New Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10074 now available Insider

OK guys, I going to finally catch-up to ya'll. I just started downloading the official 10074 ISO from Microsoft(for earlier builds I've been using the MEGA link). The last couple of weeks I've been working on my Windows 7(on laptop) preparing it for the release to public Current Branch, updating installed software and Windows itself.

The last couple of builds, I just upgraded from the prior, so today I'm going to do a direct upgrade from 7 to 10074, to see if the patches and optional updates in the last couple of weeks, improve, decrease, or no noticeable change at all, to the quality of the upgrade process and final setup.

Yes, as I posted, "It will accept Windows 8.0 and 8.1 keys, even embedded OEM keys". If I install 8.1 on my laptop it reads the OEM embedded key for 8.0 and uses it. Activates online automatically with no issues. I've also used Retail 8.0 and 8.0 Pro keys with no issues. Along with 8.1 keys. My MSDN ISO's which I believe are identical to retail disks, will also use 8.0 and 8.1 codes and OEM embedded codes. These ISO's are multi edition, they have Core and Pro on them. What gets installed depends on the key entered. On my laptop 8.1 (Core) gets installed automatically because my embedded key is only an 8.0 key. To get around that and install Pro directly I add a PID.txt file with a Pro key in it. That saves me having to upgrade to pro via add features.

I just love the new setup screen. A big circle that shows the total % finished, and at the bottom the % for each step(a little bit more action as the total). Of course with an SSD it's faster any how.

fracking4oil said:

The 8.1 ISO should work with the 8.0 key; if that's what you're asking? I just installed this ISO the other day with an 8.0 key.

derekimo said:

I just used that 8.1 Pro media with my 8.0 key Doug and it worked. I was wondering about that too and alpha enlightened me at EF.



Same here, I can also confirm it works.

Thanks guys, good to know.

fracking4oil said:

The 8.1 ISO should work with the 8.0 key; if that's what you're asking? I just installed this ISO the other day with an 8.0 key.

alphanumeric said:

Yes, as I posted, "It will accept Windows 8.0 and 8.1 keys, even embedded OEM keys". If I install 8.1 on my laptop it reads the OEM embedded key for 8.0 and uses it. Activates online automatically with no issues. I've also used Retail 8.0 and 8.0 Pro keys with no issues. Along with 8.1 keys. My MSDN ISO's which I believe are identical to retail disks, will also use 8.0 and 8.1 codes and OEM embedded codes. These ISO's are multi edition, they have Core and Pro on them. What gets installed depends on the key entered. On my laptop 8.1 (Core) gets installed automatically because my embedded key is only an 8.0 key. To get around that and install Pro directly I add a PID.txt file with a Pro key in it. That saves me having to upgrade to pro via add features.

Thank you

I just finished an in-place upgrade of my W10TP VM, from b10041 directly to 10074.
It took over 2 hours for the download to finish, but the actual upgrade only took 30 minutes.

Only 1x Windows tile and 1x 3rd party tile (that I had pinned to the Start Menu Tile Pane) survived the process.

W10TP b10074 was twitchy after the initial loading (just like my previous upgrades).
A reboot seems to have fixed the twitch.

I think that MS may as well force a Restart after the final installation step, rather than going straight to the desktop.

The Disk Cleanup function "lied" about how much space I could recover.
It suggested that I could recover ~12GB, but I only actually recovered ~7GB after running it.

Edwin said:

Seems, more and more, MS tries to 'hide' the more 'inquisitive' options and put the 'recommended' ones in your face!

So, what, we get our ISO's from Download.com at CNet now?