I have 4 questions (for now!) before I take the plunge and upgrade.

Windows 7 Professional Version 6.1(Build 7601: Service Pack 1)

I've put it off as long as I can and am now preparing to upgrade in-place from Win7 Pro to Win10 Pro. I've migrated my C drive to a bigger SSD (500GB from 125GB). I also have large programs and games on a 250 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD. I've moved my data to a nice new 4TB HHD.

I've backed up all my files to external drives, collected W10 drivers, and I have both WIB and Paragon disk images. I've read tutorials and a lot of other threads, but I'd really appreciate WindowsTenForums thoughts on the following:

1) Do I need to increase the size of my System Reserved partition (currently is 100MB, 68% free) proactively before attempting the upgrade, or only if I run into issues?

2) With an in-place upgrade (keeping files and apps) what does Windows do about programs I have installed on other drives? If I disconnect all drives except C as advised, how will Windows10 deal with programs installed on the other drives when I reconnect them?

3) Am I better off upgrading directly from the Microsoft site which offers Win10_2004, or using an older version and if so, which version is preferred?

4) My Windows 7 Pro is running both 32 bit and 64 bit and I have programs installed on both. Will Windows 10 give me both, or only 64 bit? If so am I no longer able to run those legacy programs?

These are the questions keeping me up at night!

Thanks to anyone who can help out with any of them.

In no particular order:

I presume that you aren't running "Windows seven 32 and 64 bit". If you can run 64 bit software, then you have the 64 bit version. Which can also run 32 bit software. Windows 10 wil do the same. It cannot run 16 bit code.

It is commonly recommended to disconnect all but the OS drive when installing Windows 10. However, the way that you have your system organized, I'm not sure that's a good idea. I have installed 10 with all drives connected, without issues.

My EFI System Partition is 100 MB, so I think there's no need to modify that. (If it's present, I assume that you're running a UEFI system.)

You may need to install the antivirus software. I haven't checked yours.

If you have imaged the C: drive, I suggest that you try the upgrade. There are issues with 2004, but I believe that you'd have to be unlucky for them to affect you.

Good luck. Please let us know how it comes out.

Thanks so much!
I did not quite understand the "32 and 64 bit" biz before: I knew my machine was 64 bit, but was worried W10 might not be compatible with the programs that are in the x86 folder.

AddRAM
I have programs elsewhere because until recently I had only a 125 GB SSD as a C drive and it was full full full. So... programs elsewhere.

bobkn
That is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Thank you for addressing all of my questions. I am greatly reassured by your input on the system reserved partition size and on installing with the other drives connected. The alternative I guess would be to uninstall everything. Easy enough for Steam, Blizzard, Epic games, not so much for old games and utilities and graphics programs I've installed over the years. If I do all that, I might as well do a clean install, but I understand it's better to do an install in place and then clean install after that, yah?

Just in case it makes a difference - my system uses a legacy BIOS - the path in the bootloader is: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

In Disk Manager, what I assumed was the system reserved partition is a partition separate from my C drive labelled "100 MB NTFS Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition)"

dalchina –

I appreciate your input; thank you!

I have >300GB free on C.

I'm pretty sure I was offered Win 10 way back when, before I got them to stop the nagging. Is there a way to check now?

I'm glad to have confirmation to NOT accept updates when upgrading, as some video tutorials (not TenForums!) tell you to go ahead and accept them.

I do have a large Start menu with deeply nested folders, so thanks for the suggestion. Tiles are anathema to me!

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dalchina –

Thanks, too, for the version advice. I'm tempted to install 1909.

Now, being from Canada, does it make a difference which language version I choose, English or English International? I know the differences between them and would go for International, but someone somewhere said if you're having trouble, go with the American version. I can't see how that would be true, but what do I know??

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[QUOTE=AddRAM;1939515]Yes, a normal W7 install would have a 100 MB System Reserved partition and then C on the rest of the drive. The System Reserved partition would be marked Active.

Did you include the System Reserved partition when you transferred windows to the new drive ? If you didn`t and you removed the smaller drive, windows will not boot, but it can easily be fixed.

AddRAM: Yes. I used the Samsung Migration tool to clone to the new SSD, and it included the system reserved partition. I've have been using it for a week or so. Everything seems much happier now I have more room.