How to avoid being "upgraded to Win 10" against your will:

[Dave-H]

Just thought I'd mention a rather worrying thing that happened to the laptop of a friend of mine yesterday.

It's a Windows 7 Home Premium machine.

My friend has automatic updates on, and got the Windows 10 advance notification with the system tray icon.

He doesn't want Windows 10, and just ignored and closed any messages that popped up about it.

He certainly hasn't reserved a copy or anything like that.

 

Yesterday, he closed down his computer, and was faced with a screen which said "installing 1 update, don't switch off etc.".

This screen sat there for literally about twenty minutes, with a lot of drive activity, before the machine eventually shut down.

Oh dear, i thought, is this the dreaded Windows 10?!

 

On re-start, thankfully it was still Windows 7, but when I went to look in the update history, the update was recorded as

"GDR-DU:Cumulative Update for Windows 10 for x64-based Systems (KB3081424)".

The update was reported to have failed, perhaps not surprisingly as it's not a Windows 10 machine!

 

My friend was understandably very worried that this performance would be repeated again the next time he shut the system down. With some trepidation I just re-started, which worked as normal. However, the shutdown button had a shield on it and the hover popup said it would install updates and shut down.

 

The first thing I did to try and prevent the update trying again was to delete everything in the SoftwareDistribution folder, and put Windows Update on notify only. The machine then shut down normally, but the shield was still there on the shutdown button. I then decided to do a system restore back at least a week, which fixed that.

 

When I checked Windows Update, KB2952664 was being offered, which said it was 6.0 MB but seemed to be taking ages to download. Suspicious that this wasn't what it was claiming to be, I aborted the download and hid the update.

 

When I checked against this thread, I found that KB2952664 was stated as being one of the Windows 10 download and install requisites on Windows 7. The other two, KB3035583 and KB2990214, I then found were already installed.

I uninstalled them and when they were offered again I hid them too!

 

Strangely there are two hidden versions of KB2952664 listed now. One is a recommended update, the other an optional update.

The former is 6.0 MB, the latter 6.1 MB, so presumably they're not exactly the same.

 

So, anyone with a Windows 7 machine watch out, it looks as if updates intended for Windows 10 can get downloaded and attempt to install even though you've shown no interest in Windows 10.

This has to be an error but it's a bit worrying that it can happen!

 

Edited August 6, 2015 by Dave-H

[bphlpt]

As we feared, and as you have now seen, Dave, merely showing no interest in Windows 10 is not enough.  You need to specifically say that you don't want it, block the things that enable or assist in its installation, and actively stay on alert for attempts to install it anyway.  Also be aware that hiding certain updates is not always sufficient either.  If a newer version of an update that you have hidden is released, you will have to specifically hide it as well.  A different version is considered the same as a different update.  Hiding an earlier version will not carry over.  MS really, really wants everyone to be using Windows 10.

 

Cheers and Regards

[NoelC]

One can expect more and more mistakes as Microsoft focuses solely on Windows 10.  About the only thing we can do is just avoid the upgrade on the general principle that we require more smarts and more morality from the company we invite into our lives to run software on our computers.

 

I see no other pathway to notify Microsoft that we will not stand for this predatory behavior.

 

The question still remains how much of Windows Update to avoid entirely on an older system.  It's already clear that we need to avoid SOME of it.  That we have an ongoing debate in this thread between very intelligent and wise folks as to how much is a sign that we have arrived in a very bad situation that we should NEVER be put in.

 

It boils down to this:

 

• It has been good to keep up with Windows Updates in the past.

 

vs.

 

• If it acts like malware, if it looks like malware...

 

-Noel

[Tripredacus]

I've had the idea that if you were to get to that step where Windows Update won't let you do anything except restart and install Windows 10... that you could "save" your system at that point by deleting the Windows.~SW folder. My only concern would be that a restart could fail or that you wouldn't be able to use Windows Update anymore.

[NoelC]

Seems like a reasonable idea.

 

I wonder if ~SW stands for "an approximation of software".

 

-Noel

[Tripredacus]

Users on technet have reported that Windows 7 PCs joined to a domain are getting the Windows 10 installer download now. Despite what MS said before, I'm thinking that Windows Update does not function differently if on a domain or workgroup. Hopefully we won't hear of domain PCs getting that "reboot and install 10" thing.

[ralcool]

Well I received a visit from the father-in-law.

 

JFYI, He is 100% deaf, and 95% blind. You have to see his desktop to appreciate the customization (high contract to say the least)

 

So, he may have inadvertently clicked the Win10 reservation button. Likely yes.. but he is 70.

 

Updates history list had Win 10 Home listed as failed several times.. I think it tried 8 times I counted roughly.

 

The source of the failure was- a metered internet connection. He exceed the dl limit for obvious reasons. But it kept retrying.

 

Grey Nomads of the western world are embracing wireless technology-but it isn't as cheap or unlimited as M$ likes to think.

 

The only easy option I could see was the 'Idontwantwindows10' tool.

 

It worked. So thanks to all involved. Our inheritance is saved again.

 

While it may be possible to configure a fresh Win10 installation for his eyes... we do NOT wish to do that on an established system serving his needs comfortably- and not at great data expense. He'd sooner buy a new machine and learn/adjust at his own pace.

 

'Free' is a relative term.

 

-sean

[Dave-H]

That says it all about what's wrong with this semi-forced "upgrade" approach from Microsoft.

You don't say what OS your father-in-law is running at the moment, but I guess it's Windows 7.

It's bad enough updating Windows 8/8.1 owners to Windows 10, but at least for them it's not a huge difference to what they're used to.

For Windows 7 users it's a massive difference, and they will effectively have to learn their computers all over again.

For instance, what happens to Windows 7 users who have a huge number of e-mails stored in Windows Live Mail, which doesn't exist in Windows 8-10? Even if the messages all get transferred to the Windows 10 Mail App, this is an enormous leap to expect people to make to using a totally different interface all of a sudden. If those messages are actually lost on the "upgrade", surely that's completely unacceptable!

I am just so surprised that MS are rolling Windows 10 out for free to Windows 7 users. Windows 8/8.1 users I could understand, but not Windows 7.

A lot of Windows 7 users are going to get a horrible shock when their computer suddenly looks and acts totally differently!

Edited August 7, 2015 by Dave-H

[bphlpt]

I am just so surprised that MS are rolling Windows 10 out for free to Windows 7 users. Windows 8/8.1 users I could understand, but not Windows 7.

A lot of Windows 7 users are going to get a horrible shock when their computer suddenly looks and acts totally differently!

 

Because if they only pursued Windows 8.x users, then it's likely that Windows 10 wouldn't be much more of a success than Windows 8.x was.  Probably a little better, but not as much as they wanted.  At least that's my opinion.

 

It's sad that up through Windows 7, with the exception of Vista even though I think that by SP1 it really wasn't as bad as the reputation it got, Windows earned a larger and larger user base because people wanted it, they chose it, and they paid for it.  MS profited and earned more and more money, software creators made more and more standardized software that folks also sought out and bought and paid for so those companies got rich as well, and the users in general got value for their money.  If the user was a company they were able to do more and more things easier, faster, and sometimes cheaper than they used to.  Home users were able to do things from mail, their taxes, games and consume data that others created such as music, eBooks, videos, etc.  More and more users meant that more computer manufacturers were able to make a profit and through competition the hardware got more and more powerful, yet cheaper.

 

Now MS is giving the OS away and yet some folks are resisting the free "upgrade".

 

It's just sad.

 

Cheers and Regards

Edited August 8, 2015 by bphlpt

[Blackbird256]

Thanks for all the new info. It's annoying how hard MS tries to force it 

[Radish]

I can't comment on the veracity of it but there is a tale of woe here that might be of interest.

 

It seems to suggest that some Wndows 7 user has fallen foul of having installed Windows 10, noticed some problems he didn't want, then rolled back to Windows 7 only to find out that he was no longer legal and Microsoft advising that he needs to purchase a new licence for a previously legal install of Windows 7.

 

I wonder if it is true or not?

Edited August 9, 2015 by Radish

[Tripredacus]

previously legal install of Windows 7.

The user specifically mentions using some warez, which would imply that they are not using a legal install of Windows 7.

[NoelC]

Why would anyone choose to upgrade without having made a system image backup they could restore in a pinch?  That's just irresponsible, especially if they're doing things they shouldn't be.  One of the awful things about criminal behavior is that criminals are on their own, without society's support.  Poor dears.

 

-Noel

[bphlpt]

Well, I also can't vouch for the veracity, but if I understand the what he claims in the thread, he had a legit copy of Win7 working fine for some time, then he updated to Win10 without issue.  He then had some problems with Win10 so he rolled back to Win7 only to find that the previously legit key was then blocked.  He eventually used some warez to be able to get back online so he could try to resolve his problem.  If the situation as described is indeed true, then that is the first I've heard of such a situation.

 

But the above is neither here nor there.  We can't help diagnose a problem that isn't directly presented to us.  We also can't get involved at all as long as he is using some warez.  And if the situation is not exactly as he described and he was doing anything shady, then he deserved what he got, as was mentioned above.

 

As to Noel's point about making a system backup before any major system change, no matter how valid that point is, it is a fact that too many folks do not do that but rather place their mistaken trust in whomever is providing the update they are trying to install, whether that is MS, a driver provider, or whomever.  So that's their fault, but that doesn't alleviate their pain.

 

Cheers and Regards

[NoelC]

, it is a fact that too many folks do not do that but rather place their mistaken trust in whomever is providing the update they are trying to install, whether that is MS, a driver provider, or whomever.  So that's their fault, but that doesn't alleviate their pain.

 

I agree, people are irresponsible quite often.

 

When occasionally that strategy goes wrong it becomes a "life lesson".  And it's not even a very nasty one - it can be fixed without loss of life or limb.

 

I don't know how Microsoft manages its activations, but if they blacklisted his original product code there may be a good reason.  But, as stated, it's all just conjecture.

 

This brings to mind a question...  Does Windows re-check its activation regularly?  Or does it just stay activated once it's activated?  I honestly don't know.

 

-Noel

Edited August 9, 2015 by NoelC