Old Windows 10 reimaging

[poirotz]

I would like to put back native windows 10 in a notebook of mine which i bought with it-but which underwent a change with windows 8.1 for two years.
I took an Aomei image just before the change,that was in late 2017.
Shall i have any trouble with Microsoft either for licesing or updates on account of the two years lapse?

 

[plat]

I would do a clean installation. You're too far behind. You should have a digital entitlement stored in the mainboard BIOS if the notebook came pre-installed with Windows 10. Windows "should" activate automatically. A clean-install is going to wipe the drive but you can access Windows.old folder afterward if you didn't back up your personal stuff. After installation, I would TRIM or defragment the drive as well as run disk cleanup as administrator. Forget the Aomei image, it's too much risk and wear-and-tear to update/upgrade to current W10 from a two year old image. Also, I would double-check on the OEM site for drivers, compatibility, etc. to be safe.

Download Windows 10

 

[oldschool]

As long as it was originally a Windows OS tablet licensing won't be a problem. I think M$ wants everyone on W10, it's as simple as that.

 

[poirotz]

plat1098 @ I'll think about a clean reinstall,which sounds more reasonable than updating two thick years....
I only hope ,as oldschool said, the UEFI BIOS still remembers its progeny and wont make activation troubles.
Even so, i can always go back again to the current Windows 8.1 quite rapidly with the latest image,i guess.

 

[roger_m]

Windows 10 will be activated when you restore the image and it's highly unlikely you would encounter any issues with installing two years of updates. i avoid doing clean installs unless I absolutely have to.

 

[plat]

roger_m--the article I linked suggests clean-installation in scenarios like this. You don't find that installing two years' worth of updates is more time consuming and putting more wear on a disk than just cutting to the chase with a clean install? I'm curious only and asking for more info. I don't like clean-installs either, but at times, they're a necessary evil.

 

[codswollip]

While I get the "clean install" benefit, I hate reloading all my programs, deactivating software licenses, bla/bla/bla, and so I recommend a "repair install" which will give you a reasonably clean Win10-1903, and leave all your personal files and programs intact. I've done that with all my boxes, and all the previous OS glitches were vaporized.

 

[oldschool]

it's highly unlikely you would encounter any issues with installing two years of updates.

You are correct, as usual. My sister-in-law is visiting this week and I updated her laptop (bought in mid/late 2017) from 1709 to 1803 and then used Update Assistant to jump to 1903. No problems at all. In fact, I had to catch up on her 1709 updates to start. If I did it again, I would skip 1803 and just use Update Assistant to get current.

 

[blackice]

Windows 10 will be activated when you restore the image and it's highly unlikely you would encounter any issues with installing two years of updates. i avoid doing clean installs unless I absolutely have to.

I think the obsession with clean installs on enthusiast forums is overblown. It is a solution when big problems are insurmountable, but hardly as necessary as it is made out to be.

 

[roger_m]

@plat1098 I guess it depends on how much software you have installed. If you have a number of apps installed, it can be time consuming to download and install them again. At least with installing updates, all you have to do is open Windows Update and let it download any updates it finds, which is easier than manually download and installing multiple programs.

I think the obsession with clean installs on enthusiast forums is overblown. It is a solution when big problems are insurmountable, but hardly as necessary as it is made out to be.

Yes, a clean install is great when their are serious issues, which can not be easily fixed. But other than that, I don't see much point, unless you specifically want a clean start.

 

[poirotz]

Thanks to all who contributed to this post while i was sleeping (albeit an hour less than desired).
The idea of running again a Windows10 machine came to me after i had noticed trivial malfunctions in windows 8.1 ,but i could have persisted with it. The fact is I plan to have some more spare time in the next ten days and I would have liked to check if I can cope and eventually tame Windows 10 in its actual state. Now i run Windows 8.1 in that notebook along with a Linux Mint and a Windows7 in Virtual Machine.
I plan to do the same with Windows 10,using Mint mostly.
My main desktop machine still runs Windows7 with adjustments for the processor and i dont plan to modify it for the future as it runs better than ever.
After reading all views expressed here i must conclude that in essence all contributors are right.....
I therefore decided to try the way of the old image and the long updates first, as it seems more convenient on paper.
If or when something wrong should happen I have got all the time to clean reinstall and trim as suggested.
Thanks again.

 

[ForgottenSeer 823865]

Clean install for the win... better lose some hours doing it, than spending days figuring out what cause this or that.
and clean install = clean for a reason: no malware, no junk files, no conflicting drivers, nada.

 

[roger_m]

Clean install for the win... better lose some hours doing it, than spending days figuring out what cause this or that.
and clean install = clean for a reason: no malware, no junk files, no conflicting drivers, nada.

I was waiting for you to say that. But in my experience, unless there are serious issues with Windows, there is little benefit in doing a clean install, as Windows will (almost always) run just fine after updating. It's much easier to run Windows Update than to manually reinstall the apps you use. Windows still runs quite fast on my 13 year old laptops after upgrading to new builds.

 

[Handsome Recluse]

Clean install for the win... better lose some hours doing it, than spending days figuring out what cause this or that.
and clean install = clean for a reason: no malware, no junk files, no conflicting drivers, nada.

We do have Reset now in Windows 10.

 

[ForgottenSeer 823865]

I was waiting for you to say that. But in my experience, unless there are serious issues with Windows, there is little benefit in doing a clean install, as Windows will (almost always) run just fine after updating. It's much easier to run Windows Update than to manually reinstall the apps you use. Windows still runs quite fast on my 13 year old laptops after upgrading to new builds.

An ex-MS employee shared my point of view (can find the thread somewhere here).
Clean installs have almost zero issues (if you were smart enough to keep your drivers somewhere in case of).
Upgrades? enormous amount of users posting having issues afterwards.

- clean install of Win10 itself around 15-30mn vs Win Update 1-2hours.
- clean install has no leftovers, no corrupted registry entries/drivers/files, no windows.old, etc...
- most of my apps aren't installed, they are portable, so not much hassle and waste of time.

Not saying right after a clean install i can make a clean system image 100% free of malware, cant say the same for an upgrade.

Clean install is my favorite method, so my computer habits are oriented to maximize clean installing.
I can trust my system because i know it is always clean, not saying i restore my 100% clean system image almost every 2-3 days, took 10mn.
This is reason i don't care much anymore of security software, and since i use Enterprise version (with its boatload of security features) , it is even more true.

We do have Reset now in Windows 10.

tried once, it failed miserably...

 

[Cortex]

I was waiting for you to say that. But in my experience, unless there are serious issues with Windows, there is little benefit in doing a clean install, as Windows will (almost always) run just fine after updating. It's much easier to run Windows Update than to manually reinstall the apps you use. Windows still runs quite fast on my 13 year old laptops after upgrading to new builds.

I agree, last few large Windows builds I've burnt an ISO or USB & have no problems at all, just remove windows.old tidy up & you are away - I have over 50 additional none MS programs installed some to do with my job & require some time to setup, doing clean install takes substantial amount of time with bells on & for me no added benefit, of course if you have just a few programs clean install is a good idea. The next issue I have on this PC will be the first for years & a 12 second boot time.

 

[ForgottenSeer 823865]

if you have just a few programs.

my motto, keep my system light, clean and lean.

 

[roger_m]

Clean installs have almost zero issues (if you were smart enough to keep your drivers somewhere in case of).
Upgrades? enormous amount of users posting having issues afterwards.

I have had very few issues after upgrading on multiple computers. Also, I upgraded tens of computers from Windows 7 to Windows 10 when it was first released and except for one or two instances, Windows 10 ran fine with no issues reported. Even though I was upgrading from old installs of Windows 7, which had some issues.

Of course, everyone's experience will be different. In my case, I don't use portable software, so if I do a clean install, I have to reinstall multiple programs.

 

[poirotz]

my motto, keep my system light, clean and lean.

I always obeyed to these principles since Windows 95-that's why i abandoned Windows 10,incidentally- and will keep doing it.
But,as you suggested doing,the method i've used these past ten years is: make an image right after a clean install-lets call it A- then proceed to install all programs of choice and you have B.
A year later you can put imageB and you'll have to update only a few programs in perhaps an hour work and no major hassles.
If,by any means, you decide you need a clean install you can always choose imageA.
My imageB method can be even better if you use portable programs like you implied in your post.
This way you make a clean install through imaging.

 

[ForgottenSeer 823865]

I always obeyed to these principles since Windows 95-that's why i abandoned Windows 10,incidentally- and will keep doing it.
But,as you suggested doing,the method i've used these past ten years is: make an image right after a clean install-lets call it A- then proceed to install all programs of choice and you have B.
A year later you can put imageB and you'll have to update only a few programs in perhaps an hour work and no major hassles.
If,by any means, you decide you need a clean install you can always choose imageA.
My imageB method can be even better if you use portable programs like you implied in your post.
This way you make a clean install through imaging.

Exactly, i push even farther than you

A- after the install of Win10
B- after setup win10 and installation of drivers.
C- after install of needed programs like Browsers, MS Office, 7zip, and few others.
D- eventually after installing some security apps.

D is restored every 2-3 days.