Win10 advice requested...

I am in no hurry to update to Win10....the adages about things not broken, and free tings being offered make me wonder about the beneficence of M$.

But, I also don't want to lose out on the "free" upgrade.
Can I install this "free" upgrade on an empty external HD? And then run it from there, should I so choose.
Or, copy it onto my desktop from the external HD.

I'm not savvy about these things.....

Thanks in advance.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Yep

How to Install Windows 10 on External Hard Drive

I held out for a while but just recently installed it fresh on my desktop. I was skeptical, but once I had everything setup to my liking, it's actually a pretty good successor to 7. I say go ahead and make the switch now.

A good search for this topic is "clean install Windows 10"...

One result:

For those who are entitled to a free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8, it has also been confirmed that they will be able to install Windows 10 from scratch after they have performed the initial upgrade, by creating installation discs using disc images downloaded from Microsoft.

Unfortunately, once the Windows 10 upgrade year is off, Microsoft told us that you can no longer transfer the OS to a new computer. If you're planning to buy or build a new PC and transfer your copy of Windows 10 to it, you'll need to do it before the 29 July 2016 or you'll have to buy a new copy of the OS.

A note for upgraders - you DON'T have to upgrade first. If you've got Windows 7 or Windows 8, you no longer have to upgrade to Windows 10 before performing a clean install. When Microsoft first released the OS, upgrading first was a required step, as this would register your computer with the Windows 10 licensing servers.

How to create a Windows 10 installation disc or drive

To create installation media, you have two options. First, you can download the ISO file to a computer and then use our instructions to create boot media. Secondly, you can run the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool and get it to create the boot USB drive for you. The latter option is the easiest, so that's the method we'll focus on first.

www.expertreviews.co.uk...

Thanks guys!!!!

I won't update anymore old pcs, eventually I will buy a new one.

My pc is from 2012, it had a 64gb ssd for the os, it came with windows 7 home, I upgraded to windows 7 pro because I had a license , them windows 8 pro, windows 8.1 and windows 10 pro.

With windows 10 I had problems from the start, multitasking suck, browsers always put the hd to 100% use, I tried everything I could to fix it, in the end I could not find new controllers for the hd and it died in December. I got a new hd and installed windows 10 again and it works flawlessly. This was the the first time I had a problem with an update and it was truly the os killing the hardware, I don't even know why I need a new os anyways, so next time I'll just wait till I need a new pc and try to get it when Microsoft just rolls out a new os

The free windows 10 upgrade cost me $180 to get my laptop repaired.

a reply to: Indigent


I'm retired at this point and to tell the truth, I am perfectly satisfied running 8.1 as most of what I now do is predominately dedicated to web surfing. Although I do manually select and install all Microsoft security updates, I do not and will not install the multitude of program updates that have come out over the years and, truthfully, have not experienced any problems by not installing this crap from Microsoft.

My advice, if you need the advanced systems of 10, install it. If not, forget it and be satisfied with what you have. Don't mess with something that is working properly just to satisfy your curiosity and compulsion to trying something new.

Make sure your computer has no viruses and is up to date. I own a computer repair store trust me. The jump from Windows 7 seems to not always work. From 8 to 10 though is usually fine as long as you have all the required updates and no viruses, weird programs, or malware.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

My advice: Don't upgrade till the very last minute. Here's some things I learned about my "free" Windows 10 upgrade (based on a true life disaster).

1. The easiest way to upgrade for Windows 7 is upgrade from Windows Update - Windows 10 is considered an update, which means it will install automatically (and, by proxy, should also activate automatically as well).

Side note: I did not lose any of my files or programs...the first time at least.

2. During the install, do not use the "quick/express" option, unless you want to leave some spyware enabled. Always use the "custom" option, and disable as many of the settings asking to share information as you need. I want to keep my wifi to myself thank you very much.

3. Once everything is set up - make a repair disc and also make an image of your PC. See below for why.

4. You need to go into the privacy settings, and disable pretty much everything. I also went one step farther and disabled Cortana completely, as well as blocked anything that had Telemetry in the name.

5. Enable Legacy boot options. Unless you like going straight to Windows, Legacy Boot adds back the typical menu commands for BIOS (IE: F8 for advanced boot options).

6. Do not set up a Microsoft Account for your PC - Always chose to create a local account. I got locked out of my own computer because someone tried entering my online credentials too many times on the Microsoft website - which locked me out of my computer of course.

And now, why do you need the image/repair disc?
1. I found out that the "Repair my pc" option doesn't work for some laptops. See, in the Windows 7 disc, start-up repair would actually repair the local PC's start up. Not so in Windows 10 - you have a problem, you're pretty much on your own.

2. I could not get the "revert to previous version of Windows" to work either - Keep in mind, this was only a couple days into Windows 10.

3. Microsoft support claimed that my hardrive was defunct as the first answer - They stopped answering me after I told them my Linux partition on the same drive still worked, and I could still see my files on my Window's partition

As for installing on a blank harddrive - You can try this method:
1. Upgrade your normal Windows 7 box.
2. Use Hiren's Boot CD, or some kind of product that can reveal the serials.
3. Copy the serial that was found, and then revert back to Windows 7.
4. Create the Windows 10 bootable installer (Microsoft has a tool to do this?)
5. Use the tool to create the CD, and install Windows as you normally do. Use the Windows 10 key you had. NOTE: You may have to activate again, but it shouldn't give you any problems.

NOTE: The above is legal, as only one license is supposed to be active at a time. In other words, you are being given one free Windows 10 license - it doesn't have to be used on the same harddrive.

I can't say I like Windows 10 - Found that ever since I lost all my files the second time around, even though it's finally activated, I like my Mac + Linux Mint better

-foss

a reply to: fossilera
Thanks for all of that info.

How do you make that repair disc? Is that part of the install experience?

In the section of installing to a blank HD:
I don't understand this?

1. Upgrade your normal Windows 7 box.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Sorry about the confusion - the reason you need to upgrade your Windows 7 is just to get your free Windows 10 License info (I tried to install to a blank harddrive myself, because I have two laptops that I'm in the process of selling). If Microsoft would email you your free Windows 10 key to use, then it would be easier.

For right now - There are two ways to activate Windows 10:
A. You have a valid Windows 10 Key.
B. When you "upgrade", Windows 10 detects your existing license and then installs with a newly-generated Windows 10 key.

Because your new harddrive is blank, you will be able to install Windows 10, but it won't be activated because you don't have your serial. So, the extra upgrade step is to just get that Windows 10 serial you are given.

I followed the below guide for my repair disc (if you are a member of MSDN, then all you technically need to do is burn the Windows 10 installer to disc; if not the below tutorial should do the trick).

www.techradar.com...

Hope this made some of it clearer - I sometimes forget to stop speaking like an engineer.

On the side comment - I recommend you also make a Linux live cd (I prefer Linux Mint now - it's very much like Microsoft XP). It's nice to have because in the event that Windows 10 won't boot, you can at least extract any files you had in Windows.

-foss

a reply to: fossilera

When yo say upgrade my Win7, you don't mean I have to install 10 on my Win7 desktop to get the Win10 on the external HD??

I've been wanting to try linux...but the line commands have scared me off LOL

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Sadly, I do mean that - I never was able to figure out how to get it to install to a new harddrive (at least, to the point where it activated). Windows makes it tricky, because while they claim that you can use your Windows 7/8 license to activate...well, it won't let you physically put in a key.

If you have a second harddrive slot (most PC's have at least one other slot for a harddrive; laptops might need a CD/DVD caddy), you might be able to install to that harddrive (you'd have to pick where you wanted to install Windows 10 to), which would leave you with Windows 7 on one hardrive and Windows 10 on the other.

You should give Linux a try - If you pick a user-friendly version such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or Fedora, then most of the stuff you do is controlled through front-end applications. What I love about Mint is that by default it comes with an Office suite, audio codecs, and several other utilities built-in. It's a small learning curve, but well worth it to learn. Mint with the Cinnamon interface looks very close to XP - Ubuntu is more up-to-date, but you'd have to put up with the Unity dock.

If you couldn't tell already, I could go on for hours about this stuff. If my work didn't rely on Microsoft programming languages, I'd already be 100% a Linux user.

a reply to: fossilera

I only have an external hard drive to download/install to.

I've wanted to to Linux for some time now....and that coding and whatever it is....I don't want to work at being on the internet....
I've looked through this
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Downloaded to my desktop...and chickened out LOL

I could not give up Windoze...as I have software I use daily that is not compatible with Linux.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Are you using a laptop or desktop as your machine?

You might be able to do something with this, if you can find a way to hook up a second harddrive (either through a caddy for your DVD drive or in a master-slave configuration for a PC).

Possible tutorial: www.howtogeek.com...

Master-Slave: www.pchell.com...

DVD Caddy (Amazon used as example) : www.amazon.com...

And don't chicken out on Linux - The Live CD is easier to create.

a reply to: fossilera

i have a desktop....I'll look at the master slave thing.....and see if it is something I think I can do.

How would you create a live CD?
I'd really like to become less dependent on Windoze.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

To create the Live CD is pretty simple. The generic steps are:
1. Download the latest flavor of Linux. Usually the major versions have their own website. If you have a newer machine, then I'd recommend downloading the x64 version.

To check the version of your OS currently installed (x86 or x64), start up your PC, press the Windows Key, and then right-click on "My Computer" (might be displayed as "Computer"; I'm on my Mint box so I can't check at the moment), and select "Properties".

pc.net...

The Linux CD will most likely be downloaded as an ISO file.

2. If you are on Windows 7/8, then all you should have to do to make the disc is insert a blank DVD, right-click on the downloaded ISO file, and select "Burn to Disc".

windows.microsoft.com...

Side Note: If you want to create the USB version - You can open the ISO with free software such as 7zip, and just simply copy all the files inside to your USB.

3. Now comes the fun part: You need to get into your BIOS and make sure you change the Boot order so that the CD drive will be the first boot item (Probably should do this regardless, as it might save you when it comes time for Windows 10) . To do this, restart your PC and continuously press F2.

There should be a menu item somewhere called "Boot" or "Boot Order". Move the CD/DVD option to the first slot, save, and restart the PC.

www.boot-disk.com...

4. Make sure the Live CD is in the CD/DVD tray before you boot - Easiest way is to boot to Windows 7, insert the Live CD, then restart.

When the CD first boots up, you might see text, lines, or some other stuff appear across the screen. Don't Panic! Let the CD finish through, and once you see the desktop, then you can start experimenting.

NOTE:
1. If you see anything like "Install Linux" - Don't click on it unless you are sure you want to do it. Unlike Windows, this will not copy your files and back them up (that step is up to you).

2. Because the Live CD isn't a "true" Linux instance (more of a demo), it will run a bit slowly unless you have a lot of RAM.

3. When you shut down the Live CD, and eject the disc, your PC will go back to Windows 7. The Live CD is an easy way to demo before actually using.

4. If you pick a popular Linux version, then it's fairly easy to install.

Shame you aren't close to my MI location - I'd lend you a laptop that's running the latest Mint version (the one I'm using right now).

-foss

a reply to: fossilera

Thanks, foss.
I have a x64 bit...that much I know...and have had a little experience changing the BIOS...I did it on my old computer...with help....really should have done it on this one already....to be safe.

I'll play around with that Linux....and see what it feels like.
MAybe this weekend, If I free brave.

When you say

3. When you shut down the Live CD,

I'm guessing there is an option to quit?

And, thanks for the offer....even if I cannot take you up on it.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

There is indeed an option to quit - I'm just a bit lazy, so I usually just power down the machine. Mint's option is part of the start menu, but I'm sure Ubuntu or the other versions have the button hidden elsewhere.

Just make sure you download a user-friendly version. For the longest time, I used BackTrack, which threw people off because it boots to a command prompt.

And you're welcome! Let me know on what happens if you do feel like messing with it. Hardest part for me was the graphics look a bit "childish", but I'm getting used to it.

Good Luck!