Most people who install the Windows Technical
Preview will probably upgrade an existing Windows 7
or Windows 8 .x-based PC to this prerelease version of
Windows 10. The good news is that there are no
surprises, and that this process works exactly as it does
with Windows 8. Even better, most of my upgrades
have been trouble-free.
And yes, I wrote "most" there. It goes without saying,
or at least it should, but the Windows Technical
Preview is pre-release software and is essentially
unsupported. So it's reasonable to expect a base level
of technical expertise here, and an understanding both
of what you're getting into and what you can do if
things go wrong.
That said, here's a quick check-list of common sense
things to do or at least consider before upgrading:
Make a recovery disk. This is a called a system repair
disc in Windows 7. Here are Microsoft's instructions
for creating this. For Windows 8.x, please read
Windows 8 Tip: Create Recovery Media.
Make sure you have OS install media. It's possible
this is built into your PC, so find out. If not (or
regardless), make sure you have physical media that
you can use to reinstall your original version of
Windows. Or...
Backup your entire system. Use the system image
backup feature in Windows 7/8.x to make a complete
system image of your PC. Then you can boot it with the
recovery media mentioned above and get your PC back
to the way it was. Check out Windows 8 Tip: Use
Windows 7 System Image Backup and Windows 7
Feature Focus: Backup and Restore for more info.
Backup your data. This can take many forms. I use
OneDrive sync for all my data so I don't need to do
anything additional. But you may want to at least copy
important data to a USB-based flash drive or hard
drive, or network location before upgrading. Don't lose
anything important.
Ensure you have access to the drivers and
applications you need. If you do need to reinstall
Windows 7/8.x because everything went south during
the Windows Technical Preview, it would be a shame
to get your old OS up and running again without
networking drivers. Do a bit of due diligence and
download the latest drivers for your PC now, just in
case. And where possible, keep offline installers for the
applications you use the most too.
Deauthorize applications just in case. Some
applications—notably Apple iTunes—require you to
authorize them for use with your online account and
then hold it against an application count. The upgrade
should go fine, but just in case, deauthorize these
applications first. And if all is well, you can
reauthorize them on the other side. (Look at your
Adobe applications too.)
So what's it like upgrading?
Honestly, it's pretty simple. Here's a quick step-by-step
guide.
After creating the install media as described in
Windows Technical Preview Install Guide: The Basics
and ensuring that the PC is completely up to date with
Windows Updates, you can insert the USB- or DVD-
based Setup media and launch Setup. Then....
Accept the license terms.
After Setup examines your system, you have one big
choice to make, though this screen assumes you wish to
perform an in-place upgrade in which your current OS
is upgraded to Windows Technical Preview, retaining
all of your desktop applications and apps, and their
settings, your OS settings and customizations, and your
data.
If that is not what you want, click "Change what to
keep." Then, in this screen, you will see the following
options:
Keep Windows settings, personal files, and apps.
The default, and what is called an in-place upgrade.
Keep personal files. A migration, in which Setup
backs up your documents and other data, clean installs
Windows, and then returns your documents and other
data to their original locations.
(Keep) Nothing. A clean install, in which Setup erases
your existing Windows install along with all of your
settings, applications and data, and then installs a
factory-fresh version of the Windows Technical
Preview.
I'm going to assume you're doing an in-place upgrade,
however. After you agree that you're ready, Setup goes
full screen and continues...
Your PC will then reboot and Setup will perform a
variety of actions that will depend on which type of
install you chose.
After a few more reboots, the Windows Technical
Preview out of box experience (OOBE) begins. This is
somewhat truncated because it's an upgrade. First, you
choose between Express and Custom settings. These
settings have not changed since Windows 8.1 Setup, as
this is still in fact using Windows 8.1 Setup, so there's
no need to step through all of it. In short, I
recommend using Express settings. But you're welcome
to go through Custom settings just to see what the
defaults are and change some if you feel it's
warranted.
Next up is account setup. If you're upgrading from
Windows 8.x and were using a Microsoft account for
sign-in, you will be prompted to sign-in to that account
and move on. If you are upgrading from Windows 7,
however, or from Windows 8.x and were using a local
account, you will be prompted to sign-in to your
Microsoft account.
I continue to be amazed at the weird resistance by
some to using a Microsoft account for sign-in, since this
provides such a huge advantage with regards to
settings sync, OneDrive integration, Windows Store
application access, Xbox-based music and gaming
subscription services, and more. But rather than get
into a debate about that now, I'll simply assume you
want to use Microsoft account because that is what
most people will indeed want. (If not, click "Create a
new account" instead and then "Continue using my
existing account" in the next screen.)
After you've signed in with your Microsoft account, you
will be told that OneDrive is connected to your PC and
will be available through the file system and for
settings sync. You do want this. (If not, click "Turn off
OneDrive settings (not recommended)." Don't do that.)
Now, you can enjoy a nausea-inducing interminable
wait while colors flash on the screen and Setup
finishes up. Sorry.
And finally, you will be presented with the Windows
Technical Preview. What you see here will depend on
which OS you upgraded from. With Windows 7, you
will boot right into the desktop and the new Start
menu will be enabled, as seen here.
But with Windows 8.x, the Start screen will be enabled
by default. (You can switch to the Start menu using the
instructions in Windows 10 Tip: Swap Between Start
Menu and Start Screen .) And whether you boot to the
desktop or the Start screen will depend on how
Window was previously configured.
At this point, you should make sure everything works.
Here are some ideas I first published with much more
detail in Windows 8.1 Field Guide:
Set the date and time. Make sure that your PC's date,
time zone are correctly set before doing anything else:
The time zone, in particular, is often incorrect and is
annoyingly set to Microsoft's home time zone of Pacific
Time for some reason.
Install all Windows updates. The Windows Technical
Preview is configured to automatically update all
important and recommended updates. But while this
does happen automatically, it doesn't always happen
immediately, and one of the things you will need to do
after installing Windows is ensure that all of the latest
hardware drivers are installed. On many PCs, this will
occur through Windows Update. Seriously, this is
crucial. Don't do anything else until you've installed all
the available Windows Updates.
Check Device manager for missing hardware
drivers. Yes, Device Manager is an old-school desktop-
based control panel, but it's also the only accurate way
to see whether all of the hardware devices in and
attached to your PC are supported by valid drivers.
There are a variety of ways in which to display this
tool, but the easiest, perhaps, is to navigate to the Start
screen, type device man and then select Device
Manager from the search results list. If all is well, you
will see a "clean" Device Manager with no driver-less
devices. If not, you'll need to do some research and
downloading and installing.
Personalize Windows. Once all that is done, you
should think about personalizing the Start screen and
other aspects of Windows. That, of course, is a topic for
other articles.
Make sure your applications work and, if necessary,
reauthorize them.
Have fun!
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