Upgrading to Win 10 or installing Win 10?

[Meltsnow]

What should I do best?
My mother's desktop computer with Win 7,i don't know when it started working,my mother wants Win 10 to work on her computer instead of Win 7, hoping for your suggestions or experience.
Thank you!

 

[Rive]

Install a new one on a new (SSD) disk, so you will have a working OS as backup for the times of transition.

 

[Meltsnow]

Install a new one on a new (SSD) disk, so you will have a working OS as backup for the times of transition.

Thank you,that is a good idea.
I currently have a USB (32GB) in my drawer. I bought it during Black Friday and i am going to use it as an installation disk.

 

[jedishrfu]

Too bad she doesn't want Ubuntu Linux. Its free and it updates regularly.

 

[Lnewqban]

Too bad she doesn't want Ubuntu Linux. Its free and it updates regularly.

Can the original Windows 7 remain in the desktop or needs to be removed for Ubuntu to properly work?

 

[Meltsnow]

Too bad she doesn't want Ubuntu Linux. Its free and it updates regularly.

I think Windows 10 will be the best alternative.Any suggestions for updating or upgrading to Windows 10?

 

[sysprog]

Too bad she doesn't want Ubuntu Linux. Its free and it updates regularly.

Zorin, Mint, and more recently, Chalet OS, are Ubuntu 'flavors' that are reasonably accomodating of Windows users.

Can the original Windows 7 remain in the desktop or needs to be removed for Ubuntu to properly work?

Ubuntu installs fairly straightforwardly in a multi-boot configuration, so if you want to, you can keep Win 7 available on the same machine.

I think Windows 10 will be the best alternative.Any suggestions for updating or upgrading to Windows 10?

That should depend in part on what software is running on Win 7 $-$ in general, an 'upgrade' from Win 7 to Win 10 will allow continuing to run most or all of any other software products, such as MS Office, that are already installed on Win 7, without much ado, whereas a 'new install' will generally require re-install of any
other products.

With the 'new install', it's possible to run both Win 7 and Win 10, from different drives, or, if there's enough free space on it, from the same physical drive, repartioned as 2 logical drives, choosing which OS to run at startup, with one of them set as the default.

It's simpler to go with the 'upgrade' procedure. You can regress that, too, if your mother decides she was better off with Win 7. Classic Shell is a free product that allows the user menu interface to work very similarly to how it does in Win 7 or Win XP, while still allowing use of the Win 10 menu.

 

[rcgldr]

One issue is that you can't do a clean install of Win 10 (to a different partition) starting from Win 7 (this would eliminate Win 10 changing it's installed partition letter to C:, since installing from Win 7 would be done by specifying the partition by letter to install Win 10 onto, in which case it won't change the partition letter to C:). The last time I tried this, it immediately started doing the Win 10 upgrade from Win 7, as opposed to offering the option of doing a clean install to a different partition.

Microsoft support tests such installations (Win 7 or Win 10 installed on a partition other than C:), but the last time I checked, they were unwilling to explain how such installations are done.

I have a multi-boot system, Win XP (32 bit), Win XP X64 (64 bit), Win 7 Pro 64 bit, Win 10 Pro 64 bit, each on a separate partition with a unique partition letter, none of them C:. It was a complicated process that requires Win XP X64 to install Win 7, and then installing Win 7 a second time and upgrading the second install to Win 10. I don't know why Microsoft is unwilling to explain how to setup a multi-boot system with unique partition letters.

I'm wondering if there are third party installers that can create multi-boot systems with unique partition letters.

 

[pbuk]

I don't think most people's mothers need a multi-boot setup, and if they did they wouldn't need help installing it.

In many parts of the world the easiest and cheapest way to replace Windows 7 on a desktop is to throw it away and buy a second-hand ex-business desktop. The Dell Optiplex range seems to be the most common and and can be found on Amazon starting from about EUR/USD 150. They come with genuine Windows 10 licences, and more importantly hardware that is capable of running it.

 

[harborsparrow]

Beware of RAM. Older machines cannot always run fast enough to make Win10 bearable (even if, technically, it will sort of run). Minimum 8 Gb but 16 is better, for RAM. SSD is going to be better if you could upgrade the disk also. Hence, new install. And do your mother a favor, if you can manage, and avoid installing with a Microsoft account. If you can install with a local account instead, Windows will be a lot less intrusive and generally behave better in my opinion. But during the install, it continually urges you to install with a Microsoft account, so you have to keep trying determinedly to avoid that.

 

[anorlunda]

If you can install with a local account instead, Windows will be a lot less intrusive and generally behave better in my opinion. But during the install, it continually urges you to install with a Microsoft account, so you have to keep trying determinedly to avoid that.

Thanks for sharing that. I didn't know it was possible to just have a local account.

 

[harborsparrow]

I have installed Win10 at least a dozen times and have always managed to avoid the Microsoft account. But they keep making it more difficult. When it gets to the point where you create a logon, keep looking for a way to create a local account instead. You'll eventually find it. Trying clicking on everything.

 

[sysprog]

@harborsparrow your post made me run a search $-$ I found this road sign:

 

[Meltsnow]

Microsoft support tests such installations (Win 7 or Win 10 installed on a partition other than C:), but the last time I checked, they were unwilling to explain how such installations are done.

Yes, Microsoft really does not want to explain too much to us.

 

[Meltsnow]

I'm wondering if there are third party installers that can create multi-boot systems with unique partition letters.

This is what I want to know,even if I did not do it,i still think it is feasible.

 

[Meltsnow]

I don't think most people's mothers need a multi-boot setup, and if they did they wouldn't need help installing it.
In many parts of the world the easiest and cheapest way to replace Windows 7 on a desktop is to throw it away and buy a second-hand ex-business desktop.

I also had this idea and didn't want to make things too complicated, but my mother still insisted on using this computer.

 

[Meltsnow]

Beware of RAM. Older machines cannot always run fast enough to make Win10 bearable (even if, technically, it will sort of run). Minimum 8 Gb but 16 is better, for RAM. SSD is going to be better if you could upgrade the disk also. Hence, new install. And do your mother a favor, if you can manage, and avoid installing with a Microsoft account. If you can install with a local account instead, Windows will be a lot less intrusive and generally behave better in my opinion. But during the install, it continually urges you to install with a Microsoft account, so you have to keep trying determinedly to avoid that.

Thank you,next,i will do a new installation,i have done all the backup work for the old computer,according to what you said,i will bypass the Microsoft account for Windows installation,next,i will create a Windows installation disk with Windows iSO.

 

[Meltsnow]

I have installed Win10 at least a dozen times and have always managed to avoid the Microsoft account. But they keep making it more difficult. When it gets to the point where you create a logon, keep looking for a way to create a local account instead. You'll eventually find it. Trying clicking on everything.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[fluidistic]

My father was outside the technological world for the past 15-20 years. He came back to us, and I offered him a laptop with Xubuntu (Ubuntu but with a lighter desktop environment). He barely knew how to move the mouse, and that was it. He still doesn't know the difference between Firefox and an OS, his facebook page with a program, etc. However he could manage what he wanted, during 2 years (hardware failure stopped him to use Xubuntu... he paid a lot of money to get Windows 10 as it was the only thing they sold in the store he went. They made him pay for Microsoft Office suite although he would never use it, an antivirus, etc.) While he can still manage what he wants, the experience is less smooth (freezes) than with the Linux machine he had. He regularly has to visit the shop to get help, something that did not happen with Linux.

My mother is a heavy Microsoft intoxicated person, she still uses Windows XP, and she uses outdated closed source software (outlook express), etc. I have bought her a new deskptop computer (I assembled it), a custom made one, without dedicated GPU as she doesn't need one. An nvme2 ssd, amd ryzen cpu, 8 GB of RAM, for extremely cheap (the whole thing was under 500 euros). I have installed her Ubuntu on it, and she is about to make the transition (she still wants to pass pictures and documents to some external hard drive before making the final switch. It is taking her a few months! But she is about to make the final step in the next days).
Let's see how the transition goes for a person like this. One thing for sure, is that the booting process will pass from 5 min (she makes coffee every morning while her slow pc boots) to just a few seconds. The user experience is going to be a night/day transition.

 

[Meltsnow]

Thank you all,i did and succeeded (upgrade to Win 10 ),i did what my colleague said,he did the same thing on his computer 2 months ago,after upgrading to Windows 10 (24 hours later),there was nothing unusual.
I did not take the help of the installation disk, it was too troublesome for me,i did some understanding on Microsoft.