Upgrading

Ken Davison · 14 Sep 2015

Just moved over from the Win 7 forum

I have a dual boot up system on my pc with two separate drives, the first is 32 bit for running one program my old Autocad which is stored on an external drive. This allowed me to do a clean install for the 32 bit O/S and it works very well in fact the Autocad program is faster.

However my second drive contains Win Ultimante 64 bit and loads of programs and is only suitable for an upgrade. I have tried three times twice using the upgrade on the pc and

the third time using a purchased down load burning an iso disk.

On all three attempts I arrived at the

"WELCOME BACK"

page but on activating the next button my welcome back ceased with a frozen screen. Then on all three occasions I rebooted and tried other "Advance Options" every option went to the "Select Keyboard" page but again it was frozen, Neither of the two "Restore Options" functioned both coming up with error messages, so I ended up restoring using my repair disk.

It would appear a clean install works well but so called upgrades leave a lot to be desired.

Any advise would be gratefully received.

Mark Phelps · 14 Sep 2015

Ken Davison said:

... It would appear a clean install works well but so called upgrades leave a lot to be desired.

That's in line with the general consensus here -- while the Upgrade usually works, it leaves a lot of stuff left over from the previous OS. A clean-install, after confirming that Win10 has been Activated, clears out all that stuff.

Ken Davison · 14 Sep 2015

Mark Phelps said:

That's in line with the general consensus here -- while the Upgrade usually works, it leaves a lot of stuff left over from the previous OS. A clean-install, after confirming that Win10 has been Activated, clears out all that stuff.

I gave the upgrade another spin today with the result ending the same as the previous three.

If I go for a clean install will I be able to extract my data from my back up? Or do I need to copy data to a external disk i.e "documents" Required programs I can reinstall.

NavyLCDR · 14 Sep 2015

Ken Davison said:

I gave the upgrade another spin today with the result ending the same as the previous three.

If I go for a clean install will I be able to extract my data from my back up? Or do I need to copy data to a external disk i.e "documents" Required programs I can reinstall.

If you do an image using Macrium Reflect Free, you can later mount that image and pull specific files from it. In addition, when mounting the image, it has an option for "get access" (can't remember the exact words), which negates file permissions so you don't have to be concerned about getting locked out of your files due to permission issues.

But - don't forget, Windows 10 clean install won't activate unless you have a successful upgrade activation first.

Ztruker · 14 Sep 2015

This is a fairly comprehensive list of things you can do before trying another upgrade to Win 10. It's a collection of things multiple people have done to successfully upgrade, usually after having the upgrade fail.

Things to do before you upgrade to Windows 10

Before the next attempt, try doing the following (in no particular order after the backup is complete):

Create an image backup of your existing operating system to an external USB hard drive using a program like Macrium Reflect Free. If you don't have an external drive, get one as they are relatively cheap. A 1TB drive runs $50 to $60. Create the Rescue Disc that allows you to restore a backup is the computer will not boot normally, before you create the image backup so if anything goes wrong, you can recover in 20 to 30 minutes.

Check for updated drivers for your hardware at the manufacturers web site.
Disconnect everything except mouse, keyboard and display, EVERYTHING!
Uninstall your anti-virus if it's other than the built-in Defender.
Uninstall your firewall if it's other than the built-in Firewall.
Uninstall any Start button programs like Classic Shell, Start8, also Window Blinds, etc.
Uninstall any theme modifications.
If you moved any of your user folders to another drive or partition, move them back.
See here: Successful upgrade to Windows 10 from 8.1 with 'Users' in other drive!

If you upgraded from Windows 8 or 8.1 and used EaseUS Partition Manager to change the partition structure, see EightForums for instructions on how to get your recovery partitions sorted, because the upgrade won't work otherwise.

Run chkdsk /r and let it start and complete on reboot.
Run sfc /scannow and see if it finds and repairs any system files.

Now try the upgrade to Windows 10.

Note: The above is a compilation of things people have done to get the Windows 10 upgrade to work for them. Seems like a lot of work but worth it if it allows you to do the upgrade.

Ken Davison · 14 Sep 2015

NavyLCDR said:

If you do an image using Macrium Reflect Free, you can later mount that image and pull specific files from it. In addition, when mounting the image, it has an option for "get access" (can't remember the exact words), which negates file permissions so you don't have to be concerned about getting locked out of your files due to permission issues.

But - don't forget, Windows 10 clean install won't activate unless you have a successful upgrade activation first.

That red bit could be a problem

I carried out a clean install over my Win 7 32 bit without a problem.

Thanks for that information on Macrium Reflect.

Ken Davison · 14 Sep 2015

Ztruker said:

This is a fairly comprehensive list of things you can do before trying another upgrade to Win 10. It's a collection of things multiple people have done to successfully upgrade, usually after having the upgrade fail.

Things to do before you upgrade to Windows 10

Before the next attempt, try doing the following (in no particular order after the backup is complete):

Create an image backup of your existing operating system to an external USB hard drive using a program like Macrium Reflect Free. If you don't have an external drive, get one as they are relatively cheap. A 1TB drive runs $50 to $60. Create the Rescue Disc that allows you to restore a backup is the computer will not boot normally, before you create the image backup so if anything goes wrong, you can recover in 20 to 30 minutes.

Check for updated drivers for your hardware at the manufacturers web site.
Disconnect everything except mouse, keyboard and display, EVERYTHING!
Uninstall your anti-virus if it's other than the built-in Defender.
Uninstall your firewall if it's other than the built-in Firewall.
Uninstall any Start button programs like Classic Shell, Start8, also Window Blinds, etc.
Uninstall any theme modifications.
If you moved any of your user folders to another drive or partition, move them back.
See here: Successful upgrade to Windows 10 from 8.1 with 'Users' in other drive!

If you upgraded from Windows 8 or 8.1 and used EaseUS Partition Manager to change the partition structure, see EightForums for instructions on how to get your recovery partitions sorted, because the upgrade won't work otherwise.

Run chkdsk /r and let it start and complete on reboot.
Run sfc /scannow and see if it finds and repairs any system files.

Now try the upgrade to Windows 10.

Note: The above is a compilation of things people have done to get the Windows 10 upgrade to work for them. Seems like a lot of work but worth it if it allows you to do the upgrade.

Many thanks for that info.

You said disconnect everything, if I power off my wireless printer I am guessing that would be the same as a disconnect?

I am also upgrading from Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit and I assume the Win 10 upgrade will note that?

Ztruker · 14 Sep 2015

Yes, you will get Windows 10 Pro X64 as there is no Ultimate any more.

Ken Davison · 17 Sep 2015

Hi All

Well I gave Win 10 upgrade another spin yesterday using all advice given. The result was fractionally better than the previous

When I reached the "Welcome Back" page and clicked the "Next" button it would close down and reboot and bring me back to the "Welcome Back" page.

After five or six times I realised I was in an oozlum bird situation and completed a restore

Could it be the fact that I use Opera as my default browser ?

pparks1 · 17 Sep 2015

One question, is your license for Windows 7 Ultimate a legit license. If it is a hacked version it's possible that you will have a strange issues trying to upgrade it. Just a thought, not an accusation.