Windows 10

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Fatwah on Western Digital
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My only client machines had the Preview installed fresh rather than upgraded, but all my lab machines have the notification.
 

mubs

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SD,

1) Win-7 needs to be at SP1 level, and Win 8 at 8.1.

2) The hw must be capable of running Win-10

3) You need to have a certain KB installed; one of the CNet articles I linked to has the info. If you have auto updates on, you should have it.

I'm sure you meet all the requirements, so maybe they're rolling it out in phases.

I'm surprised I saw it so soon, being so far away from the US of A. For me Patch day is Wednesday, not Tuesday because I'm 9-12 hours ahead of the US.
 

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Fatwah on Western Digital
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I don't think I noticed it before, but something new that is being deployed with Windows Server 2016 is direct support for Docker Images. I've only done a little bit with them, mostly to spin up SugarCRM (which uses an ancient version of PHP), but the option to spin up lighter-than-full-guest-OSes up in Windows seems very interesting and surprising for something that I thought was completely Linux-dependent.
 

Handruin

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My windows 8.1 (which is an MSDN license) received the upgrade notification today.
 

mubs

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What's not clear (to me) is, if you upgrade within the "free" window, do you never ever have to pay for it? Or is it free to use for one year then shuts down or nags you to pay?
 

Bozo

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I got the Windows 10 notification on a Window 7 virtual machine. It's running on VMware Player. Interesting.
 

Bozo

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On the first page of the Windows 10 offer, it says it is a free copy of windows 10 and not a trail version.
 

Handruin

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What's not clear (to me) is, if you upgrade within the "free" window, do you never ever have to pay for it? Or is it free to use for one year then shuts down or nags you to pay?

"Windows 10 is a free upgrade. The upgrade offers the full version of Windows 10, not simply a trial or limited version. It also ensures that you can run Windows 10 on your specific device for free "for the supported lifetime of your device," according to Microsoft." It's unclear to me what they mean by supported lifetime of your device.
 

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Fatwah on Western Digital
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"Windows 10 is a free upgrade. The upgrade offers the full version of Windows 10, not simply a trial or limited version. It also ensures that you can run Windows 10 on your specific device for free "for the supported lifetime of your device," according to Microsoft." It's unclear to me what they mean by supported lifetime of your device.

"Supported Lifetime" means the duration of time for which Microsoft offers support for that combination of Windows version + its underlying hardware.

Something that is bothering me more than a little is that my lab PCs have Windows Updates turned completely off as a group policy setting. I only install updates if I reconfigure the base system image on those machines, to make sure the machines are fully usable during class times. They shouldn't even be CHECKING for updates, but all of them have the upgrade message. By what mechanism is that message appearing if my machines aren't getting updates?
 

jtr1962

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"Windows 10 is a free upgrade. The upgrade offers the full version of Windows 10, not simply a trial or limited version. It also ensures that you can run Windows 10 on your specific device for free "for the supported lifetime of your device," according to Microsoft." It's unclear to me what they mean by supported lifetime of your device.
While we're at it, it's not even clear if installing the update will mean you lose all your settings and installed programs. If that's the case, no thanks, not interested.
 

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Fatwah on Western Digital
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Do you have a WSUS configured? Probably not, but if you do, you might want to verify the update push settings.

No updates happen on lab machines at all. I can't do Domain memberships either because I'm supporting a multiboot Windows configuration and the machine account passwords on domain accounts get changed every 42 days whether they sign in or not. My systems get restored from a master image. I use a script to re-set user account settings and personalize each Windows installation on each machine.


jtr said:
While we're at it, it's not even clear if installing the update will mean you lose all your settings and installed programs. If that's the case, no thanks, not interested.

It is clear and the answer is no, you won't. The user profile structure hasn't changed (this is why XP to 7 wasn't directly supported) and the only non-Microsoft applications that might be uninstalled during the upgrade process will be Antivirus packages, which the installer will automatically re-install unless the subscription is expired.
 

Handruin

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What I'm more interested in is the re-install path for Win 10. Will I need to do a clean install of Win 8.1, patch it, then wait for the Win 10 upgrade every time I need to rebuild a machine? I would prefer a clean install when changing major version rather than an upgrade. I don't mind re-installing my applications.
 

Tea

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What I'm more interested in is the re-install path for Win 10. Will I need to do a clean install of Win 8.1, patch it, then wait for the Win 10 upgrade every time I need to rebuild a machine?

Just as well that there will apparently be a clean install path (haven't read Sdbarwick's link yet, get to that in a minute), 'coz my reinstall routine would have been a super-shocker. (1) Install Windows XP. (2) download Windows 8.0. (3) Install 18 zillion updates. (4) Sleep. Eat. (5) Install 8.1. (6) More updates. (7) Download 10. (8) Eat. Decide to skip the shower 'coz I had one last month. Sleep. (9) Install 10.
 

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Fatwah on Western Digital
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The official path for a clean install of 8.1 for machines with an 8 COA or firmware embedded key was: install with an un-activatable known key for system imaging, then enter your Windows 8 key after the install was completed. That's really not THAT bad, except that I have no earthly idea how non-IT people were supposed to find that out. The new version should work much the same way.
 

sedrosken

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I really hope the preview doesn't have a timebomb in it, because I don't have $120 and I don't have an eligible Windows version for upgrading. The latest version of Windows that I have licenses I can use on these machines (OEM licenses for my systems) are Vista. I didn't think through upgrading to the preview, and while the build I'm on is certainly stable and usable, it won't be for long with a timebomb in it. On that subject, upgrading to the latest builds always fails for me for some reason. I'm on build 10074 and I can't upgrade to 10130 for anything.
 

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Fatwah on Western Digital
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The preview 100% has a time bomb in it. Doesn't your laptop have an embedded OEM key like the last one did?

Good to see you again sed. How is Kentucky?
 

Bozo

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I'm confused. Can the Windows 10 download be installed ? Or must it be installed as an upgrade and then used to do a clean install?
 

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You won't be getting a usable .ISO from the "reservation" download. There's probably a .WIM file or something that could be use to build an ISO, but it's highly probable that Microsoft will make the ISO file available for people who need them through normal techie channels. Since Windows 7 ISOs are now available to the general public, it's not a thing I'm deeply worried about.
 

snowhiker

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So if one "upgrades" from 7 or 8.x you get a new win10 key you can use. And your old 7 or 8 key is no longer valid can can't be activated? The free upgrade also makes and adoption rates look better too.
 

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I suspect that your old key will still work as long as you're reinstalling on the hardware where it has already been activated. I have observed this to be the case for 7 to 8 upgrades that have been rolled back.
 

Bozo

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It's beginning to sound like it is better to stay with Windows 7. At least I can move it to new hardware without all the key problems.
 

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Fatwah on Western Digital
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Historically, Microsoft has allowed users to roll back an upgraded installation of Windows, but as long as you have the product key for your old version you should be able to wait and use the upgrade media on a new disk drive if you'd like.
 

LunarMist

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Historically, Microsoft has allowed users to roll back an upgraded installation of Windows, but as long as you have the product key for your old version you should be able to wait and use the upgrade media on a new disk drive if you'd like.

Will the Win 7 installation still function on a separate M.2 SSD after upgrading to 10 on a different SSD or do they deactivate further Win 7 usage?
 

mubs

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For a fresh install of W-10, will a Win-7 Technet key work? Sigh. So many questions. I guess better to wait and see how the bleeding-edge people fare.
 

LunarMist

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Finally got the latest build to install and holy crap is it unstable. I went straight back to Arch Linux with my tail between my legs like a scolded dog.

What do you mean unstable? I thought 10 was getting close to release.
 

Handruin

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What do you mean unstable? I thought 10 was getting close to release.

Don't forget he runs ancient hardware. I would take his results with a grain of salt. I wouldn't fault MS for targeting current hardware on their support matrix.
 

Clocker

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Does Win10 Pro have anything like drive pooling that allows control of file duplication etc. (like Drive Pool)?
 

LunarMist

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Don't forget he runs ancient hardware. I would take his results with a grain of salt. I wouldn't fault MS for targeting current hardware on their support matrix.

I hope it runs 2014 hardware like the X99 and Z97 if they are still supported. I would expect the older stuff from the 2600K era to be obsoleted.
 

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Does Win10 Pro have anything like drive pooling that allows control of file duplication etc. (like Drive Pool)?

Dedup is in the Windows Server feature set, just like tiered storage and parity/double parity stripe sets. You can do those things cheaply and easily with FreeNAS if you really want them.
 

Clocker

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Dedup is in the Windows Server feature set, just like tiered storage and parity/double parity stripe sets. You can do those things cheaply and easily with FreeNAS if you really want them.

I do everything in my desktop PC. It serves up Plex, holds all my crash plan backup sets for me and remote family members and does all other regular PC duties. Drive Pool works great for me but I was going Win10 Pro would have some of the storage features I like built in.
 

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Fatwah on Western Digital
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Well hey a legal copy of Windows Server 2016 will only cost you about $600 + $30/user so I have no idea why you wouldn't just be jumping all over that. ;)
 
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