Creating a backup usb install for Windows 10 upgrade

Discussion in 'Networking and Security' started by oraclewizard77, Oct 24, 2015.

  1. You mean update windows 7 first?

    I actually upgraded yesterday morning and the did the full wipe from within windows 10. I noticed a pretty significant improvement in speed from my laptop so that was a plus!

    Only issues I had was it briefly got stuck on one screen while updating, but I found a solution online and then once it was up and running my display drivers didn't load properly so the screen was kind of jacked up. But I got that corrected and everything seemed fine since.

    I forgot to back up TWS to their server :mad::( so all my quotes and everything I have to start over with as well as settings etc. That was a bit frustrating to realize.
     
    #11     Oct 26, 2015
  2. Ok, last point.

    I made a mistake when trying to install the bluetooth drivers. I downloaded something called PC tools driver update and optimizer that was installed on my Dell laptop. I noticed I was getting 100% drive usage. I googled for this problem and followed the steps in the different websites for fixing it which I am sure will help many of you if you notice this problem in task manager.

    After finding that program in add and remove programs, I uninstalled it, and my drive usage is now back down under 6%. So never install any driver update or optimizer software for Windows 10, and if you find something in your applications with this name uninstall it since Windows 10 automatically installs all the drivers and does not need a 3rd party program to help with drivers, disk deframenting or other claims.
     
    #12     Oct 26, 2015
  3. bone

    bone

    I copied all of my files ( Windows 7 Pro 64x ) to an external hard drive, started with a clean steel internal HDD, installed W-10, installed all programs and drivers fresh via downloads or flash drive, then copied over personal program files from the external drive. So, for example, I downloaded my NVIDIA video and Canon printer drivers fresh off their websites. Works like a champ so far - still installing program files.

    As was mentioned before, drivers can be chippy.

    My OEM HDD was going South in a hurry, and my W-7 files were corrupted and getting worse. My backup images were of course corrupted as well - Acronis and Macrium wouldn't do a thing for me. Only thing that tipped me off was a routine SMART Drive Test error notification.
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2015
    #13     Oct 27, 2015
    FCXoptions likes this.
  4. Well one bug that is not fixable right now is the r6025 error that occurs when watching videos. This did not happen in Windows 7, only Windows 10 like on demand videos from video2.timewarnercable.com. I did report this issue to Microsoft using their feedback app. It also shows that others have reported it. This does not happen all the time, but I don't like it since I use my computer to watch TV from the Internet. I also reported it to adobe for their flash and also to TimeWarner cable.
     
    #14     Oct 28, 2015
  5. ubo

    ubo

    After upgrading to W10, can I wipe the disk and reinstall W7 using the W7 key?
     
    #15     Oct 28, 2015
  6. If you reformat that hard drive and use your original Windows 7 media, then you can reinstall Windows 7 with the Windows 7 key. However, there is also an easier way, if you google rollback, before the next patch and within 30 days, you can automatically revert back to Windows 7. I would say if you are having problems after upgrading to Windows 10, you can use a different computer to google for some of the solutions before just rolling back. I almost gave up on 1 computer but finally solved the issue.
     
    #16     Oct 28, 2015
  7. ubo

    ubo

    Thanks. Since the W10 upgrade key is different from the W7 key, it makes sense to upgrade, at least get that W10 key?
     
    #17     Oct 28, 2015
  8. It's worth to upgrade if you want Windows 10 on your computer and it meets min requirements. The key is needed if you plan to reinstall Windows 10 from the usb drive for example if something bad happened to your computer so you don't have to install Windows 7 and then upgrade to Windows 10 a 2nd time. When you upgrade the 1st time, Microsoft records your PC config and will allow the new Windows 10 key to work only for that configuration which is why if you make radical changes like switching out the motherboard, it might think you have an illegal copy of Windows.

    My understanding is that Microsoft may now be working to allow you to use your Windows 7 or Windows 8 key to upgrade to Windows 10 so the point becomes moot later on. Also, this is the only time to have the revert back to Windows 7 option. In a future patch, Microsoft has stated that may only allow you to revert back to a previous patch. So for anyone that wants to try to upgrade to Windows 10, I would suggest doing it now since if you have unsolvable problems, it's much easier to reverse the changes and get back to Windows 7 or 8.

    Finally, your question illustrates the problem. Microsoft does not tell you after the upgrade that you now have a new and different Windows 10 key. The only way to see it is with an app like Advisor so you can then write it down since as noted the sticker on your computer can not be used to upgrade to Windows 10 from the usb thumb drive. During that upgrade, Windows asked for the key. However, if you download the software directly to your computer it does not ask for the key. Since I was upgrading 3 computers, I was originally trying to upgrade from the usb thumb drive and tried entering in my Windows 7 key which did not work. I then called Microsoft, and they told me you do need to download the Windows 10 upgrade from the Internet for every computer that you are upgrading so if you don't have fast Internet, you are screwed.

     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2015
    #18     Oct 28, 2015
  9. ubo

    ubo

    The reason I'm interested in the W10 key is because I'm given one year's time for the free upgrade to W10. I'm not interested in running W10 anytime soon but would like to have that free option in 1 or 2 years' time when W10 has ironed out most of it's major problems.
     
    #19     Oct 29, 2015
  10. Found one more issue. Firefox was running slow after I upgraded to Windows 10. To fix this do the following.

    1) If you want to keep your bookmarks, click on icon show all bookmarks and back them up. If you just need or have a few bookmarks, I would skip this step and just recreate them.

    2) Close Firefox, then type the windows key on your keyboard and press r

    3) Type Firefox.exe -p This will bring up the profile manger. You can also use this tool if Firefox will not not start to create a new profile and delete the old corrupted one. So create a new profile with your name.

    4) Reopen Firefox and you will need to again set your homepage and reinstall any addons that you might use like adblock. Finally, if you backed up your bookmarks, you can now restore them.

    After performing these steps, Firefox ran alot faster.
     
    #20     Dec 3, 2015