NoelC Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 What's the source of the idea that "one can downgrade within one month". Has Microsoft published that "one month" figure somewhere? Is there documentation that says the "up"grade is permanent and the license is consumed after that? -Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie32 Posted October 12, 2015 Author Share Posted October 12, 2015 Hi again!Well, in Windows 8.1 "Update and Security" > "Recovery" it actually states that you have 30 days to downgrade...It would seem that the recovery files from Windows 10 upgrade wont be available after that date...Nothing is actually permanent...I have reinstalled two computers from their factory partitions to both Windows 7 and 8/8.1Saying that I have had to reinstall several from recovery media created earlier because the recovery partitions have been corrupted... bookie32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelC Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Thanks. That sounds like good news, and is consistent with other reports I've heard that the Win 7 or 8 license isn't actually made invalid after the "up"grade. There's a slight resurgence in the overall usage of Win 7, per the statcounter web site... It seems a lot of folks may be reverting - or maybe just business people coming back from vacation. -Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie32 Posted October 12, 2015 Author Share Posted October 12, 2015 (edited) Hi again!The sad thing with the upgrades is the lack of knowledge in general...some of the customers that I have just don't want to learn...so my reply is why have a computer at all...people need to take a basic interest in what they are doing with their computers...stop clicking on blinking adverts telling them there computer has tons of problems...what do they do...of course they click on it and that is the start of the crap....God help us...what happened to basic common sense... I have even had engineers coming to me with infected computers because they clicked on some blinking advert telling them the performance of their computer needs looking at...go figure... I am a little off track but what I really mean with this is there are hundreds of thousands with problems on their computers that think Windows 10 is the saviour....!!! and that is not making recovery an easy thing... I have had two computers from the same customer who upgraded to Windows 10...This customer lives a long way from me and at first I wondered about why he hadn't gone to someone nearer... The first one was so infected with malware and programs that mess with Windows registry....etc that I recommended backing up his files and doing a fresh install of Windows 7 again which wasn't a problem with activation... The second one was similar to the first...but this one was a fantastic games computer that started shutting down after a short while...he got a local company (close to him) to check it who didn't find anything wrong (according to him) I opened the computer in his presence before he left it with me to fix...the CPU's mounting brackets were all broken and the cooler was loose....I said there is your problem.....I replaced the cooler with a noctua dh-14 and put it on test for a few hours....no further problems with shutting down - but it was sluggish in Windows... I saw a ton of crap installed on the computer and recommended a clean install ...also Windows 7 and then activated it no problems... One thing though...regarding Windows 8/8.1 I haven't had a computer that I have erased the drive completely yet apart from the ones with recovery media created earlier specifically for their computers...so I am not sure about the activation of Windows 8 and 8.1 with a clean install... When I get one that needs that I will post here.. bookie32 Edited October 13, 2015 by bookie32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie32 Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Hi again! Can't say for sure but another Windows 10 failed upgrade... Another customer that thought it would be OK to upgrade....from Windows 7 to Windows 10. The computer was having problems, going slow etc and like so many thought it would be a way to fix the computer by upgrading...?!! It seemed ok for a couple of days and then the computer died...I can't get any life out of at all apart from the laptop fan starting...it could be the graphics, bios, memory...just can't get a peep out of it to be sure and it isn't worth stripping down and wasting money on a computer that is already 5 years old... Of course it doesn't have to have anything to do with Windows 10 or does it.... bookie32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelC Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 Two things come to mind: 1. I've measured cases where Win 10 runs processors quite a bit hotter than older systems. In one test, just to play the very same video on Win 7 vs. Win 10 I saw a +10 degrees C difference. Maybe that's why they called it Windows 10 (degrees C). 2. Could they still be having those problems where the disk is told to shut off until specifically told by the BIOS to power-up? What was that... Power Up In Standby mode? -Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie32 Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) Hi NoelC!Well, funny you should mention it...my customer rang me a short while ago about buying a new battery for his laptop...I didn't know that his battery had got too low to run Windows and it shutsdown Windows automatically to save customer files etc.. I only noticed this when I removed the drive to back up his files to my server.... I usually put the drive from a dead computer in an external drive...I then run a linux computer and connect the external drive to that...that way I can easily copy all files and Appdata etc without any user rights issues when connecting to another Windows computer... Sorry, waffeling on here Anyway, linux wouldn't mount the C: drive because the computer had gone into hibernation...I had to remove the hiber file before being able to mount the drive to back up his files... So. his computer must have gone into hibernation when the battery went to low and didn't come out of it even when the power supply was connected... So this is a typical example of the problems you mentioned and that several have been ringing me about... I couldn't get any life despite trying new memory, removing the drive to see if I could get into bios, removal and draining residule power etc...just don't know if it is worth testing a reset of the bios from USB... Perhaps another reason to stay clear of the dreaded Windows 10 Getting off base...just had a young teenagers highend games computer to fix. He decided to update the bios from a utlity in Windows while carrying on gaming....computer crashed and no life...i ran many different attempts to get it to recover its bios (only one bios)...just about to give up when I saw my flash drive start working and then I had a "your bios is corrupt and needs recovering" come on the screen....SAVED by the bell..... I am a bit of a stubborn old git that does do his best for his customers even if it costs me at times...hated to see a young teenager have to payout to either have the motherboard reset by the manufacturer or buy a new one... My girlfriend says I am soft in the head He has now been informed about the pitfalls of trying to update the bios especially from Windows... bookie32 Edited October 14, 2015 by bookie32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridrok Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 About the Windows 7/8.1/10 keys and activation:When you reserve Win10, MS creates a new Win10 Home or Pro key for the current computer and keep it.When you actually upgrade you Win7/8/8.1, the new key is used to install/activate your Win10 and I can ensure you it's different from the original win7/8/8.1 one. I know this because I extracted my Win10 Pro key after I upgraded my Win7 Ultimate, to have it if I ever want to install Win 10 Pro again. Of course, the Win 7 key was back after roll-back.So there is no reason for Win10 upgrade to invalidate your Win7/8/8.1 key. Ridrok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookie32 Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) Hi Ridrok!Yes, I am inclined to agree with you on that one.....BUT....the fact that so much is hidden in the new agreements for installing Windows 10...I wouldn't put it past Microsoft to hide the fact that you forfeit your old licence when you upgrade to Windows 10. I already know that this isn't the case because of the computers that I have reinstated to the old licences....but it doesn't hurt to speculate on what will Microsoft do next and what are they really capable of.... I think personally that if Microsoft had taken that attitude that they are offering a new OS free - but your old license is no longer valid....would have taken the cake...they wouldn't get away with that ...I for one would have just erased all knowledge of Windows from my computers and just used Linux The whole idea that the upgrade is free is an insult to our intelligence... bookie32 Edited October 14, 2015 by bookie32 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helpdesk98 Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) thanks for the replies guys about classic theme took me a bit to get back online and read through your posts. To solve my classic theme delema I installed Classic Shell start menu replaced it with an old 98 start button someone made on deventart. then I took a screenshot of my Win 7 desktop (with no icons) loaded it on my Win 8.1 and attempted to match the taskbar color as best I could. I will upload a screenshot when I get home looks a bit goofy. Edit: added screenshot Edited October 14, 2015 by helpdesk98 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelC Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) thanks for the replies guys about classic theme took me a bit to get back online and read through your posts. To solve my classic theme delema I installed Classic Shell start menu replaced it with an old 98 start button someone made on deventart. then I took a screenshot of my Win 7 desktop (with no icons) loaded it on my Win 8.1 and attempted to match the taskbar color as best I could. I will upload a screenshot when I get home looks a bit goofy. I have a theme called Aero 7 V2 on my Win 8.1 system. It does a pretty good job of resurrecting the look and feel of Windows 7, especially the Taskbar and common controls. I've reworked the graphics atlas to modernize the look of the window chrome a bit. See also: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173976-craving-an-updated-ui-experience-re-skin-windows-81/ I use Big Muscle's Aero Glass for Win 8+ and UxThemeSignatureBypass tools. My system is utterly stable with this mod, which is important to me. -Noel Edited October 14, 2015 by NoelC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helpdesk98 Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 @Noel I will have to check it out. A while back I was going to play with Windows 10's theme, but by the time I got back to it my copy of Win 10 expired Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0ldsch00lpunk Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 As of a few days ago in my Win 10 test system I *finally* achieved a configuration that has these attributes: Is blocked from sharing whatever the heck it feels like with servers online.Uses only a local account.Has no ability to run Apps (UAC is off, most Apps are uninstalled, etc.).Cortana and Windows Search are history.Has a nice desktop courtesy Aero Glass for Win 8+, Classic Shell, and a number of other tweaks/augments.Can still succeed a Windows Update.Passes an SFC check. That config only took what, all the pre-release period plus a month+ after release to develop. Now Microsoft promises to deliver a whole new build in another 3 months (4 month overall cycle between in-place upgrades that reset everything and break most 3rd party stuff that relies on undocumented interfaces). Even though I have it working enviably, I can't in good conscience run this system on anything but a test virtual machine long-term. -NoelAny chance of you having step by step documentation? Most of what you've done I've accomplished but getting the Windows update working without the update service running has been an issue... Thanks.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelC Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 It would take a whole book to document. Let's try discussing individual parts. That would make the task of writing it up a bit more bite sized... What would you like to discuss first? -Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LetsWindows10 Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 ...the fact that so much is hidden in the new agreements for installing Windows 10...I wouldn't put it past Microsoft to hide the fact that you forfeit your old licence when you upgrade to Windows 10. I already know that this isn't the case because of the computers that I have reinstated to the old licences....but it doesn't hurt to speculate on what will Microsoft do next and what are they really capable of.... I wouldn't put this past them either, but the downgrade rights updated for Windows 10 are here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Licensing/learn-more/brief-downgrade-rights.aspx In short: If you buy a new PC (or license for custom-built PC) with Windows 10 Home, you're stuck.Every other edition grants downgrade rights to Win7 & Win8/8.1 You just have to buy or supply the install media.You can switch among OS's as much as you want as long as you only have 1 active install at any given time. (Excluding software assurance, but that's another whole bag) Functionally, the 30 day timer is just the window where you can revert back to a previous OS with all your data intact. You can wipe Win10 and clean install 7/8 and be in compliance. You may have to go through the special activation challenge/response process but that's not that bad really. With build 10565 they added the ability to activate the OS using Win7/8/8.1 keys. To test I did a clean install of 10565 on a new hard drive so the "entitlement" wasn't present. Plugged in my Win7 key and it activated just fine. Progress! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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