Which tutorial guides me through non-destructive OS upgrade?

obieephyhm · 22 Mar 2021

I'm forced to 'upgrade' to Windows 10 from a windows 7x64 Ultimate box (I love Windows 7, best OS they ever produced) but tax and accounting software has ceased to run so I'm taking my 'office' computer and want to move it on up the the bloated mess that windows 10 is BUT I want to do it so that I preserve my installed programs. I had my user profiles and appdata set up to be written to an HDD (non-system) since I only want the o.s. and programs on my SSD. However, I temporarily moved them back and made sure the %systemdrive% us pointed to correctly.

Is there a specific tutorial that will guide me through this, making sure that I don't lose anything more than I have to? I have searched but I'm not clear on which one is the best to follow in my particular case? Pointers, anyone?

Try3 · 22 Mar 2021

Upgrade to Windows 10
Upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 for Free

There is a third one but it does not suit your requirements
Windows 10 - Clean Install Directly without having to Upgrade First

It would be well worth making a new system image first.
Macrium Reflect [free edition] is often recommended in this forum for making system images. Other utilities are available but this one is so commonplace that you can get plenty of help for it.

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - TenForumsTutorials
Macrium Software Macrium Reflect Free
Macrium USB - TenForums
Macrium Reflect KnowledgeBase - user guide [version-independent link]

It can also make bootable system images. This facility is called viBoot and it requires Win10 Pro.
Macrium viBoot - Macrium KB
Macrium viBoot - Create Virtual Machine using Macrium Image - TenForumsTutorials

Denis

obieephyhm · 23 Mar 2021

Thank you very much. "Upgrade" (admittedly, not as bad on my desktop as I feared) installed. On to tweaking it. Again, thank you for your help, I'll be posting more questions, no doubt.

Try3 · 23 Mar 2021

Good.

There's a link to the Tutorial index at the top of the page.

At the foot of the Tutorial index page is a link to download it as a spreadsheet. I download the latest one each month because I find it easier to play around searching it with Excel.

You'll be interested in Move Users Folder - TenForumsTutorials but I have never gone that far.

I'm happy to just relocate individual user folders [Documents, Desktop, Music, …] to my other drives. You'll find those tutorials listed at the end of the Move users folder one.

Denis

Bob1212 · 23 Mar 2021

Try3 said:

Macrium Reflect [free edition] is often recommended in this forum for making system images. Other utilities are available but this one is so commonplace that you can get plenty of help for it.

Denis, can you say a few words as to why Macrium is better than the built-in Win10 method? Can it make a smaller file?

Try3 · 23 Mar 2021

Bob1212 said:

Denis, can you say a few words as to why Macrium is better than the built-in Win10 method? Can it make a smaller file?

Bob,

MS said not to use their Windows imaging any more in their announcement of Windows 10 Version 1709 and have never withdrawn that warning

imaging deprecated in Ver 1709 - TenForums

While you're thinking about backups, consider Backup and Restore Device Drivers - TenForumsTutorials as well.

Denis

Bob1212 · 24 Mar 2021

Try3 said:

Bob,

MS said not to use their Windows imaging any more...

While you're thinking about backups, consider Backup and Restore Device Drivers - TenForumsTutorials as well.

Denis

Thanks. Is it then possible that my already made System Image made from the builtin Windows utility won't work?

zbook · 24 Mar 2021

Some end users use dual boot 7 / 10 and others virtual.

Dual Boot Windows 10 with Windows 7 or Windows 8: Dual Boot Windows 10 with Windows 7 or Windows 8

Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Help Forums

Windows 10 - Test & Try with No Risk, No Install - Windows 7 Help Forums
Upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 for Free
Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First
Upgrade to Windows 10

Try3 · 24 Mar 2021

Bob1212 said:

Thanks. Is it then possible that my already made System Image made from the builtin Windows utility won't work?

Bob,

There have been reports of problems in other TenForums threads but there have also been reports of there being no problems at all. Once something is not recommended or supported by its maker, all bets are off.

Denis