Still on version 1909: how to force it - or should I?

I am still on version 1909. That's despite always getting the message that I am up to date. And I don't recall even ever having an offer to update.

Reading around I get the impression this is because MS knows that something (a driver?) on my PC won't survive an update to 2020. But why doesn't it tell us exactly what, so that we can maybe try updating that ourselves? Or offer to update the component automatically?
Nor does the list of previous driver updates give any details, or provide any links:

@Terrypin

I don't see anything in your specs, that's an obvious show stopper.
However, Microsoft has to deal with millions of different hardware and software combos, when deciding whether or not to upgrade.

Now, because of the large amount of combos, MS gets this wrong, a lot.
That's where the In-Place Upgrade comes in...

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade







Here is the short version of the In-place upgrade tutorial...

DISABLE non-Microsoft:
a) antivirus software
b) firewall software
c) drive encryption software

Make a full OS backup with a program like Macrium Reflect (free)
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

Go here and get the Media Creation Tool and save it to your desktop.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

RUN the Media Creation Tool and use it to: Create an ISO image... save IT to your desktop.
This will be the latest version of the ISO image.




Right click the ISO image and choose: MOUNT
Open File Explorer and you will see a new drive letter. It will look like a DVD optical drive.
Double click the new drive letter to open it.
Find setup.exe and double click it to start the in-place upgrade.

Choose the Keep personal files and apps option.

After it's all done... to UNmount the ISO image, right click the new drive letter and choose: EJECT.


The ONLY thing you will lose is some of your personalizations. Your programs and data will be intact.











Here is the current order of upgrades...

1909... 2004... 20H2... 21H1

As you may notice, they switched the naming pattern. It used to be year (2 digits) and month (2 digits).
Then they switched to year (2 digits) and then H1 or H2, for 1st half or 2nd half of the year.

Currently an In-Place Upgrade will take you to 20H2.
21H1 is about 2 months away.

Thanks Ghot, appreciate the fast reply.

But that procedure looks too complicated for me to tackle confidently. High risk of my screwing something up I fear ;-)

And with 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!' I think I'll pass.

Terrypin said:

Thanks Ghot, appreciate the fast reply.

But that procedure looks too complicated for me to tackle confidently. High risk of my screwing something up I fear ;-)

And with 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!' I think I'll pass.

That IS the easy way. Here's a really short summary...

You use the Media Creation Tool to create an ISO of the 20H2 version of Windows 10.
You then Mount that ISO and click setup.exe
It then upgrades you to 20H2, and you're done.

The rest of the instructions are just to make things go smoothly.

It really is easy. I had to do it myself in July 2020, because my brand new system wouldn't go from 1909 to 2004.

High risk of my screwing something up I fear ;-)

A wise person protects themselves. Routine and regular disk imaging. You've been a member for a long time, so hopefully you are doing that already - it's recommended so often.

Thus if something goes wrong, you can restore your system from your disk image of all the O/S partitions.


Here's the really simple version.

a. Download the iso file.
b. Check you have at least 30Gb free on C:
c. Rt click the iso file
d. Click Mount
e. Open the new drive letter created in file explorer.
f. Browse to setup.exe and double click it.

@Terrypin

As long as you have another way to get online (smart phone or another comp), we can pretty much walk you through it.
Hundreds of people have done it on here.


As to whether you should upgrade or not... that's up to you. But Windows 10 (1909) reaches End of Life on May 11th 2021.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lif...d-of-servicing

Terrypin said:

Thanks Ghot, appreciate the fast reply.

But that procedure looks too complicated for me to tackle confidently. High risk of my screwing something up I fear ;-)

And with 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it!' I think I'll pass.

Hi Terrypin, performing an in-place upgrade is not too difficult and you can get endless support here at Ten Forums with every step.

If you're really not comfortable with this idea, there's nothing wrong with waiting for a while. The end of support (EOS) for 1909 isn't until May 11th, 2021. I still have 2 laptops using 1909 and I'll get to them in the next 45 days, no biggy.

I manage my own updates but have noticed in past that some PCs don't receive the offer to update until very close to the EOS date. Regardless if Microsoft is right or wrong about the PCs state of readiness to upgrade, no big deal. I wouldn't lose any sleep over this.


You should also be aware that although using an OS beyond its EOS date should be discouraged for security reasons, it's not like your PC will just quit on that date. Why not just plan to revisit this concern again at the end of April, that's 2 months for Microsoft to get with it. If things haven't changed by then, take the time to study up and ask lots of questions here and then take the plunge sometime in late April or the beginning of May.




https://docs.microsoft.com/en-ca/lif...0-home-and-pro

Thanks all, those follow-ups are reassuring and I see it’s not perhaps as risky as I thought. I do indeed have robust backups. Those include a weekly image with Macrium Reflect, although I have not yet had to do a restore!

I guess my underlying hesitation is that I still don’t know whether there is some important technical reason why I have not been automatically updated. How easy would it be to revert to 1909 if 2020 introduced a serious problem? Would it have to be restoring an image, or could I just use the Update dialogs in Settings to re-install 1909?

If you can boot to the upgraded version, you have 10 days by default to 'roll back', extendable to 60 (tutorial) as with any upgrade.

If not, you'd be restoring your disk image.

Terrypin, don't feel left out. It took months for my three Win10 systems to update to 2004 and then 20H2 from 1909. Windows Update "Coming Soon" messages came and went at random.

One system actually never got 2004 and finally went directly to 20H2. Yesterday!

I posted up all the fun here:
Absent and Vanishing 2004 in Windows Update

In doing research last year, I discovered that the prevalent causes of Feature Update AWOL were the borking of telemetry settings by poorly coded "anti-spying" utilities or haphazard user tweaking of the registry or group policy so that what is rendered in Settings > Windows Update doesn't necessarily determine what's happening under the hood. (However, this was not the cause for my systems' dilemmas.)

Windows needs to gather up some system info to determine the correct Service Pack, um, Feature Update components.

Allow Telemetry

While not explicit in the description, this setting impacts Feature Updates.

Just for grins, whatever your system is at now, use Optional value 3 and try Windows Update . If you have Pro, check that settings match in both gpedit and regedit and if in gpedit it's "default" go ahead and enable Optional value 3.

Otherwise, I'm with you on that easy-peasy in-place update but not for screw up risks involved but that one is expected to jump through those hoops because MS can't deliver. Of course, keep trying WIndows Update until 1909 EOS before you do it.

Say, maybe if you stick with 1909 past EOS, MS might push out critical security updates like they do for Windows 7 and 8. Even though any Windows 10 is the mostest securest OS that will ever be (Source: Microsoft press releases, circa 2015). Or you just might get a forced 21H1 push later this year. Maybe September...

Good luck.