ThinkPad P51 Purchased Nov '17 and E480 Purchased '18 Update?

(I may have asked a similar question a couple of years ago but I wish to get a fresh perspective)

I have never updated the bios or the drivers or any of the recommended updates on these two computers. They both still run early versions of Win 10. And they both work flawlessly as well as snappy. I do have Bitdefender Total Security always running and I keep all of the browsers up to date but that's it.

I'm thinking of formatting the 4 drives (2 bootables on each computer) and installing a fresh copy of the last latest and greatest Win 10 version.

I don't know what I should do first. Should I install all of the recommended updates that Lenovo suggests i.e. bios, network card etc. before wiping the drive and installing the fresh copy of the latest/s Win 10 version or should I wipe the drives and install Win 10 fresh and then let Lenovo decide what needs to be updated.

I'm fearful that if I install version 10 first that some of the necessary or recommended Lenovo updates might need to be installed first. I'm also fearful that I could screw up two perfectly running computers by updating anything. Recommendations welcome.

If you have skipped several, or many, BIOS updates, first check in the Lenovo forums what is the correct way to update.

I am not sure the updates that are "installed" from Windows are cumulative. It they are not, and to avoid installing many updates, it should be better to update using the ISO image burned to a boot DVD/CD. This, of course, needs a DVD/CD unit, either USB or internal. The ISO can be downloaded from the Lenovo support website for your computes.

TO dalchina: I forgot how to do inline edits.

phaedruspress said:

(I may have asked a similar question a couple of years ago but I wish to get a fresh perspective)

I have never updated the bios or the drivers or any of the recommended updates on these two computers. They both still run early versions of Win 10. And they both work flawlessly as well as snappy. I do have Bitdefender Total Security always running and I keep all of the browsers up to date but that's it.

I'm thinking of formatting the 4 drives (2 bootables on each computer) and installing a fresh copy of the last latest and greatest Win 10 version.

I don't know what I should do first. Should I install all of the recommended updates that Lenovo suggests i.e. bios, network card etc. before wiping the drive and installing the fresh copy of the latest/s Win 10 version or should I wipe the drives and install Win 10 fresh and then let Lenovo decide what needs to be updated.

I'm fearful that if I install version 10 first that some of the necessary or recommended Lenovo updates might need to be installed first. I'm also fearful that I could screw up two perfectly running computers by updating anything. Recommendations welcome.

>Hi, first, consider simply upgrading your Windows build. Question would be- if all is running well, why haven't they been receiving Windows Updates? It sounds as if you've done something to block that.

Oh yeah it's been blocked. I've been using Windows Update Blocker (WUB) for years now.

>- enable Windows Update and let that try to apply an upgrade

Thanks but I really do not want to do that update on a 6 year old OS.

>- perform an in-place upgrade manually

Sorry I don't know what that means, manually.

>and of course if you really wish, clean install Win 10.

That's the plan.

>If you do the latter...so the only question might be upgrading your BIOS. Lenovo Vantage/System Update should help you do that quite easily.

Right but I don't as yet know whether I should update the BIOS before nuking the OS or afterwards. I have the question asked in the Lenovo subreddits but it has yet to be answered.

>Sure, so I hope you have a full 3rd party disk image of what you have now, saved to an external disk.

Always. Thanks.

- - - Updated - - -

Anibor said:

If you have skipped several, or many, BIOS updates, first check in the Lenovo forums what is the correct way to update.

I am not sure the updates that are "installed" from Windows are cumulative. It they are not, and to avoid installing many updates, it should be better to update using the ISO image burned to a boot DVD/CD. This, of course, needs a DVD/CD unit, either USB or internal. The ISO can be downloaded from the Lenovo support website for your computes.

To Anibor: I forgot how to do inline answers.

>If you have skipped several, or many, BIOS updates, first check in the Lenovo forums what is the correct way to update.

I have questions asked in the Lenovo subreddits. Any other place you might suggest I ask? TIA.

>This, of course, needs a DVD/CD unit, either USB

That's the plan. Thanks.