Anniversary: upgrade vs fresh install


  1. Posts : 57
    Windows 10 Pro
       #1

    Anniversary: upgrade vs fresh install


    Hey there,
    I've upgraded to Anniversary release using Upgrade Assistant, having Win 10 64-bit Pro version installed and everything is looking good until now.

    My concern is related to the programs functionality that was already installed, is this a good choice are there any cons or it's better to perform a fresh install using the Media creation tool / latest ISO images?

    Thanks,
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #2

    Which ever method used to upgrade , result should be same. If it upgraded well, without problems, that means you had nice, clean and properly working system and I can see no reason for clean install.
    Here's my example, same computer but with some major HW changes including motherboard:
    W7 > W7 Sp1 W8 > 8,1 and every single W10 insider update/upgrade since day one. Few times some programs would be uninstalled or stopped from working but after reinstalling them worked as before.
    Most upgrade problems come with resident AVs other than WD and problematic drivers for some HW along with too little space on system disk.
    I did take some precaution though, I always make Macrium Reflect full system backup before major updates/upgrades and make ISO out of downloaded upgrade using ESD to ISO program you can find in Tutorials section. That gives me an option to do clean install if necessary without having to download it again.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 15,027
    Windows 10 IoT
       #3

    IMHO, If it's working fine, with no obvious issues, don't worry about it. If something doesn't seem right, do a clean install and see if that fixes it. I've had glitches in the past from upgrades. Not every time, but some times. After a clean install those issues were gone.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 5,443
    Windows 11 Home
       #4

    Sara said:
    My concern is related to the programs functionality that was already installed, is this a good choice are there any cons or it's better to perform a fresh install using the Media creation tool / latest ISO images?
    Yes, an upgrade is known to cause some issues, but you can perform some maintenance to ensure, that everything is fine.

    Run CMD as admin and copy/paste/enter underlined commands (preferably one by one):

    fsutil usn deletejournal /d /n c:

    This will remove any file history left from Windows 7, if your Windows is installed on partition C.

    chkdsk /scan

    This one never hurts, it is a fast basic HDD scan

    Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

    It should report: "No component store corruption detected."

    winmgmt /salvagerepository

    It should report: "WMI repository is consistent."

    sfc /scannow

    It should report: "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations."

    Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

    It should report: "The operation completed successfully." (It can be only 20%, you can ignore that)

    cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & cleanmgr /sagerun:65535

    This will clean up everything (you choose), including Windows.old folder, if you do not want to revert back to Windows 7.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 57
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #5

    It's all clear now, thank you all :)
      My Computer


 

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