Windows 10 Availability: An Explainer

[ohim]

If you upgrade you should do this :
1- backup your data and windows 7/8/8.1 key (use produid or other program)
2- do the windows 10 upgrade
3- do a iso of windows 10 ==> if you want clean install
4- reinstall from the iso just created

if you upgrade, you don't need a windows 10 key, it bound to mobo

source http://lifehacker.com/how-to-do-a-clean-install-of-windows-10-1720775893

you can get all iso (upgrade or clean install here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO)

source http://www.tomshardware.com/news/download-windows-10,29702.html

Just a tip, after upgrading to Win 10 from a Win7/8 install, you can use a key finder to get your Windows 10 key.

For those who don`t want to install a key finder you can use this VBS script, copy the code into a text file and rename it to .vbs and run it.

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

KeyPath = "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId"
MsgBox ExtractKey(WshShell.RegRead(KeyPath))

Function ExtractKey(KeyInput)
Const KeyOffset = 52
i = 28
CharWhitelist = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789"
Do
Cur = 0
x = 14
Do
Cur = Cur * 256
Cur = KeyInput(x + KeyOffset) + Cur
KeyInput(x + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255
Cur = Cur Mod 24
x = x -1
Loop While x >= 0
i = i -1
KeyOutput = Mid(CharWhitelist, Cur + 1, 1) & KeyOutput
If (((29 - i) Mod 6) = 0) And (i <> -1) Then
i = i -1
KeyOutput = "-" & KeyOutput
End If
Loop While i >= 0
ExtractKey = KeyOutput
End Function

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/software/operating-systems/1403593/how-to-upgrade-to-windows-10-and-get-your-new-licence-key

 

[megiv]

I personally do not recommend to upgrade yet.
I did a clean install (I got MSDN developer account) and it seems very buggy.
The whole OS got stuck in the middle of using Acronis 2015 backup.
Even Alt+Ctrl+Del didn't respond, and the Task Manager app could not kill the process and eventually got stuck by itself, and the whole screen turned black for a while. I had to reset the PC.
Later, the "Edge" explorer cause the same phenomenon. I had to do hard reset in both cases. And my system is big new SSD + i7 + 6GB, so my HW is not the reason. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.

 

[ohim]

I personally do not recommend to upgrade yet.
I did a clean install (I got MSDN developer account) and it seems very buggy.
The whole OS got stuck in the middle of using Acronis 2015 backup.
Even Alt+Ctrl+Del didn't respond, and the Task Manager app could not kill the process and eventually got stuck by itself, and the whole screen turned black for a while. I had to reset the PC.
Later, the "Edge" explorer cause the same phenomenon. I had to do hard reset in both cases. And my system is big new SSD + i7 + 6GB, so my HW is not the reason. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.

The OS has been available to tests for so long and at this current state it works just fine. You`re complaining that the OS got stuck while using some back`up software ... and this is why it`s a bad OS to you ? You have other issues with your system. The OS runs butter smooth.

 

[Math Geek]

the one pc i upgraded went very smooth. only software it asked to remove when updating was the media card reader driver as it was not compatible. one the upgrade was done everything was there and worked. all settings and personalization is still there and all software is working. that one even has office 2007 running on it and it is still good to go. there was even updates for it for win 10

i'm pleased so far. i'm sure there will be issues to work out but what os release has been bug free? yah pretty much none of them. EVERY os has bugs right off and in the future which is why every company releases patches regularly for their os.

 

[Nine-Tails]

you can download windows 10 upgrade tool from Microsoft and upgrade it yourself. just google windows 10 upgrade.

 

[Wamphryi]

Issues Identified: Here are the fixes.

Nvidia Drivers wont install.

Download the latest driver from Nvidia. Go to device manager and roll back the driver MS has put on with its auto update service. Install Nvidia Drivers. The whole Geforce Experience should install. Reboot especially if you have multi monitors.

Outlook 2013 wont send emails.

Outlook will receive but no send if an actual mail is sent. Will send receive if no email is being sent but will not send actual mail. Instructions as follows:

Right click on the Start button of Windows and choose: Command Prompt (Admin).
If you don’t see this, instead choose: Windows PowerShell (Admin)
Behind the prompt type: sfc /scannow
(note the space in the command)
Wait until the process completes. This usually doesn’t take longer than 20 minutes with a regular hard disk and takes much shorter when you have a fast SSD drive.
Restart your computer.

PST file corrupts and open process prevents repair.

Turn off Windows Search Service and set to disabled. Repair PST with Outlook repair tool. Turn off Windows Search if it has not corrupted as this is what seems to be corrupting it in the first place.

World of Tanks.

Run as administrator with Win 8 compatibility.

 

[rlwings]

If you have reserved a copy of Windows 10, and you would like to get it right now, then all you have to do is this: Check your email for a message from Microsoft entitled: "You’ve reserved Windows 10 – what’s next?" ... Open it and scroll down to the link that says: " Media Creation Tool " and click on it. Then scroll down again and click on one of two purple boxes. Either " Download Tool Now (32-bit version)" or " Download Tool Now (64-bit version)" Whichever one is right for you... (If your not sure which one to pick then you probably should not do this.) ... Next, run this downloaded tool and Microsoft will guide you to create a bootable copy of Windows 10 either onto a USB stick, or onto a DVD. (Microsoft then downloads Windows 10 onto your media of choice.)

Very important! Make sure that you run the upgrade FIRST!!! and not the clean install...This is the only way to get a properly activated copy of Windows 10 on your system....After this you can do ANOTHER install using the "clean install" option and your activation code will then be carried over......Subsequent clean installs on the same machine (ie, same motherboard) can be carried out in the future because Microsoft now has your machine matched with your copy of Windows 10.

You can thank me later!

 

[Christopher1]

where do we get the windows 10 key? kareema

When I found out Windows Media Center is gone and never coming back, I will not change to 10 from 7 or 8.1. Now besides cancelling my reservation, how do I get rid of the 3GB accumulating on my small SSD boot drive?

Why would you need it? Windows Media Center is depreciated technology and most cable companies have online watching things that you can watch your Live TV shows through the internet online.

 

[mondotone]

Windows 8/8.1 reminds me of Windows Vista. I just ignored it until Win 7 came out. I'm just glade I have extra machines to test new os b4 actually installing them on my main machines. My Win 10 is installed on a laptop. but then that laptop was running the Win 10 insider program version b4 the full release.

Proof. it's better to wait and see b4 just jumping on the new versions. ie look at what adobe did earlier this year with that crappy update for reader. I was going mad crazy cause I couldn't read any of my pdf files on my phone. Glad I had a previous version saved.

 

[Math Geek]

i have personally skipped every other os since win 3.1. it does seem every other one is a poor beta test they drop on us and then fix. i hated win 95, me, vista, and 8/8.1 and did not use any of them at all in any way!!

this was not planned but simply the way the chips fell over the years. i stuck with win 3.1 until 98 came out and stayed there until xp and so on. i did dual boot win 2000 for a while during the 98 days cause i liked it's plug and play abilities. thankfully xp was simply an update to this so it was an easy transition for me.

 

[Luis XFX]

If you are still waiting for your system to update just do what "Chipi" stated earlier, go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 and your system will update immediately, I've done this with three of my computers so far, no issues.

 

[ubercake]

If you are still waiting for your system to update just do what "Chipi" stated earlier, go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 and your system will update immediately, I've done this with three of my computers so far, no issues.

Same here. This method worked great for me on my Windows 8.1 Pro install that kept giving me Windows 10 Upgrade (failed) messages in my Update history.

On my laptop the upgrade ran as expected.

In both cases Windows 10 runs great.

 

[John J Miller]

Just got off the phone with Microsoft and now have the full scoop on 10. The iso D/L? Unless you have a product key, both the .iso file or any usb dive setup created from it is worthless. The free version of Win 10 is "upgrade" only. Which means if you're reinstalling you have to install Win 7/8.1 first and then the upgrade to 10.
I knew there had to be a catch. And before you start nay-saying, this info is direct from Microsoft's tech support. They could not/would not provide an answer as to why even bother with the .iso file.

 

[John J Miller]

Just got off the phone with Microsoft and now have the full scoop on 10. The iso D/L? Unless you have a product key, both the .iso file or any usb dive setup created from it is worthless. The free version of Win 10 is "upgrade" only. Which means if you're reinstalling you have to install Win 7/8.1 first and then the upgrade to 10.
I knew there had to be a catch. And before you start nay-saying, this info is direct from Microsoft's tech support. They could not/would not provide an answer as to why even bother with the .iso file.

 

[ubercake]

Just got off the phone with Microsoft and now have the full scoop on 10. The iso D/L? Unless you have a product key, both the .iso file or any usb dive setup created from it is worthless. The free version of Win 10 is "upgrade" only. Which means if you're reinstalling you have to install Win 7/8.1 first and then the upgrade to 10.
I knew there had to be a catch. And before you start nay-saying, this info is direct from Microsoft's tech support. They could not/would not provide an answer as to why even bother with the .iso file.

The fortunate part is, just like Windows 8.1 before it, Windows 10 contains a feature to reset the PC to the fresh install state. If you do this within the OS, you don't ever have to use the any physical media for the install unless you have a disk failure on your boot drive.

I used this reset feature after upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 on one of my PCs. It works great.