Windows 10: Upgrading to Win 10 from a 2 year old Win 8.1 install - horrible idea?

So I have 10s of programs and little things setup exactly how I want them in win 8. Having to do a clean install and reconfigure everything when win 10 comes out seems like a nightmare. I know that by upgrading and not doing a clean install I'll face a performance hit, but I'm not sure how bad it'll be.

For those of you who upgraded to a win 10 preview from an old win 8 install with a bunch of stuff installed(over 1 year old), how has it gone? Any regrets? Wish you did a clean install?

:)

 

WIN 8.1 TO WIN 10 AFTER REFORMAT OF SYSTEM

I HAD UPGRADED TO WIN 10 FROM WIN 8.1 LAST YEAR WHEN THE UPGRADE CAME. DUE TO SOME ISSUES IN SYSTEM, I HAD TO FORMAT THE COMPUTER, AND IT RETURNED TO THE OLD WIN 8. I COULD UPGRADE IT TO WIN 8.1, AND I WANT IT TO UPGRADE IT TO WIN 10. AS I HAD UPGRADED TO
WIN 10 PREVIOUSLY, KINDLY ADVISE HOW IT CAN BE RE-DONE.

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

 

Install Windows 10 on a new computer

You cannot use the four year old windows 8.1 license again to activate the new homebuilt computer since you upgraded that old computer and the win 8.1 license to win 10. That license will show that it has already been used to upgrade a diff computer. You
can still create the media by using Create installation media for a diff computer,
do a clean install and purchase the full license for windows 10 pro for $200 to activate. The win 8.1 pro license that has been converted to win 10 belongs to the old computer. You can save by buying the cheaper Windows 10 Home version. Very little
diff in the 2 versions unless you need to join a domain and use Bitlocker which means you need Pro.

 

Mine always went very well, when mounting the ISO in File Explorer and upgrading via setup.exe.
As long as your image/system is very stable you'll have no problems, although you will have to reset some settings(not all) to how you like it.

 

I had the same experience as Cliff. Still a few things but for the most part it saved a lot of time.

 

One more thing I almost forgot... make sure you sync everything with OneDrive first, and you'll have almost the same desktop(settings) as before. I actually used Windows 10(on my Windows 7 laptop) before I bought my Windows 8.1 desktop, and after the initial install, it was the same as Win10!!! I only had to copy files from OneDrive to my Libraries.

 

No problems here with upgrading Build 10074 over Windows 8.1 Pro. Everything has worked properly since then.

 

I'm glad the actual upgrade went fine for all. But what about the performance. Slightly sluggish or unnoticeable?

 

On my desktop from UEFI 8.1>10 no difference for me, but I have 16GB RAM and a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD.
On my laptop from BIOS/EFI 7>10 a bit of a boost, specially boot times, 8GB RAM and a Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD.

 

That's good news. I have about the same RAM as well as an SSD.

I'm going to make a full clone of my win 8.1 C: drive before I do the upgrade just so I can revert in an emergency. Don't forsee any problems but it's good to have just in case.

 

I didn't notice any difference in performance. The only difference was that W10 takes a few seconds longer to boot, which isn't a huge issue with an SSD.

 

I did not have any problem upgrading from 8 to 10 or from 10 to 10. However, I hate the fact that when you ugrading, Windows re-arranges things and creates an extra 450MB partition tagging at the end of C drive (NOTE: this is with UEFI installation, I have no idea how it works with MBR since I don't use it) . This might be OK if you run it as a stand alone system but if you plan on dual booting then it might cause problem and becomes unbootable, in which case you might have to re-create the BCD.

 

Thanks for this information Dino,

I fed Ms about a disk schema issue a few releases back and again recently after helping a member get past a buggered install
(asked him to grow the 100 MB System Reserve part to 450 MB and try again - it worked)

Cliff S also reported it a while ago. Mystere sort of convinced me to try it with the other member.
So this is of interest to me, especially since one release clobbered my System Reserve (100 MB)

Seeing your post tells me that MS is at least trying to work through the issue (placing the 450 MB part at the end is about all they can do unless they want to shrink exiting partitions, move everything to the right and then create the part(s) required on the left.

It's technically sound, just not what people are used to seeing
"What's that system reserve doing way out there?" ... it's fine anywhere they or you put it as long as you follow the other rules (size and active)

I always find good stuff in your posts.

Bill
.

 

I have just kept updating from 8.1 and have had no real problems. Have an SSD so speed is good.

I think I will just cruise through to RTM with updates but did think I might do a fresh install. But, honestly, everything is fine so may well take the lazy way out!