Windows 10: Windows 10 Pro current build number

Hello,

Microsoft's Level 2 people are going to upgrade my 8.1 Pro system to Windows 10 Pro. There seems to be a lot of versions/builds floating around out there. I have several questions may be someone(s) can answer

1. Does anyone know the most current version/build that I should be getting?

2. I have an SSD and used the SYSPREP process which was written up by @kali to have my Documents folder put on a non-SSD device. Will this process still work and can MS do it using whatever version of Windows that they download? To do the sysprep for 8.1 required having the distribution media which I had for 8.1 but do not for 10.

3. Is there additional maintenance that needs to be put on

4, What else should I be aware of?

I am only doing this upgrade because of a need to solve a problem on my existing 8.1 system. Apparently there is no repair capabilities for 8.1 so a clean install would need to be done (or so I've been told). Rather than go through this again it seems like the upgrade is a better choice (I think). However, it seems that even after 1+ years there are still a lot of problems with Win 10. I would welcome some opinions on that.

This PC is relatively new and is used for trading and I really do not want to mess with it too much if there is a risk.


Note:

This is a different PC than the one in my other post in this same thread.


Thank you,

Frank

:)

 

How can I update my Windows 10 to build number 16215 or above?

Hey guys,

How can I update my Windows 10 to build number 16215 or above? I've just upgraded to build 15063 and the system says I've already updated to the latest version of the OS, but apparently not.

I'm running Windows 10 Pro, x64, current build 15063.

Any ideas?

Many thanks.

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

 

Lifechat LX-6000 headset issues

My current build is:

Windows 10 Pro

Version 1703 (OS Build 16257.1)

I am a part of the Windows 10 Pro insider preview program.

Though this issue was present with non Insider Preview builds.

 

1. Mine is Version 1607 Build 14393.105. Actually, the Home version will be the same number. And both versions are available as either 32-bit or 64-bit.

If the problems with Win8.1 are severe Upgrading to a newer version may not solve them, may even make them worse.

 

@Berton

Thank you for responding.

By "mine" did you mean that you also have the Pro version which is the one that I will make sure they install?

No, I wouldn't consider the problem I'm having with 8.1 as severe as only one application is failing and it is doing it only under certain conditions. I believe the problem is somehow in the .Net 3.5 Framework. But out of curiosity, why would those problems still persist after the install of a complete new OS?

 

I have Desktops and Notebooks with either the Pro or Home version installed, depends upon the version of Win7 w/SP1 or Win8.1 that was installed so as to get the Free Upgrade to Win10.

As for problems, a new OS Upgrade install doesn't really change everything. Doing a Clean install that will wipe everything off the drive will get rid of the problems but then the data desired to be saved, that exists nowhere else should be copied to a different drive, usually an External USB drive of suitable size.

 

@Berton

OK, sounds like I will automatically get the Pro edition (but make sure I do) because that is what I have now.

As to what or what it doesn't change, and maybe I'm wrong here, but I would think that it wouldn't make any difference whether one was doing an upgrade or a clean install that at least all of the operating system components would be replaced. Anything that is outside of the OS would probably stay, therefore if the problem resided in an OS component then either kind of install would fix the problem.

If other than that it sounds like doing an upgrade to resolve a problem is a turkey shoot. That being the case when a software vendor states that the OS needs to be reinstalled to fix the problem he really means a clean install.

My background (40+ years) is in mainframe systems and if I had to ask my users to reload all of their apps and data because I was going to wipe out everything because I needed to upgrade to a new version of the OS they would have hung me from a very high tree. That's not to say that if the hardware was being upgraded and a new OS was needed to support it that the user didn't need to do a lot of conversion work. But typically if the processing hardware was the same and it was just a new version of the OS sure the users had to test and maybe make some corrections because something in the OS or one of its components changed but whatever needed to be changed was typically know beforehand and could be planned.

I really have a problem wrapping my head around this entire Windows environment and what their upgrade process entails.

Oh well, it is what it is.

 

The main difference historically has been that the Upgrade was priced lower than the full version. The previous version was the qualifying factory of offering that lower price, kinda like returning customers getting a better deal. The Free version of Win10 was good for a year to get folks into moving to the new version. A problem for software publishers is that older versions get discontinued which in turn are no longer in the supply channels to be sold which in turn brings in no money to pay the folks who actually write the programs. Same for hardware/devices. Companies can't keep that up so one can call it "planned obsolescence" but in reality it is just technology marching on.

 

@Berton

Are you saying that from an OS perspective and it's components that there is a difference in what are packaged in the Upgrade and the Full Edition and gets installed? If so, I had no idea.

Does that mean the free version was strictly an upgrade and could not be installed completely clean? If it could wouldn't it need to be a full edition, regardless of the pricing shenanigans that go on. I recall after 3 Win 10 installations (the first from W7 and done by MS techs) they finally recommended that they do a clean install.

 

No. Starting with the November update, it became entirely possible to clean install W10 on a system that had never seen it before, either by using the W7/W8 key to activate, or running the gatherosstate.exe to create the genuineticket.xml file to activate the system.

 

The Upgrade and Full versions are essentially the same. The Free Upgrade can be reinstalled as a Clean version later on, it's about having the .iso file to do it and it being Activated with a digital license, no longer have the 25-character Product Key that is 5 groups of 5 alphanumeric digits, no COA/Certificate of Authenticity with the Key.

 

@Berton

I had a MS tech download the Win 10 ISO and he told me that it was the 1607 version but didn't give me the build number. He (a level 1) also told me the install process would determine whether to install the Home or Pro edition based on what was installed on the target system. I do have a valid activation key for the Pro version so if he is correct I should not have any problem.

Also, I checked with @Kari concerning needing to run a sysprep which I did on 8.1 Pro and he stated that I did not (and if I recall correctly I probably could not as I don't have the distribution disk assuming it is still needed). So based upon what I am hearing from all that have answered my endless questions I should be good to go.

Did I miss anything?

Thanks