Upgrade vs Clean Install

DavidY said:

I don't think Microsoft have promised free upgrades to Insiders though, which I think is what Mike is hoping for.

Aha! See, even I wasn't clear on Mike's actual statement. I believe I've seen a statement from Aul that said, in essence, that even Insiders have to have a qualifying OS in order to get a free copy of Windows 10. I don't remember where, but most likely in one of these threads.

DavidY said:

All that's been promised so far as I understand it is that users of Windows 7 and 8/8.1 can upgrade for free - most probably replacing that licence so you couldn't keep Windows 8.1 to use elsewhere.

What I think too, David. I've been running Windows since around 1985, and every time I've upgraded from one version of the OS (95, 98, XP, Win 7, etc.) I was not allowed to keep the "old" version for use on another machine. So, with that in mind, I'm not expecting to be able to use my retail copy of Windows 8.1 if I upgrade from it to Windows 10.

And, although Microsoft has been generous (my words only) in promising a free upgrade, they're not so generous as to allow us to keep an active license to the "old" version of Windows.

A thought just occurred to me . . . probably dangerous!

I have a retail copy of Windows 8.1. Using that copy of 8.1, I upgrade to Windows 10 and get to keep the active retail copy of Windows 8.1. I put it on an XP machine that didn't qualify for the free upgrade and start the process over again. OK, that worked, so I put the retail copy onto a third machine, that happens to be Vista this time . . .

Nah, I just don't see Microsoft letting us keep the license to the version of Windows we upgraded from.

CountMike said:

Yeah, I know but I like donuts !!!

Yeah, I'd eat the donut and then go back to spreading information that I may or may not have gotten wrong. :)

badrobot said:

Clean install is a no-brainer. Some people who do online upgrades takes 12-hours or more to finish. And most of the time ends up with a lot of unexplainable and unfixable bugs and issues. At the end of the day, they have to do clean install to fix the problem. Most people who wants to do an in-place upgrade are those who wants to keep their installed programs intact. Clean install will take 30mins max and say another 2 hours re-installing your programs. Having a clean installation to start a brand new OS is always nice.

I wish I could set up a clean install in 2 1/2 hours. I never actually timed it but I know it takes me a lot more hours than that to get everything installed and set up as I want it. I usually do a few programs at a time and stretch it out over 2 or 3 days. I'm still not sure if I'm going to upgrade install from Win 8.1.1 to Win 10 or do a clean install when Win 10 released.

alphanumeric said:

The current ISO's available are for an older build. 10074. Even on MSDN. To get the current build your going to have to do at least 1 upgrade. Unless you cheat an nab an ESD file to build a current ISO. If you upgrade from Windows 8 or 7 your looking at two upgrades. If you could easily get an ISO for todays build there would be a lot less upgrades done.

Yup, I can and I did, Alpha. :) Using Kari's and WHS's tutorial.

Funny thing on the way to the clean install . . . I plugged in the bootable flash drive, and away it went! Problem? I had picked the wrong "ISO" and reinstalled 10074! Sigh . . .

<StarFerret's over there in her corner giggling>

Winuser said:

I wish I could set up a clean install in 2 1/2 hours. I never actually timed it but I know it takes me a lot more hours than that to get everything installed and set up as I want it. I usually do a few programs at a time and stretch it out over 2 or 3 days. I'm still not sure if I'm going to upgrade install from Win 8.1.1 to Win 10 or do a clean install when Win 10 released.

And that's why I normally avoid doing a clean install of my day to day OS; too many programs to be reinstalled. First I gotta write 'em all down, then do a whole house search for some that have disappeared; now why did I leave that one there? This one has to be upgraded through three or four iterations . . .

I wonder if there's a way to bring Windows 8.1 back to a pristine condition (since I didn't do an image when it was new) before installing Windows 10 as an upgrade? Because that's the only way I'd do an upgrade over 8.1.