I actually did some checking on the MB drivers, etc while doing those "checking for updates" - there ARE updated drivers for the MB I'm using (and I think one BIOS update) but in each case, the drivers weren't going to be an issue with this problem. BTW, checking BIOS when there's not bootable flash drive inserted gives no option to boot from it, but if you plug a bootable flash drive in, restart, go into BIOS, the bootable flash drive will THEN show up as an option. You can slide it over to the first thing to boot from or click on the boot menu and click on the flash drive directly (at which point it leaves the BIOS and boots from the flash drive without waiting for you to "Save settings/Exit BIOS" first.
Hardware & Technical Trying to Upgrade From Windows 7 Home Professional To Windows 10 Pro, Odd Issue
- Thread starter Leadfoot
- Start date
Oh ok
You can do it lol
You can do it lol
From what I found, booting from a flash drive was only an option if I went into the BIOS with a bootable flash drive already inserted (at which point it shows up on the list of bootable things), so it IS possible to boot from it as long as it's plugged in first. Even copying to the hard drive and running from there gave no happiness.
Good luck Cmdr!
Do you have that little icon for removable media still showing? Win7 used to have an annoying bug where it would handle some internal SATA drives as removable.
Once I pulled the plug on the printer, the USB-thing-plugged-in icon went away completely. On my final trial (both trying to run the ISO version from a directory on the HD and booting from the USB), it kept coming back saying hardware wasn't ready for this huge step, and I'm thinking it was the DVD drive that it's griping about - it just won't say what specific hardware it was having an issue with. It would certainly help if the upgrade program at least pointed to what it was having a problem with, rather than just being coy with me.
Maybe you can find 1809 version and install that while M$ fixes their $h|t with 1903.
Also, if you upgrade from win7, you get to keep the win 10 key you bought, because win 10 will assign a new key to the new installation, using the valid win7 key.
You might get some trouble if during the installation you choose to "search for updates" while installing. It may say later that "could not authenticate key" or something similar. If this happens, cancel installation and restart it without checking for updates. This should run smoothly.
Food for thought...
Also, if you upgrade from win7, you get to keep the win 10 key you bought, because win 10 will assign a new key to the new installation, using the valid win7 key.
You might get some trouble if during the installation you choose to "search for updates" while installing. It may say later that "could not authenticate key" or something similar. If this happens, cancel installation and restart it without checking for updates. This should run smoothly.
Food for thought...
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When using the media creation tool it never gives you an option to search for a specific version of Win10 to use. I thought about skipping the "get updates", doing the install, THEN get the updates as it would speed up the time it takes to either get the upgrade done or at least speed up the time to get to the error message. Since it was a store-bought copy it came with its own key (and I still have my Win7 key) so neither one would have caused a problem.
I may give that suggestion a try on my next set of days off (I work 4 nights on, 4 nights off). Just don't want to start something complicated that might go BOOM just prior to heading to work (Murphy's Law).
The setup wouldn't let you choose the version. You might have to google where to find the previous versions setup. Microsoft has left windows 7, 8 and 8.1 free to upgrade to 10 until now. I guess they prefer this so that more people move to 10. I've upgraded lots of win 7 pcs at work with no problem.
Can't say as I blame you. I decided to not wait until the last minute because of Murphy's Law (which I'm now experiencing).
I think it downloads whatever they have and the "getting updates" bumps it up to the current build. Like I said, I'm beginning to suspect that the only thing left that was still a thing with a drive letter causing the issue was the actual DVD drive (might be 'old' but who knows?). I'll probably call M$ on Monday and ask them directly what is it about my PC that they don't like. I mean, really - starting directly from the directory on drive C with only a DVD plugged in shouldn't cause a problem.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO lets you download 1809.
Ok, last update on this thread. I was working for four nights so I didn't want to start anything complicated. Got off from work Thursday morning and started this process again, a little bleary-eyed but with a full load of coffee.
I had thought about what "hardware" might be having an issue. Normally, troubleshooting means "change one thing only, then try, then another thing, try again" etc. Rather than waste time, I just (1) disconnected the TV set I was using as a second screen (cloned via HDMI cable), disconnected the camera used for TrackIR5, pulled the USB cable from the printer (since that has an SD card-reader in it) and finally changed the drive letter for the DVD drive to "Z".
1. Inserted the flash drive in, gets assigned letter E, still has an issue with hardware.
2. Tried again using the ISO file I had copied to the hard drive (so this time there's only Drive C and Z), still has an issue with hardware.
3. Booted from the flash drive and tried again. Still an issue with hardware (???).
Would you like to perform a full install of Windows 10 instead?
Well, I guess I don't have much of a choice at this point, do I?
I'm so glad I have (1) installation disks of everything and (2) full, comprehensive back-ups of all data and everything in the Steam folder.
I did notice a glitch when getting the updated drivers for the video card - had an issue (failed to install) the Nvidia Experience (current version). Restarted that process, this time without the drivers checked off, and it went through ok. Not happy having to spend from 10 am to 1:30 the next morning putting all this back together and I still have some "tweeking" to do (minor adjustments here and there) but at least it's done and over with. Tested all games in Steam last night, everything works.
It is like giving birth. Thank you, Micro$oft, for the experience.
I had thought about what "hardware" might be having an issue. Normally, troubleshooting means "change one thing only, then try, then another thing, try again" etc. Rather than waste time, I just (1) disconnected the TV set I was using as a second screen (cloned via HDMI cable), disconnected the camera used for TrackIR5, pulled the USB cable from the printer (since that has an SD card-reader in it) and finally changed the drive letter for the DVD drive to "Z".
1. Inserted the flash drive in, gets assigned letter E, still has an issue with hardware.
2. Tried again using the ISO file I had copied to the hard drive (so this time there's only Drive C and Z), still has an issue with hardware.
3. Booted from the flash drive and tried again. Still an issue with hardware (???).
Would you like to perform a full install of Windows 10 instead?
Well, I guess I don't have much of a choice at this point, do I?
I'm so glad I have (1) installation disks of everything and (2) full, comprehensive back-ups of all data and everything in the Steam folder.
I did notice a glitch when getting the updated drivers for the video card - had an issue (failed to install) the Nvidia Experience (current version). Restarted that process, this time without the drivers checked off, and it went through ok. Not happy having to spend from 10 am to 1:30 the next morning putting all this back together and I still have some "tweeking" to do (minor adjustments here and there) but at least it's done and over with. Tested all games in Steam last night, everything works.
It is like giving birth. Thank you, Micro$oft, for the experience.
Hope the baby will be wise for the future.It is like giving birth. Thank you, Micro$oft, for the experience.