Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
ErichB

Who has Windows 10 ?

Recommended Posts

I was not an early adopter of Windows 10.  After it emerged, the whole of the internet was up in arms over everything from "will this work with Windows 10?" to "Microsoft is tracking everything I do!"  Here's a bit of advice I would give anyone who is willing to upgrade:

 

First, block out some time dedicated to upgrading their machine and take your time doing it.  What I did, not too dissimilar to what many others have done, coming from Windows 7.  I was fortunate enough (paying a small fee of course) to have a USB flash drive created for my rig that had the ability to re-image the machine back to the way it was when it shipped.  During the course of owing my rig, I had several programs installed, at the time and had the rig pretty worn in.  What I did was backup everything I needed, and then rebooted with the supplied flash drive.  My system's image contained Windows 7 professional (although I doubt the version makes much of a difference) as well as drivers, settings, etc.  After my machine was re-imaged and I followed the step by step process of getting Windows up and running, I immediately prepared to use another flash drive I had, created with the Windows Media Creation kit, that contained Windows 10.  The reason for the immediate install was to prevent Windows 7 from downloaded oodles of updates, updates that I would eventually download again for Win 10.  Once I rebooted again, I ran the Windows 10 installer, selecting Windows 10 professional, progressing through all the dialogs and finally getting a new install of Windows 10 on my rig.

 

Now, I know people will say "but you now have a large chunk of your C drive holding on to the Windows 7 files (windows.old folder), and yes, that is true, until I followed the third phase.  Once Windows 10 was done with it's updates and everything was calmed down and my machine was purring like I kitten, I them immediately ran the restore feature, making sure I selected the option to wipe the drive, start clean and reinstall Windows 10.  After that was done, I now had a fully functioning, activated, and clean install of Windows 10 Pro.  After all of that, I went ahead and reinstalled my programs.

 

Out of everything I have in my machine for hardware, Windows was able to grab the correct drivers.  I went a step further and grabbed the latest nvidia drivers for my gpu, which went without a hitch.  The only setting or feature that I lost from my original install was the Spyder screen calibration utility, but that was a negligible loss.

 

I honestly don't understand how some people have so much trouble doing an upgrade nor do I understand why people are so adamant about upgrading.  If privacy is an issue, there are a plethora of sites online that discuss how to disable the settings in Windows 10, to prevent unwanted programs from running and grabbing your info.  Compatibility with older programs could be an issue, and I can sympathize if something you've been using for so long is no longer supported, but understand that very soon, you may be forced to give them up.  When Microsoft says they won't support older OS's, they mean that there won't be any more security updates, nor any phone and email support.  If you continue to use older OS's, you are totally on your own and taking a big risk, but hey, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.

 

Ever since I upgraded, I had zero issues with any program I have.   I had some worry with a couple of programs I own, one of which is a CADD design program, that it would work right.  Surprisingly, it well without any issue.   I find Windows 10 to be very stable right now.  Sure, there are some irksome features of Windows10, but overall, it doesn't hinder my usage of it.

 

For flight simulation, P3D works perfectly fine, and I've done a couple of upgrades to that, each one working fine.  Add-on installs give me zero trouble.  IF I have an issue with anything, I think it's a safe bet I did something wrong and I only have myself to blame, but being careful what I download, reading everything, asking questions if I am not sure, can only make the installation and execution of any program work without issue.

 

-Jim

  • Upvote 1

Engage, research, inform and make your posts count! -Jim Morvay

Origin EON-17SLX - Under the hood: Intel Core i7 7700K at 4.2GHz (Base) 4.6GHz (overclock), nVidia GeForce GTX-1080 Pascal w/8gb vram, 32gb (2x16) Crucial 2400mhz RAM, 3840 x 2160 17.3" IPS w/G-SYNC, Samsung 950 EVO 256GB PCIe m.2 SSD (Primary), Samsung 850 EVO 500gb M.2 (Sim Drive), MS Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I recently got a new gaming rig with Win 10 pre-installed (No choice).  Installed FSX-SE - so far no obvious problems with Win 10 - but some Win 7 apps, unrelated to FS, don't work anymore... 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I recently got a new gaming rig with Win 10 pre-installed (No choice).  Installed FSX-SE - so far no obvious problems with Win 10 - but some Win 7 apps, unrelated to FS, don't work anymore... 

What doesn't work?  I am curious.

 

-Jim


Engage, research, inform and make your posts count! -Jim Morvay

Origin EON-17SLX - Under the hood: Intel Core i7 7700K at 4.2GHz (Base) 4.6GHz (overclock), nVidia GeForce GTX-1080 Pascal w/8gb vram, 32gb (2x16) Crucial 2400mhz RAM, 3840 x 2160 17.3" IPS w/G-SYNC, Samsung 950 EVO 256GB PCIe m.2 SSD (Primary), Samsung 850 EVO 500gb M.2 (Sim Drive), MS Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I actually had to buy Windows 10, as my Win 7 Enterprise provided from work for my desktop did not allow the free upgrade. So I did a fresh install also because I needed to move from Win 7 32 to Win 10 64. And it mostly works very well. Some details are really useful in Win10, for example showing recently used files when opening explorer window.

 

Both FSX-SE and Flight (with the FSX world converted to Flight using stonelance's superb toolkit) work very well.

 

One minor concern is that the major updates so far (similar to the Service packs on previous versions) reset some of the settings like file associations. Also, I had to manually edit the registry after the Win 10 install so that the ancient Cisco VPN client we use for access to the work network would not crash. These registry settings were also reset, so in the end I had to turn to Shrew Soft VPN.

 

On my Win 7 laptop I used the free upgrade option. Initially it did not work properly because of conflicts with the installed Comodo firewall. So, I would recommend removing all such tools like security software before the upgrade.

 

Even my ancient netbook, upgraded to 2 GB RAM, starts quicker and runs much smoother with Win 10 after the free upgrade from Win 7 Starter.

 

So, is it worth upgrading from a Win 7/8 64 bit system which runs without problems? Maybe not yet. But it's no harm doing the upgrade now if it's planned anyway at some point.

  • Upvote 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

No problems sans one - Flight 1's PC12 would crash FSX on Windows 10 were there was no problem in 7.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What doesn't work?  I am curious.

 

-Jim

 

Just some free Win 7 MSGames that now seem to payware, and a chess game (not MS), but also several word processors I've now had to replace with newer versions.  There were one or two apps that I can't remember right now... 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Windows 10 here: no problems at all and love it. I did however do a full clean install (with a dvd I created using the provided tools) after the initial free update just to be sure I had a really clean and up to date system. (I have already reinstalled W10 a few times after that.) Whenever you (want to) do a reinstall using a DVD or USB (after the initial update): 1. wait with doing so until you are sure W10 has been activated (which happens automatically) and 2. do not enter a serial or code during the W10 install process bit SKIP that step: W10 will activate itself again automatically. But anyway, W10 is great imho.

When you write that you did a clean install, do you mean you reformatted your boot drive and installed W 10 onto that? I ran into a major W10 problem yesterday, moved back to W7, but want to return to W10 without any trace of the previous installation. btw, I do have a complete backup of my W10 configurations done before yesterday's corruption problem arose. Thanks for any advice. 

 

Sherm

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Had a bit of a bumpy ride when it was first released. So I waited until recently to give it another shot. Switched from Windows 7 to Windows 10 in February. No issues to report.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest

When you write that you did a clean install, do you mean you reformatted your boot drive and installed W 10 onto that? I ran into a major W10 problem yesterday, moved back to W7, but want to return to W10 without any trace of the previous installation. btw, I do have a complete backup of my W10 configurations done before yesterday's corruption problem arose. Thanks for any advice.

 

Sherm

Yes, complete format and all. When W10 has been updated and activated you can create a W10 install disk (USB or dvd) with the Windows Media Creation Tool (simply Google for it to get the one for your specific situation) and with that one you can do a clean install from scratch, including formatting the target drive etc. The nice thing is that when you create such an install disk, it will create a disk with the very last up to date W10 system, so you won't have to spend a long time updating W10 after the first install (like you would have to do with previous Windows versions you bought on dvd). Take note that if you used the free update to W10 you should absolutely SKIP the step where you have to enter a serial or code!!! W10 will activate itself when it has completed the installation.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi, I attempted to install Windows 10 from Windows 7.  It took forever and it would only work in safe mode.  I could not convert back to Windows 7.  I ended up taking my computer to a shop and they converted it back.  I still do not know why it didn't work.  Are there known issues with Windows 10 and FSX-SE? 

 

Thanks,

hocdaddy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

hocdaddy

 

Replied in another thread you posted.

 

Cheers.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I upgraded yesterday, Initially it wouldn't do the shutdown at the start.

I unplugged my flight sim usb stuff and tried again and it went fairly smoothly.

I've given FSX-SE a quick go and it seems to work fine.

 

My PC kept crashing today (not with FSX, just generally)

But one difference is it seems to give you the driver that caused the issue when you get a BSOD.

 

I upgraded the network driver to the latest version and its not crashed since.

 

I upgraded in case DFS uses DirectX 12.   :Party:


Tony Holmes

xplane 12, MSFS, Windows 10, Ryzen 5600x, 32gb, RX 6800XT.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...