Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

Upgrading from Windows 7 to 10

Exitmusicthis2

Exitmusicthis2

Member
Hey all,

I know l'm probably a little late to talk about this and apologizes if this has already been discussed.
I'm currently running a great machine, Cubase 8.5 tons of software and hundreds of Gigs of sample libraries.
It's a great setup and l've had no real problems.

Obviously l do regular backups, but would anyone consider downloading windows 10 and installing it
on a machine like this? Are there any issues to be wary of?

Thanks in advance for any replies!
Click to read more...
 
If it's not broken, why try to fix it? I've just bought a new laptop that came with Win 10 installed. It takes double the time to boot ( Win 7 ), even when I turn off my router.
 
Shredoverdrive said:
Microsoft will drop support for Win 7 in January 2020
Click to expand...
It doesn't mean your computer will stop working the next day! I have an old (not my main) computer running Vista, and it still works. If there's ever a critical security flaw, they still will release a patch for older versions. I'm in no rush to move on from Win 7..
 
YaniDee said:
If there's ever a critical security flaw, they still will release a patch for older versions.
Click to expand...
This is not correct. They have done that a few times in the past for some zero-day exploits on XP. But they are no longer obligated to do so and it is lass likely that they will do so again for most issues. Running XP on a manchine with direct or indirect internet-connetion is like steering a ship in direction of an iceberg and hope for the best. Running Win7 after January 2020 is the same story.

In my experience Win10 is faster and more reliable then the older OS. It has better support for newer hardware and is optimized to run on SSDs.

Exitmusicthis2 said:
would anyone consider downloading windows 10 and installing it on a machine like this
Click to expand...
I would add an additional harddrive to your system and install a clean copy of Windows 10 on it. You can install and test all your software while your old working OS is just a reboot away. I would not upgrade the current Win7 installation, because it is likely that you have to re-install a lot of the programs to get them running anyway and you will get a fresh system.
 
The big problem is if your computer is older, there may not be Win 10 drivers. I recently upgraded to a new machine with 10 because I was able to get a deal on version with 64 GB RAM. My 7 computer isn't that old but I will use it to replace a desktop that is 10 years old. It took me forever to move it all and then some companies gave me a hassle because I had too many licences in use. I haven't erased the 7 yet, I'm going to make an image before I do.

I think if you update in place, most things should work. I think I am running Cubase 10 in a compatibility mode for Windows 8, so you may have to run 8.5 in compatibility mode.
 
Don't do a clean install. Any hardware that doesn't have W10 drivers will use W7 drivers. I'm sure if I did a clean install I would have issues getting my FW410 to work. I'm running a lot of legacy hardware on W10.
 
Thanks everyone my machine is a i7 4930k, 64 GB ram it's about 5 years old, was thinking of purchasing a new machine and then maybe use the i7 as a slave machine.

Whats peoples thoughts on how long software companies will support win7?
 
Exitmusicthis2 said:
It's a great setup and l've had no real problems.
Click to expand...

Then my suggestion is that you put on a cap backward, download a screenshot of the device manager from a computer that says "gaming" on every single component, and pretend that screenshot is from your current machine.

The effect will be identical to having paid a lot of money for a new computer, and you'll have more money in your wallet.
 
Ben said:
This is not correct. They have done that a few times in the past for some zero-day exploits on XP. But they are no longer obligated to do so and it is lass likely that they will do so again for most issues.
Click to expand...
They did issue a patch for XP in May this year, but my understanding was that this was because of a vulnerability which could propagate from computer to computer unattended, so by patching XP they reduced the number of XP computers out there trying to infect everyone else.
But I think the circumstances where they'll go back and patch older computers are pretty rare.
 
Hello fellow VI Control people,

Recently I have come to understand that in January 2020 support for W7 will end and I am trying to find a way to test if my HP Elitebook 8760w mobile workstation is compatible with W10 but unfortunately I cannot find the Microsoft Get Windows 10 utility that help determine if a PC is compatible with W10.

Like many musician and composers out there I also opted to stay with the old good W7 but now I am facing the fact that software manufactures will eventually drop W7 all together and will force people using W7 to move to W10. The above mention laptop is running very well and I just don't like the idea of ditching it for a new one just because I need to move to W10.

I am just interested to hear what other people here, facing a similar situation, are doing and if there are tools available to check W10 compatibility for older Windows OS.

Many thanks in advance for any feedback and suggestions.

Cheers, Max T.
 
I would probably go check out the HP user forums. They were a lot of help when I was trying to find Windows 7 drivers for my Windows 8 laptop. https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks/ct-p/Notebook


I eventually went back to 8 because I wanted to use the 7 license on a new build for my studio. And everything runs in 8 now without a problem. I find being one version back with a DAW is usually good.

Here's a link to the free upgrade. https://windowsreport.com/windows-10-free-upgrade-2018/ Not sure if it still works now, but they seem to think so. I don know my old Lenovo desktop was told it couldn't be upgraded as there were no drivers available for some of the parts. Which is sad because it still runs pretty well. Maybe I will turn it into a network backup or something.
 
Massimo said:
I am trying to find a way to test if my HP Elitebook 8760w mobile workstation is compatible with W10 but unfortunately I cannot find the Microsoft Get Windows 10 utility that help determine if a PC is compatible with W10.
Click to expand...
This tutorial on TenForums (only posted this week, and posted by someone who really knows his stuff) suggests that the Window 10 Media Creation Toolkit will check compatibility before going ahead.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/139745-upgrade-windows-10-windows-7-free.html

To be on the safe side, my suggestion would be to start by ensuring you have a full backup image of your system drive running Windows 7 (I use Macrium Reflect Free but other tools do a similar job). That way you have a path back if for some reason it doesn't work.

But Windows 10 can run on some old hardware - in my case I still have it going on a laptop which came with Windows XP.
 
I may try it on my Desktop again. Though I think Microsoft sent me the "no drivers available" notice.
 
dzilizzi said:
I may try it on my Desktop again. Though I think Microsoft sent me the "no drivers available" notice.
Click to expand...
You can be lucky or unlucky with drivers. Some old machines work with Windows 10 but some relatively new ones don't, due to driver compatibility.
 
I think I've had it for about 8-10 years, so I've got good use out of it. I'll probably keep it running until the end of the year at least.
 
Thanks a lot DavidY and Dzilizzi for your very kind replies and suggestions/links... I normally keep OS images of my computer up to date so if something stop working I can re-install the previous OS in no time.

Best regards,

Max T.
 
Just my experience: earlier this year I ran across an article that said "it's not too late to use the free upgrade to Windows 10". I was very afraid to try it on my main work machine so I got on Amazon, bought a cheap 500GB SSD and made a clone of my Win 7 to this new SSD. I did the in-place upgrade and it went terribly wrong... Got loads of driver issues, one blue screen, most of my software didn't work and had to be reinstalled or re-registered.

So I thought OK, it's ruined let's try a fresh install using the same installer. To my surprise not only did it work perfectly but it also automatically registered my Windows copy and everything!

I disconnected on of my Library Drives and used the cable to manually transfer all my files and settings from the Win 7 to the new fresh install. Fair enough I had to reinstall all my software (not too many though Cubase, VSL stuff, Play, Kontakt, Adobe, Firefox and Open Office). All in all it took me less than a day and I have a brand new computer in a way....

PS: I can't really judge whether Win 10 is faster since it's on a SSD so everything runs much, much faster.
 
I would like to leave an update since asking you guys here on this thread about moving from W7 to W10... I have read and followed the various links post here and I once again thank the people who provided the links and suggestions... Unfortunately I could not find a good solution for my needs so I decided to ask the computer and tech shop where I normally go for computer hardware and software. The shop owner asked me to send him my full laptop specs and after an hor or so he got back to me saying that I can easily upgrade to W10 but the safest and best way is to do a fresh install of W10. On Monday I am taking my laptop in and in a day I will have a fully functional 2012 laptop running W10.

Cheers, Max T.
 
Do not upgrade. Start fresh. Only asking for trouble, otherwise, esp. the old Win7 to Win10. Do yourself some favors:

1) image backup your existing drive
2) in advance, research what may or may not work of software/hardware you have
3) in advance, download 64 bit win10 compatible drivers and software versions - no 32bit if you can help it
4) have a fast internet connection to download stuff in advance and esp. the windows updates that come after... if not, consider downloading at least the major win10 update in advance

Put all stuff downloaded in advance on a usb drive, the speedier the better. You can buy and download Win10 to put on a usb (I got a 32gb on amazon for $10) if your computer can boot from USB. Buying from Microsoft removes any concerns about support, OEM versions, bad license keys, etc. that can ruin your day. Downside = price.

There is a Win10 compatibility tool I think available at Microsoft? Not sure I'd fully trust it, but it's a start.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom