Having to BACKDATE Win10 X64 Pro To Version 2004 From 20H2...

Dear TenForums:

DaveC here again - as I've found that SOME sort of "Windows update" this autumn has rendered by IMSI Design-published copy of DesignCAD 3DMax v.25 (dating from 2015) to no longer access files I HAD been opening and editing as late as the end of this past summer...and, even into the very early autumn...I needed to create a Win-10 X64 ISO-bearing thumbdrive to be able to BACKDATE my copy of Windows 10 X64 Version 20H2, back to the early-2020 timeframe "version 2004" edition to be certain either my DesignCAD 3DMax v.25, or even the recommended "DC" 3DMax Version 2020 update (only a US $70.00 cost to upgrade), can even be able to SEE the contents of my DesignCAD drawing files, let alone access them again. All I ever got in File Explorer after "the trouble" started, was the small square "red-x advisory window" that read "Invalid flag attribute" text in the window with the older v.25 software version starting sometime this autumn, I can't "exactly" remember when, so it HAD to either be the CAD software being "too old", or something going haywire with my current v.20H2 Windows install.

As one trial way I attempted to use to giving my DesignCAD drawing files a chance to be accessible once more, was to "use the 2-week free trial" of the DC 3DMax Version 2020 software, I gave that a try this morning...IT installed successfully on my Win10 64-bit version 20H2 installation, but it still COULD. NOT. SEE. the drawing files. even in my uncompressed, "direct-copy" backup thumbdrive...so I KNOW, now, that something in Windows 10 X64 v.20H2 IS "amiss", and I DO need some help in "backgrading" it to the 2004 version of 64-bit Win10.

I just used Itechtics' page for "How to download any Windows 10 version" and that page's attendant batchfile, and replaced an older, 2019-vintage version of Windows 10 that my "WIn-10 Version update USB thumbdrive" HAD the files for, with the early-2020-timeframe "2004" version, so I'm HOPING that can return my Win-10 install to a usable level for troubleshooting my DesignCAD software "challenges" to be able to get that great drafting software going again, in either the old v.25 edition, or the newer Version 2020.

I ONLY want DesignCAD to "be usable" again, as that title is the MOST important program on my entire computer.

Hope to get some tips on the PROPER way to "backgrade" my 20H2 install to 2004, retain as many of my programs as possible (the programs on the second, "D" volume of my "C & D" twin-volume SSD drive), unplug the data cable on my "E:/ volume" Seagate 500 GB hard drive to keep ANYTHING from being affected "there" (data ONLY on that drive) while "doing what's required" to get back to be able to re-install v.2004 of Win-10 X64, and then once v.2004 is "back on" and functioning, do a new install of DesignCAD to be certain my files are once again accessible, and "get on" with things once more.

Thanks in advance and Yours Sincerely,
DaveC

Dear dalchina:

DaveC here once more - I've managed to already create the "bootable USB" for installing Win10 X64 v.2004 all made up for any "backgrading", and as I KNOW that I'm well-beyond the "ten-day barrier" your link mentioned (with the words,"Please note, that you get only 10 days to uninstall Feature update if you want to"), having the bootable USB for "doin' the backgrade" with MAY involve a "clean install"...which would take critical DAYS to get through, up to some two to three WEEKS of time.

It's just that, with my late mother's home up-for-sale (she passed a year ago), and me "living IN it" for the winter to shelter-in-place away from the pandemic in the US, my desktop PC HAS to "stay up & running" for as much of the time as possible. "Reconstructing" my Win10 install, from a "clean install", is all TOO likely to take too long, with me getting in serious trouble IF a "clean install to backgrade" from version 20H2 to version 2004 is a requirement for what I NEED to do.

So, where I KNOW I'm well beyond the "ten-day barrier", any option to "backgrade to v.2004" that both can be done beyond the ten-day barrier, AND does NOT mandate a "clean install", would be most welcome to find out about.

Thanks in advance and Yours Sincerely,
DaveC

Dear dalchina:

Dave C here again...just for "dumps & chuckles" I typed "winver" on the command line, and I managed to bring up THIS "About Windows - window" within the last 15 minutes:



..it IS clearly showing my current version of Windows 10 X64 as: "version 2004", so have I "actually managed to downgrade" my version of Windows to that level?

"Just curious", that's all...the "true test" will be, if my DesignCAD drawing files will be accessible again, after a re-install of either version of "DC" (either v.25 or Version 2020) later this week.

Thanks in advance and Yours Sincerely,
DaveC

Dear TenForums:

DaveC here again - sadly, by last Friday (December 18, 2020) the situation with my Win-10 X64 install HAD to be replaced using the "Clean Install" method, and since my now-ancient (2015!) Biostar A85S3 mobo simply has NO ability of booting a Win10-loaded thumbdrive...it can ONLY boot from a hard drive, CD/DVD, or SSD drive...it was "in with my 2015-vintage" MS Win-10 X64 DVD disk, into my Pioneer "tri-mode" CD/DVD/Blu-ray removable media drive; after disconnecting my only hard drive (my nearly-new, barely-occupied Seagate half-terabyte internal 3-1/2" form-factor internal hard drive for ALL my data and documents) to protect its contents - backed-up onto a Kingston 128 GB capacity volume for the present - it was time for "the Clean Install"...

...and now, about half-a week later (and re-connecting the Seagate HD, immediately after the "clean install" finished-up), I'm "sort-of glad" I did it.

My copy of MS Office 2019 Home & Student is back in, as well as DesignCAD 3DMax 2020, my copy of the CorelDRAW Suite X7, and a good number of other "important-to-a-CAD-guy like yours truly" software items will be goin' back in as this week gets to, AND past Xmas...

...but that storage system REALLY needed the "clean install" procedure on it, and thanks to the new compliment of a quartet of freshly installed 120mm size-class fans in the NZXT H230 "CAD-monolith" case, as well as the replacement AMD A8-7600 heatsink/fan cooler for the A8-6600K 100 watt power CPU chip my Biostar mobo's had ever since I got it (the older unit's fan WAS gettin' tired) the CPU temperature on my "freshened-up" mid-tower desktop NEVER seems to get any warmer than 100ºF/38ºC, and the system temperature, thanks to the recently-installed quartet of fans, never appears to go any higher than 90ºF/32ºC!

My move from my late mom's home isn't going to be occurring until this coming spring in any case, and as my AMD Ryzen "system upgrade" really doesn't HAVE to go in until I've moved to a public-access condo/apartment early in 2021, for the present, it LOOKS like the freshly-installed "version 1909" of Win-10 X64 I've ended up with at the moment is running quite nicely, at least for "over the holidays".

Thanks again & Happy Holidays, DaveC... !!