If you write an OS for a billion installations you have to be conservative with any wishes and if something is accepted, it's usually put at the end of a long queue. Using older licenses for a clean install is a "Why didn't we think about it" kind of thing and it got pushed to the front, because it simplifies the procedure.

There have been many changes - TH2 (10586) was more of a "service pack", but RS1 really has got a lot of new features - the Insiders have been really busy.

http://www.howtogeek.com/248177/what...ersary-update/

Of real note is the new activation troubleshooter

http://www.windowscentral.com/how-re...ardware-change

In addition, many under the hood improvements - it runs better on my tablet than TH2.

Some say we should have waited until it was like this but reality with 350 million users, and virtually infinite hardware/software combinations, you have to put it in the wild to polish it.

People forget how many hundreds of updates were endured on Windows 7 with very little change in OS functionality - just ongoing bug fixes to a degree over many years. Just less publicly visible that's all.

Insider build 14393.0 has recently received a standard update taking it to 14393.3.

Recently we have only had build upgrade 14383.0 etc.

The speculation is that 14393 is now the official Redstone release going through final changes. The Slow Ring iso has been updated to it as well which is unusual as Slow Ring isos normally lag behind.

BTW - it feels much slicker.

Oh well, after putting it off for longer than I first intended, I'm currently downloading and will install the Windows 10 upgrade. I'll then play about with it for a few hours, then I'm 95% certain that I'll restore my previous system (Windows 8.1... which I'm fine with, so don't laugh too loud ) with my latest Macrium Reflect Free image. At least this way I'll be able to do a fresh install of Windows 10 after the 29th if I so choose.

Sorry for this blog-like post, but I'm sitting here watching the percentage figures slowly increase, so thought I'd just chatter.

Give it a few days - it has a habit of growing on you once you get past initial changes - actually most 8 users adapt more naturally, as 10 is built on 8.1, and all the familiar stuff is there eg right clicking start button to get quick access to control panel.

Recently I had to use a Windows 8 pc and I forgot how annoying the charms bar could be at times (although Windows 7 annoys me more).

Well, I might. If I install Windows 10 for sure, then it'll be a clean install. I believe that you need to first update your Windows 8.1 installation first, then after that you can do a clean install, but maybe I'm mistaken about that.

To be honest, I came to Windows 8.1 from being solely a Linux user for 12 years. I dual boot and now about 50% of my time is using Windows or Linux. Maybe because I was so unused to using Windows when I got a Windows machine, that Windows 8.1 wasn't such a "shock" to me.

But, yeah, I'll give it a go for more than a few hours, but I do intend on wiping it because I do really want to do a clean install if I do finally go with Windows 10. Windows 8.1 has been rock solid to me and I don't really feel anything is gained, at this moment of time, by going with Windows 10. I'm just "future proofing" right now.

If you know your W8.1 license Key, you can clean install W10 with it.

See Produkey and RW Everything if you don't know your key

I've just spent the afternoon faffing with my work laptop to upgrade to Win10 - I'd normally do a clean install but as it's a work laptop and I'm miles from HQ where the software CD's are for installing Office etc I did the upgrade option.....but also went from HD to SSD.

I cloned the Win8.1 hd to SSD using Acronis and it was fine, SSD booted and worked exactly as expected. old HD kept safely for fallback - I then did the Win10 upgrade which seemed to go ok.....

It all seemed to go well until I noticed the DVD drive had a error 19 in device manager which I could not resolve, although uninstall/reinstall DVD drive got it working only for it to go bad again minutes later for no obvious reason. I could live with that but the shutdown and restart had an issue where it gets stuck 'shutting down' or 'restarting' - this is a known issue but again, I could no solve it.

As I need the laptop next week I've bunged in the original HD with Win8.1 on it as it works ok (as ok as Win8.1 ever did!) and now I've activated the SSD with W10 on it I'll come back to it again and try sort the bugs, main thing was to update/activate W10 against the machine as the boss has just told us to upgrade!

It's an HP Probook 650 G1.

I knew I should have sat in the garden with a beer today

When you get time, put the SSD back in and do a couple of restarts and use it for a while and make sure all Updates have gone through.


If it is still playing up, boot W10 normally then run Setup.exe from the W10 Install USB (or mounted W10 Iso download)

That will do a Repair Install which has a good chance of getting it right


Use W10 Media Creation Tool (again?) to make USB or download Iso if necessary.

OK thanks will try that..... I made sure all updates happened and drivers up to date, just those couple of niggles.

Hmm... have to say that I'm slightly impressed that, at least in my case, my dual boot hasn't been affected. An extra partition was created, which I feared might affect Grub, but it seems, at least to me, that UUID is also used, so despite that the dual boot still works. It's an issue that I can easily put right, even if I don't have to.

So far it hasn't crashed. Things do seem to be at a similar speed to Windows 8.1. The programs that I had installed on Windows 8.1, like VirtualBox and some other tools, do seem to be working. I wasn't expecting a disaster, but was thinking that some things would break. So far, all seems OK.

Might stick to this for a few days, but I will be going back. Maybe not back forever, but if I do want Windows 10, it'll be with a clean install.

Now to check again that I haven't missed any privacy settings.

Most issues with upgrading stem from driver issues on older devices. Most windows 8 drivers work on windows 10 without any changes needed. Windows 7 can be more problematic.

Why have you set your mind up about going back?

After using 10 for a year, I would never go back to 8.1.

Frankly it is far superior and it is the future.

Because, for now, I'm fine with Windows 8.1 and have no issues with it. I only updated so that I can, if I so choose in future, install Windows 10. I've done that and now want to go back to what I'm fine with. Still, I'll give Windows 10 a week of use to see if I can change my mind and find something that will, for me, justify moving on. Sure, there might be things for you and others that justify moving on, but I've yet to find them for my usage. Plus, restoring my disk image is trivial.


Sure, you might well be right. I'll join the future in my time, though. As I say, I'll hold off for a week and see. Don't worry, I'm willing to change my mind and may well do so.

Thanks for the help and info.

Sure but I would advise after you upgrade, wait until Aug 2nd and upgrade to new version (we can show you best way to do thaf) and try that for a few days as well. The new version is good.

Anything of any interest in the newer version? or is it bug fixes and behind the scenes improvements?

A quick search says lots of new features coming
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/wind...oming-features

I thought the update was end of July? 29th or something. Has it been delayed?

that is what I did, i installed ten to get it free, but went back to Windows 8.1. It does what I need of it.

The free offer ends then - the update is Aug 2nd. Presumably MS need a few days after offer has ended to update all servers to deliver new version.

And it has been quoted that the update will be a phased one, so people should not expect to get it straight away.

You can always jump the gun by downloading the iso which will be available very soon on or after Aug 2nd using the media creation tool. This is a more reliable way of upgrading anyway.

Assuming the current versio 14393 turns out to be the release version (highly speculated but not 100% confirmed), you can download that iso now from

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...reviewadvanced

but now all servers seem to have it yet - seems random.

You drive a hard bargain. I'll stick around for at least two weeks or until the new update, then decide.

To be honest, I'm slightly more impressed than not. It's been fine for the few days I've used it and where it hasn't been, mostly I've been able to tweak it to more suit my wishes. Privacy issues are something I do think about, but I've managed to reduce most of those. So, all in all, I'm more likely to stick around.

Had an odd thing at the beginning where my EFI partition was mounted and had a drive letter (F: ), but was able to fix that with diskpart. It didn't cause an issue as such, but it shouldn't have happened. Fixed now.

Sure. I am glad you have an open mind more than people who post to say they do not use it and only use an old version, which to me is a totally pointless statement.

As one of my online friends says "he would not go on to a windows 7 or Linux thread, and say he does not use that". Perhaps people are interested to know I do not eat anchovies .

I personally hate windows 10 Sick of getting pop up saying need to download it this instant or I will be send to the deepest darkest part of the interweb...and no one will be able to find me

Downloaded it again the other day and it all went boobs up...blue screen ...telling me I needed to do repairs and they would do the repairs...


So in the end uninstalled the flaming thing and will stick to windows 7/8/9 what ever it is that Ive got on here lol

New Insider update - now on 14393.5

Very fast install - took less than five minutes.

This is certainly feeling like "it".