My friend's Windows 8 laptop (ASUS) is experiencing the notorious CRITICAL PROCESS DIED issue. I am unable to find a solution/fix so I wondered if I can simply download Windows 10 and upgrade via USB?
You can try but the free upgrade period has expired. However, some users report the free upgrade still works. Backup the Windows 8 PC before doing this.
Thanks. I thought it was a given that it still worked. Knowing it might or might not is a bummer.
You can't upgrade by booting from USB that will do a clean install. You would have to boot into Windows 8 to run the upgrade.
Gotcha. Perhaps I should look around a bit more for a solution to the critical process error.
Unless you want to do clean install, yes. If you do want to do clean install you could use this rescue disk to retrieve the Windows 8 key (using the included ShowKey Plus program) and also backup any data you want. Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums
For the CRITICAL PROCESS DIED issue you could try these steps http://www.thewindowsclub.com/critic...-error-windows and if it doesn't work perhaps open another thread in the BSOD section as the title of this thread might be a bit misleading.
Thanks for everyone's help. I ended up doing a clean install.
Cheers
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