Upgrade this PC now or Create Media for another PC?

Redman · 16 Aug 2015

I want to upgrade my Windows 7 PC to Windows 10 using the media creation tool. I don't want to do a clean install or lose my existing files or programs. Which option should I select? I would have thought "Upgrade this PC" would have been the ideal option rather than creating an iso but all the guides I've seen recommend going with the option to create an iso and then use that to upgrade the PC. Has anyone used the "Upgrade this PC" option and encountered any problems?

Thanks.

Torquemada · 16 Aug 2015

I and others have used it . Worked fine for me. I will say this only once, BACK UP YOUR CURRENT SYSTEM. <shout off > :) If it can go wrong it will.

Antilope · 16 Aug 2015

It would be wise to take the following steps BEFORE upgrading to Windows 10.

-Backup all of your data on your PC. Make sure you can restore your data from the backup. Do a test.

-Make sure you have Windows 7 install media in case the upgrade goes badly and you have to do a clean re-install of Windows 7.

-Make sure you have all of the Windows 7 drivers for you PC on a backup media. Sometimes Windows 10 won't load all of the required drivers. Hardware makers haven't or won't release Windows 10 drivers for all hardware. Windows 7 drivers usually work in Windows 10 (although it's better to use a Windows 10 driver if possible). Also, you will need these drivers if you have to do a re-install of Windows 7.

-From the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool, choose "Upgrade this PC". It will ask at some point early in the process if you want to keep all of your files, etc. At that point you can choose to keep them or to keep nothing.

Redman · 16 Aug 2015

Thanks for the help! By backing up data, you mean a Windows backup via Backup and Restore? I have multiple other partitions on other internal hard drives that contain photo's, videos etc. Would these need to be backed up too? It's a few TB of data so would rather not have to... My Windows 7 installation is on its own partition on an SSD, I also have most of my programs on the same partition. If I lose the apps it''s not a disaster but I can't lose the photos and videos that I have on my other internal drives.

Thanks!

Slartybart · 16 Aug 2015

I suggest creating the media for no other reason than if the Upgrade this PC now option has an issue, hten you have to start all over. The same thing applies to downloading the ISO in the Media Creation tool, except that the upgrade process has not yet started.

The other benefit to creating install media is that you can use it on other qualifying machines with the same edition (Home or Pro) and bit depth ( 32-bit or 64 bit)

The rule of thumb for any Windows install is to disconnect all other drives from the machine.
The only drive that should be connected is the drive you are installing Windows.

You should back up any personal data on that drive - the other drives will be fine since they are essentially disconnected backup drives. When the upgrade is complete, you can reconnect the other drives.

Either way, upgrade now or download for later - disconnect the other drives.

Digital Life · 16 Aug 2015

After following the great tips here I would use the media creation tool to make a USB or DVD that way you can do a clean install after the upgrade, if you want without wasting bandwidth or time to download again.

Redman · 16 Aug 2015

Slartybart said:

I suggest creating the media for no other reason than if the Upgrade this PC now option has an issue, hten you have to start all over. The same thing applies to downloading the ISO in the Media Creation tool, except that the upgrade process has not yet started.

The other benefit to creating install media is that you can use it on other qualifying machines with the same edition (Home or Pro) and bit depth ( 32-bit or 64 bit)

The rule of thumb for any Windows install is to disconnect all other drives from the machine.
The only drive that should be connected is the drive you are installing Windows.

You should back up any personal data on that drive - the other drives will be fine since they are essentially disconnected backup drives. When the upgrade is complete, you can reconnect the other drives.

Either way, upgrade now or download for later - disconnect the other drives.

Thanks for the info. I have a few applications installed on those other drives. If I disconnect these drives, will I get any issue during the Win 10 upgrade, as it won't be able to see the drives those apps are installed on?

Slartybart · 16 Aug 2015

IT depends ... if the applications are portable installs or stand-alone applications then no issue.
If they were full registered installs, there might be an issue - I'm not sure ... I've never put programs off the C: drive for that reason.
The worst that would happen is the registry entries would not carry over since Windows could not find the install Location.

I'm not sure what to tell you, other than make a system image of the machine (System Reserve and C:) - store it on an external drive and also backup your registry. If there are only a few applications not on the connected drive and they do not get carried over, you might be able to crawl the exported registry and get the entries. Some pgms are self healing - fire it up and the registry entries are created.

It might only take a reinstall of the pgms after the upgrade and re-connecting the drives. This is uncharted territory for me.

Redman · 17 Aug 2015

Thanks for your help Slartybart. I followed your advice but when upgrading I get the following error:

This PC can't run Windows 10

We couldn't update the System Reserved Partition

I believe the System reserved partition is on one of the internal drives I have disconnected prior to the attempt to update to Windows 10. Any suggestions?

Thanks again.

bobkn · 17 Aug 2015

Redman said:

Thanks for your help Slartybart. I followed your advice but when upgrading I get the following error:

This PC can't run Windows 10

We couldn't update the System Reserved Partition

I believe the System reserved partition is on one of the internal drives I have disconnected prior to the attempt to update to Windows 10. Any suggestions?

Thanks again.

That may not be the problem.

Fix: Windows 10 upgrade couldnâ€™t update the system reserved partition - Buck Hodges - Site Home - MSDN Blogs