Windows 10: Question regarding upgrade path

This question may be way early... but I'll ask anyway. *Smile

Is it known whether the upgrade path from Windows 7 or 8 to 10 will include the option of a clean install? I have, in the past, always done clean installs rather than OS upgrades and much prefer it this way. The reason I ask is... old Windows 7 laptop is starting to have hardware issues. And I am debating about whether buy a new laptop now or wait until 10 is preinstalled for consumers on new machines. If I can clean install from 8 to 10, then I could conceivably just buy a new machine and change it to 10 when it is time. Or... I could put up with the problems my current machine has until I can get a computer that runs 10 cleanly.

Any thoughts?

:)

 

Questions regarding smoothest path to upgrade 8.1 to 10 with a new mobo/cpu

I have, currently, a windows 8.1 PC that is eligible for the upgrade to 10. I have been holding off on this though, because I have been planning to redo my PC and wanted to deal with all the changes at once. Well, now I'm ready to buy the new parts--one
of them being the motherboard, moving to DDR4--and I want to know how I should go about the upgrade. I'll still be using the hard drive that has the upgrade files and the boot files on it, and I bought 8.1 OEM full when I built the PC originally. On the one
hand, I could upgrade before I switch the motherboard. I understand that, when I switch the to the new one, I'll have to talk to support and straighten the situation out, but it seems like it'll work, if being a bit of a hassle. Could I instead start the new
motherboard on 8.1, and then upgrade to 10?

 

Questions regarding smoothest path to upgrade 8.1 to 10 with a new mobo/cpu

Hi Robert,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand the issue that you are currently facing, we will try the best we can to resolve your issue.

I suggest you to get your motherboard/hard drive replaced first and then reinstall Windows 7/8.1 and then upgrade to Windows 10.

Also I would like to inform you that if you upgraded to Windows 10 using the free upgrade offer and then made significant hardware changes to your device, such as replacing the motherboard,
Windows 10 might no longer be activated.

You may refer the article to know how to reactivate Windows.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/950929

Hope the information helps. Please keep us posted on Windows related queries and we will be happy to assist you further.

 

First question I think I would ask of you is what kind of hardware issues are you having??

 

I suppose it matters whether my hardware issues are things I can live with.... though it doesn't address the question of upgrade path. Still... here are a few:

- Dead pixels on screen.
- Mouse track pad stops responding. (external mouse is fine).
- Speakers don't work at all. (headphones work)
- Battery doesn't hold charge. (I can get a new battery... just haven't done it yet.)
- Right Shift key not responsive.
- Some sort of GPU problem (discrete GPU), which randomly freezes entire computer when watching video or playing games (of all different file types). It doesn't happen a lot. I've tried all sorts of things for this one... including driver updates, mem tests, graphics load tests, I've wiped and reinstalled OS. I have good malware protection and scan/test frequently. But even after clean install and updating of graphics drivers, bios update, etc etc , the problem still occurs. I've been with Dell customer support on this. They also suggest it is a hardware problem.

I suppose somewhat related... I do have a desktop that works perfectly. But, since it is not portable, I don't use it as often. The laptop is over 5 years old now. So... it's seen better days.

 

I doubt upgrading your OS with a clean install will help. Sounds to me like your going to need a new laptop in the near future.

 

If it were me I would get a new laptop either with WIn8.1 or wait for Win10. Yours needs to be put out to pasture.

 

You can enter a 8 Pro key in 10 (at the moment) but not a standard 8 key or 7 keys. So at the moment you can only clean install if you have a 8.1 Pro key. Whether it will be possible to upgrade other versions to 10, save your activation and then clean install and restore your activation back is not clear but probably it will be possible.

You could test it and see using this utility Windows Diagnostic Tool (WDT) to save/restore activation on 10 but of course things could change before RTM.

 

thanks adamf. That's the closest to what I was looking for. I know that this computer is... ready for the grave. So, upgrading this one is not worth considering. The main thing is whether I should stick it out with this one until I can get a 10 machine with a clean install or just go buy a new 8.1 pro one and upgrade. For some reason, upgrading instead of clean installing has always seemed undesirable. But maybe it is better now than it was back in the day when upgrading left all sorts of junk from the old OS. Of course, if this machine croaks completely, then my decision will be straightforward. :/

At the present, with a 8.1 pro key, you can clean install by downloading the iso and activating with the pro key? And the assumption is that you will be able to do this in the future as well, yes?

 

Yes at the moment that works. I don't know if it will continue to be the case but I expect so. In the past there have always been workarounds allowing clean installs with upgrade keys. MS have said that it is their intention to allow upgrade from preview to RTM so even if I can't do another clean install I don't expect to have to dust off my 8.1 backup.

If I was in your position I wouldn't wait - it would annoy me too much. In the very worst situation you could do a clean install of 8.1 and upgrade that and the this would replace the windows directory anyway.