Windows 10: Couple of questions on installing an older build of W10

My old laptop (Acer Aspire 9301 from 2006) will not even install the latest builds, and 1803 ran very badly. At the moment I'm back to Vista and Google Chrome.

I feel I would like to have a last ditch attempt at running an older build such as 1703 or 1709 (whcih I have used in the past on the Acer) but have a couple of questions.

1/ Where would I get an ISO for these. A brief search throws up offerings but are there any known reputable sources that I should head for.

2/ Assuming I did install one of these old builds, how do I stop it from just automatically trying to update to a newer build.

:)

 

Local account installation question

I'm fairly certain that Skip this step was available in 10.0.130 - the workaround in Step 20 (back button) is no longer required.

The currently known, as of 10.0.130, ways to create a Local account sign-in are

• Skip this step at the MS account creation phase
• No Internet connection during the install
• static IP (post# 2 by Fragment) - New (to me anyway)

 

A Couple Questions About Partitions


Hello, it's been a couple days. So I decided to get back at the effort of resolving this, but I'm so confused on how to perform the steps you have listed above even though the list looks pretty simple and self-explanatory. Is it possible to go a little bit more in depth and explain it like you're talking to someone who has no experience doing something like this? That would be greatly appreciated.

 

A Couple Questions About Partitions

Hi. Yes, sure, no problem.

So, what we need to do is properly install W10 onto your SSD, so that Windows ONLY needs the SSD to boot, and get rid of all unnecessary partitions.

So, step #1: go to Kyhi's recovery media thread and download the 64-bit W10586PESEx64 ISO.
Decide how you are going to use it - will you boot your system to a disk, or boot to USB flash drive? Either burn the ISO to a DVD, or right-click it, select MOUNT and then copy all the files to a flash drive.

Step #2: Download and install Grab an ISO of Windows 10 from MS. Create a DVD or Flash drive which you will eventually use to clean install Windows 10. Then shut your computer down.

Step #3: Disconnect your Data drive, leaving only your SSD connected.

Step #4: Boot into the Windows 10 media you made from MS and clean install Windows 10, keeping nothing - no files, no programs. Using the custom install selection, you can nuke all partitions before the install. This will create the necessary partitions cleanly. The drive needs to be "un-allocated" when you begin the clean install of W10.

From the tutorial in our forum:

Step #5: Shut down after W10 is clean installed.

Step #6: Re-connect your data disk.

Step #7 Boot the computer into Kyhi's recovery media

Step #8: Open Macrium Reflect (on the recovery media), in the restore tab, navigate to your C partition image on the data drive, and drag it over to the C partition on the SSD. Perform the recovery and your OS will be as it was, with all partitions cleanly in place as they should be.

Your system will then boot from the SSD only and all unnecessary partitions will be gone. Does that make sense?


EDIT: If you need screenshots to help visualize things, just let us know.