Windows 10 Upgrade

[Accessless]

The Windows 10 upgrade option has appeared on my task bar today but it sounds like a windows update style installation. My computer would be much better off with a fresh installation of Windows (it's a mess). I've been putting it off for a while now as I knew Windows 10 was only months away.

So does anyone know how this upgrade is supposed to work? I've done plenty of reading on the subject but most of the info seems to be wishful thinking and conjecture.

I made two good calls with the last two versions of Windows. Jumped onto 7 early and ignored 8 completely. But I'm not sure about 10. I would like some time to work with it and do some testing.

[patio]

Best way and cleanest method to do this would be install the build preview (latest) on a seperate HDD...and use your BIOS to determine which OS/HDD  you want to boot to...

[Accessless]

Best way and cleanest method to do this would be install the build preview (latest) on a seperate HDD...and use your BIOS to determine which OS/HDD  you want to boot to...

I've heard that the previews aren't very stable at the moment. To be honest Windows 10 is sounding a bit rushed. Just like an early access alpha game, not even ready for testing but they're going to ship it anyway.

I'm quite interested in Windows 10 but I'm thinking that it will be worth while to wait on this one.

[DaveLembke]

I've heard that the previews aren't very stable at the moment. To be honest Windows 10 is sounding a bit rushed. Just like an early access alpha game, not even ready for testing but they're going to ship it anyway.

They have put pretty good effort into testing Windows 10 via the Technical Preview/evaluation/alpha testing. Many people like myself have registered to download the ISO and play with the OS and report problems to the microsoft forum. While its a pretty solid OS, there is always chances for problems if for example you have a hardware or software combination working with Windows 10 that had not been tested to that point to work out bugs. So the more probable you are to running a system config hardware and software to others out there the more probable that your less likely to have issues. If you have a odd outdated hardware custom build such as running Windows 10 32-bit on a 2Ghz Pentium 4 with 1GB of RAM in a 13 year old eMachine motherboard of which driver support ended at XP, you are more prone to having issues as well, mostly with finding driver support but also with resource conflicts that might not happen with a newer system etc. The 2Ghz Pentium 4 is the slowest and oldest computer I have gotten Windows 10 to operate on. It was slow running on that old hardware, but it ran, and I found an interesting bug when running command shell and executing the edit command to edit a text file in which I was going to test out batch execution on 32-bit Windows 10 and found a problem quickly with that.

If you want to hold off on the upgrade thats the safest approach to this. I am going to hold off for a few months after release before upgrading some of my systems from 7 to 10, and my ASUS laptop that came with 8 and downgraded to 7, I am planning on upgrading it to 10 to base the license off of the original Windows 8 license that came with the laptop and free up my Windows 7 64 Home premium license.

[Accessless]

The bottom line for the moment is can I get a fresh installer or bodge one? I.e. Do a fresh Win7 install and then upgrade.

[BC_Programmer]

I've heard that the previews aren't very stable at the moment.

I run it on my old desktop system and it has run just fine for me. The only negative thing I can think to say about it in it's current state is probably that there is no way that i can see to bring back >1px Window borders.

The bottom line for the moment is can I get a fresh installer or bodge one? I.e. Do a fresh Win7 install and then upgrade.

The previews are provided via an ISO that you can use to perform a fresh install. However if you're question is about when Windows 10 is actually made available, I don't know if that will be an option. If it is I can see it maybe working like the older Windows "Upgrade" products, where you could buy a Windows 98 "upgrade" which you could clean install but would prompt for a Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 Disk/Product key. That is in the case of Windows 10 I expect[/u] they will make an ISO available that will allow you to enter a Windows 7/8 Key or a Windows 10 Key to install clean. But of course I do not know that they will do it that way.

[Salmon Trout]

The bottom line for the moment is can I get a fresh installer or bodge one? I.e. Do a fresh Win7 install and then upgrade.

I would ideally like to have these Acronis image backups so I can have maximum flexibility:

1. My existing Windows 7 install
2. The same, upgraded to Windows 10
3. A clean install of Windows 7, off my OEM install disk, upgraded to Windows 10

I don't know if Microsoft will let me have 2 bites at the cherry like that, though?

[patio]

Since you are doing this on your own and if done properly it should work fine...
I see no issues with liscensing or restrictions that would violate their EULA...

[BC_Programmer]

I see no issues with liscensing or restrictions that would violate their EULA...

If Windows 10's upgrade license is consistent with all previous versions of Windows, than doing so would violate the EULA. For example, this is the relevant part from a Windows 8 Upgrade EULA:

The software covered by this agreement is an upgrade to your existing operating system software, so the upgrade replaces the original software that you are upgrading. You do not retain any rights to the original software after you have upgraded and you may not continue to use it or transfer it in any way.

And the relevant part from Windows 7:

15. UPGRADES. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from.

(They have similar parts in the EULA going back to at least the Windows 95 Upgrade)

I see no reason not to think Microsoft will remain consistent in this going forward.

Of course whether it works and whether it violates the EULA are two different questions

[DaveLembke]

I agree with Patio on the EULA... As long as only 1 OS of the same system key is active at a time, it should be fine. I have plans to clone my one windows 7 systems drive with a stand alone drive duplicator prior to the 10 upgrade and use my removable drive bay to have the choice for 7 or 10 to boot. I could place both drives in there and make a dual boot system, but its best to have a level of isolation between both drives for example in case 1 gets hit with something bad, it cant spread to the other drive etc.

[patio]

Which is why i suggested a seperate HDD...
On top of that MS lost a suit stating that a User who has purchased a liscense for an existing OS does NOT lose legal rights to the proper use of that OS ...even if they agreed to an upgraded OS.

You won't find any of this in the media for obvious reasons.

[Geek-9pm]

One could suppose that Microsoft used that language to make sure nobody will  use the two OS on two different computers. But using the two OS on one computer should not be a violation.
I doubt MS would ever imprison a user for having a dual boot system. Can you imagine that? Sending somebody to jail for the dual  boot infraction?

[Salmon Trout]

I'm not worried about getting in legal trouble; only about Microsoft declaring I have an unlicensed OS and deactivating it. If I can't roll back the upgrade if I choose to, I think I won't bother.

[patio]

PM Salmon...

[BC_Programmer]

On top of that MS lost a suit stating that a User who has purchased a liscense for an existing OS does NOT lose legal rights to the proper use of that OS ...even if they agreed to an upgraded OS.

No such suit has ever been filed that I can find evidence for. Assuming that somehow the court documents on the civil case were sealed (which isn't usually possible) how did you come to find out about it?