release is out.

So I wait till the Win 10 version is out [?April], then burn the iso to dvd and clean install?

Where would I find the generic product key for the final release?

If you get the free (for 1 year after release) upgrade, it will use the Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 product key, either the one embedded in BIOS or the one you got when you purchased the OS and it must be activated before the 10 upgrade or Clean Install.

 

If you buy 10 then you will get a key with the purchase. New computers with Win 10 will have it embedded like 8/8.1.

 

Meantime, load it into a virtual machine (VirtualBox or VMWare) and play with it. So far for me, I don't see anything in Win 10 that would make me willing to pay for it. Free I'll take, $$$ no.

I bought my pcs with Win 7 pro then upgraded to 8 then 8.1. To me, each upgrade seems be better than the previous one.

 

I have watched numerous tutorials about VMs and am not skilled enough to use one but thank you for the idea.

 

In your message you refer to an "upgrade". 

 

Will there be a file you click on to begin installation and during that you can upgrade or clean install? Clean is what I prefer. You do not burn the iso file b/c there is no key to use in the future for reinstallation,

As soon as you are installed and hopefully activated, you update Windows then download your Imaging program to take a baseline image of this newly installed ver 10.

 

This image would take the place of an OS disc.

 

Is this automatically activated with the clean install and is there a product key necessary.

 

I guess I will lose my WMC I paid for with a clean install.

 

I am trying to assemble the pieces I my mind so bear with the confusion, please.

I keep reading post 4.

I wanted to upgrade from a clean OS like the fresh install image I have for the desktop thinking this would be cleaner for the upgrade to 10.

If this is not appropriate then I will leave he other pc alone.

The OS I am running on the laptop has images but I do not have a clean one or baseline one like I do for the desktop.

That is why I felt that doing a clean install then image of 8.1 on the laptop would allow for a clean upgrade to 10 when the time comes.

I am having a hard time articulating my thoughts about this, obviously.

 

Would it not be better to upgrade to 10 with a fresh install of 8.1(fully updated) than one with a much used OS full of the orphans and old downloads etc.?

the thing is peter if your going to install win 8.1 first to get a clean install on the laptop, you'd then need to install all the windows 8.1 updates, then you'd have to upgrade to win 10, then you'd have to install any win 10 updates.

 

so why bother? it's a lot easier and saves yourself loads of time, to just image the laptops hard drive now when it's running win 8.1, then skip the clean install and updating of 8.1 and just go straight with the clean install and updating of win 10.

 

you can always revert back to win 8.1 using your image if required as well as having a nice clean install of win 10 to be going on with.

 

image the win 10 system then also, so any problems later you'd save yourself lots of time restoring win 10 using that image instead of installing it again and going through the update process.

 

so really the only question you need to ask yourself is :-

do you want to install all the programs and data already used by the win 8.1 laptop again?

 

if no then just image it first then do a win 10 upgrade,

if yes or it doesn't matter then do a clean win 10 install.

 

 

just for advice, if all your backup images are only on 1 hard drive just for extra security you also need to have another hard drive with a backup image of the images hard drive, because if that first backup drive failed you'd lose all your backup images with no way of getting them back again.

The key to this is a misunderstanding I had about the upgrade. I was told the upgrade would not have the provision for a clean install. 

If win 10 upgrade allowed for a clean install I would love that and that is what i first expected.

I was told there would just be an upgrade with no clean install or custom install option. So, if true, all the clutter from the 8.1 OS would be included in the upgrade. If I had a fresh install of 8.1 it would not bring along clutter.

I have to go back and ask him if he is sure about his source that there would be no custom option.

 

I clearly understand that there is no need to perform a clean image of 8.1 if I can perform a custom install of Win 10. and am greatly relieved as I do not want to go through the trouble of reinstalling and imaging when unnecessary.

Thank you for enlightening me. I know look forward to the Win upgrade.

 

Because the win 10 upgrade is so new there is little research or literature to investigate how it will be done so I relied upon his word.

 

And yes I would immediately image the upgrade to 10 as I have an image of all the OS except 8.1 in the laptop that was of concern and no longer is.

I do have two external hard drives that have all the operating systems on them.
Also I was reading the post of February 18 and apparently there will be an option for a custom or clean install.
Thanx for your help.
Peter

I am writing from the Win 10 TP with Oracle.

It is running well.

I had 3 questions all interwoven

At the top there 2 rows of comments. One says, in effect that the auto capture keyboard is turned on and the second says, in effect, that the guest supports mouse pointer integration. After being indecisive for a bit I deleted the two comments. Did I do the right thing?

 

Secondly, I cannot verify my account because the profile shows my 2 accurate phone numbers but the verification shows an old phone number no longer in my profile. I have tried to get a code emailed to my Google address to no avail.

How can I remove that old number?

At the top of what/where? Why would you delete comments?

 

Have you download and installed Guest Additions?

Did you enable bi-directional clipboard so you can cut and paste between host and guest?

This being my first successful installation of a VM with a guest OS I am pretty much at a loss.

 

Auto capture comments and mouse pointer integration were 2 sentences just above the Win 10 screen. It said I can 'remove so it does not always appear' or click to 'stop appearing'. At any rate they are no longer there and I do not notice any difference.

 

I have found out how to fix the phone number problem. MS had my new phone numbers right since I moved and advised them, However. Skype had the old numbers in my profile and likely because they are in sync, they referred to the wrong numbers to verify my account.

 

{Have you download and installed Guest Additions?

{Did you enable bi-directional clipboard so you can cut and paste between host and guest?

 

The above 2 questions I cannot answer as I do not know where to go. Could you direct me with those an any other important adjustments I should make??

For Guest Additions, get VirtualBox 4.3.24 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack, click on All supported Platforms to download and install.

 

I still don't see Auto capture comments and mouse pointer integration anywhere. Can you post a screen shot?