Where to download an old version of windows 10?

Hijin25 · 15 Mar 2021

dalchina said:

Please post the specifications for your laptop. Click 'My computers' below my post for an example. We know nothing of yours.
Tutorials available to help you.. from the Tutorial section, if needed.

About how old is it? Is the BIOS/UEFI up to date? Noted you comment:

Please post a link to its driver download page.

MS compatibility restrictions could relate to hardware or software. It's not possible to determine the precise restriction.

There is no necessary requirement to upgrade. Your PC will continue to function.

There is no guarantee of continuing upgrades for old devices being compatible. MS is trying to protect you from potential problems.

Sorry for the delay in responding. Sometimes work doesn't leave me free time.

My laptop is an ASUS model X555Q. On the ASUS page I do not find this model, only the X555QG, but I do not know if it is the same.

dalchina · 15 Mar 2021

I asked:

About how old is it?

I find it is apparently from about 2015, so not so old.

Hijin25 · 15 Mar 2021

I've been with her for 3 years, I thought she was older because I inherited her from the engineer who was in the company before me.

dalchina · 15 Mar 2021

I found this:
[UX450FDX & UX550GEX & UX550GDX] Why can’t my computer upgrade to Windows 10 version 2004? | Official Support | ASUS Global

Basically you're looking for possible clues as to what might be seen as being incompatible.
That example might not apply to your model, but that's the sort of clue you're looking for.

And remember I asked about the BIOS/UEFI version above.

Hijin25 · 15 Mar 2021

Thank you again for your assistance.

I'll let you know about the bios as soon as I get back to the office. I had to leave it charging the battery.

I read the information in the link you put, but I can't find my laptop model on the asus page to find out if the firmware update you mention is available for my machine.

dalchina · 15 Mar 2021

You may need to look at a site from the appropriate region.

Also some manufacturers offer a scan for driver updates for the particular machine.

Remember that's just an example- you're looking for incompatibilities particular for your machine. And you may not find any - it's just a faint possibility.

Hijin25 · 17 Mar 2021

dalchina said:

You may need to look at a site from the appropriate region.

Also some manufacturers offer a scan for driver updates for the particular machine.

Remember that's just an example- you're looking for incompatibilities particular for your machine. And you may not find any - it's just a faint possibility.

I have checked the BIOS and it indicates that the version is X555QG 320.

dalchina · 17 Mar 2021

Information on MS 'safety hold' - or why you may not be allowed to upgrade- and how to get around that (which should be regarded as an experiment and at your own risk, so you would need to take due precautions e.g. disk imaging)

Microsoft explains safeguard holds for Windows 10 Feature Updates

Hijin25 · 17 Mar 2021

I have contacted Asus technical support to find out how to proceed.

On the product page, it seems my model is listed as X555QG, the most recent bios is from 2019, so I imagine it still does not cover the change to the 2004 version of Windows.

I will be waiting for an answer and I will make it known in the post in case someone else has the same problem.

Thank you again for your attention.

Ghot · 17 Mar 2021

Hijin25 said:

I have contacted Asus technical support to find out how to proceed.

On the product page, it seems my model is listed as X555QG, the most recent bios is from 2019, so I imagine it still does not cover the change to the 2004 version of Windows.

I will be waiting for an answer and I will make it known in the post in case someone else has the same problem.

Thank you again for your attention.

Here is the download page for your laptop. The latest drivers or BIOS are from 2019.
X555QG - Support

This does NOT mean that it won't work on 20H2. If there WAS a problem with 20H2 that a new BIOS or driver could have fixed, ASUS would have provided them by now.

In the first post you said...

"The laptop that I use for my field work is somewhat old, but functional, but at the beginning of January I formatted it and installed the new version of windows 10, 20H2"

My question is... why didn't you do an In-Place Upgrade instead of formatting and doing a clean install?

You still have that option it seems.

In post #14 you said...

Hijin25 said:

I thank you all for your assistance.

I finally had time to reinstall windows. My laptop returned to working normally. But now I have to worry about what to do when the support for this version ends. I even see an icon in the system tray that suggests I update as soon as possible. But in windows update I get the message that my computer is not suitable for this update.

What do you think I should do?

An In-Place Upgrade will... upgrade you to 20H2, and fix Windows... but will leave all your programs, drivers, files... untouched.
My guess is that when you formatted and reinstalled, you missed a driver somehow, and that is what made your laptop... "not work the way it used to".

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

/edit

After a clean install of Windows on a laptop... IF there are problems...it's a driver issue (or some manufacturer software), 90% of the time.
The In-Place Upgrade avoids that, by leaving the drivers... untouched.

/edit2

Back in July 2020, my brand new computer wouldn't update from v1909 to v2004. For some reason Microsoft thought it was "incompatible" with v2004.
Well, it wasn't incompatible. I did an In-Place Upgrade, and I'm now on 21H1 (one past 20H2), and haven't had any problems. I have an ASUS motherboard, btw.