Hey gang. Looking to reserve windows 10 but without actually installing it and using it. I want to keep using windows 7 until all the new games aren't working anymore and windows 7 is fully no longer supported with any security patches (aka like windows xp last year).

But like I said, I do want to have that free upgrade when that time comes. Now from my knowledge, in order to reserve windows 10 and have it available when I want to next upgrade, I need to use my win 7 keys while installing windows 10?

So could I use my backup laptop to format, install windows 7 with CD-key, then upgrade to windows 10, then format it again (so I keep using windows 7 with my CD-key on my main desktop computer).

Or can I just install windows 10 directly using my windows 7 CD-key, then wipe it out so again, I can use windows 7 on my main computer? For this, is there an .iso file I can download (someone provided me both x86 and x64 .iso files when I asked for them on microsoft answers I believe the site was).

Unable to get Win 10 entitlement on Dell PCs COA sticker "Win 7 Pro OA India"

I used an answer XML that didnt work too well and had to remove a few fields from it as WSIM would not validate those fields.

Now this is the F up..  Not a single of my Genuine Dell machines has gotten activated. Used this method with fresh Win 10 1511 on an SSD..
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1620376-how-will-i-ever-get-my-machines-to-win10?page=1

Robert5205 May 20, 2016 at 12:43 AM

Well, here's a tip. Stop doing it that way. Do it my way. I've upgraded 250 PCs in less than 2 months part-time.

1. Get an SSD.
2. Get a Win10 ISO.
3. Open PC. Connect SSD.
4. Do a full install of Win 10 to the SSD. Get your entitlement.
5. Reconnect original HD.
6. Repeat with next PC and Goto 3.

[Edited to clarify that I re-use the SSD for each subsequent PC.

Also, FYI, that you must do an install of W10, either in-place or clean, to get the entitlement. Simply booting to an existing install of W10 will not do it.

This is the comprehensive thread where I tested every combination of upgrade/restore:

https://community.spiceworks.com/top...-an-easier-way

And this one shed some more light on this:

https://community.spiceworks.com/top...er-key-regi....
]

Why is it not working?

Their has COA sticker Win 7 Pro OA India. Do I need to use a different  .ISO for this?
I used the EN-US as most of my machines come from US, but this org I'm helping has these. .

Is there a quick shortcut fix?
 

Which "flavor" MSDN ISOs do I need to download? 

I am getting a white flashing screen on boot when I try to install new security software.

The latest culprits being Bitdefender (paid) and Avira free antivirus, whenever I install them when I go to reboot I will get my pc makers logo, after which all I get is a flashing white screen and Windows will not boot, the screen just keeps flashing white and black, what is causing this? It cannot be graphics related because the pc boots normally without those AV's installed, just wondering if there is something in those AV's that need to be disabled for Windows to boot properly. Unfortunately I cannot find anything on either AV vendors websites or by doing a web search on the issues.

My System Specs:
Windows 10 Pro x64 v1511 build 10586.494

Running Security software:
Windows Defender
Winpatrol Plus
Winantiransom Plus+
Malwarebytes Pro
Rollback Rx Pro
Microsoft EMET

(all licenses are legit where required and are owned by me)

Fast boot and secure boot are both disabled

And yes, I do disable Windows Defender before installing another Antivirus.

Any help would be appreciated.

Windows 10 1st Anniversary Wallpaper for PC and Phone.

Windows_10_Anniversary_Wallpaper.zip

Hey Ya'll,

I know it's been awhile since I've posted on this forum but I am in need of your expertise to help me figure out my computer's issues before I go waste money and build a whole new system. 

First and foremost, my PC specs. 

1. Intel Core i5-3570K
2. G. Skill Ripjaws 16GB DDR3 2133 
3. ASUS P8Z77-V LK
4. 128GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD
5. Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti
6. Windows 10 Pro 64-bit 

I don't have anything overclocked. BIOS is updated to the most reason update. 

I've normally been getting these BSOD with Minidumps once a month, now its happening 2-3 times a week, sometimes 3 times in a day but without BSOD or Minidump..PC will just freeze with sound on a constant loop. 

I've ran Memtest-No error found, stress test - passed and other various tests and they all passed. Even downloaded Intel's CPU diagnostic tool which also passed. 

I've checked out the minidumps with BlueScreenView and they all say caused by driver ntoskrnl.exe, except for the one I got this morning which was caused by hal.dll. 

I've updated all the drivers I could, but for some reason windows keep installing a USB 3.0 driver from 2006?! I'm not sure if that is the cause or not. I already reinstalled Windows, more than once and still get these issues which leaves me to believe its either hardware or driver issue. 

Here is a link to the mini-dumps I've zipped up if anyone is willing to have a more in-depth look at them..hopefully finding the root cause and hopefully its something that can be fixed before I build a whole new system. 

(OneDrive) https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aks01CChG2x7gcwSMFfiFWWOm_sW9w

I have my laptop that I had 1 SSD (windows 7) and 1 HDD. I saved my HDD content, then I proceeded to upgrade to Windows 10 to reserve the key. I used the HDD to delete it, and install windows 10 on that while leaving my windows 7 SSD untouched.

Once I booted in Windows 10, activated the copy, I went ahead and formated the HDD. But somehow something about Windows 10 boot found it's way on the SSD, since now everytime I start my computer I get the following:

Any way to fix this so I can get Windows 7 to startup automatically like before? I'm afraid Windows 10 installed the boot files on my SSD and that messes up the boot process now. If I press F9 it will start Windows 7 without problems, but I don't want to have to keep pressing F9 all the time.

I have two machines with Windows 8/8.1 pre-installed. One of them runs Windows 8.1 and the other Windows 8.1 Pro.

As far as I understand, I am eligible to upgrade both of them to Windows 10 within one year for free:

¹ Windows Offer Details

Yes, free! This upgrade offer is for a full version of Windows 10, not a trial. 3GB download required; internet access fees may apply. To take advantage of this free offer, you must upgrade to Windows 10 within one year of availability. Once you upgrade, you have Windows 10 for free on that device.

Windows 10 Upgrade Offer is valid for qualified Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices, including devices you already own. Some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device and market. The availability of Windows 10 upgrade for Windows Phone 8.1 devices may vary by OEM, mobile operator or carrier. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1. Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to Windows 10 enterprise offerings outside of this offer. To check for compatibility and other important installation information, visit your device manufacturer’s website and the Windows 10 Specifications page. Windows 10 is automatically updated. Additional requirements will apply over time for updates. See the Windows 10 Upgrade page for details.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq

In this case I would like to upgrade both of them to Windows 10 for free in the near future. However, one of the devices is a 8" tablet (ASUS VivoTab Note 8) where, at least for now, I would like to continue to use Windows 8.1 since Windows 10 seems to be significantly less touch friendly (slower task switching, no charms bar, inferior Internet browser, etc.).

Would it be fine in terms of the license to upgrade the tablet from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 Home, and then downgrade to Windows 8.1 without losing the rights for the Windows 10 free upgrade?

https://netbalancer.com

In the days of Windows 10, the first Windows Spyware OS version, in addition to tools like O&O Shutup Windows 10, there is this tool that allows you monitor your network traffic. In its paid version it also allows setting priorities, rules and filters for the network traffic but its monitoring capabilities are free. With it you can:

- check in real time which applications are connected to internet and to which IPs each one of them
- check the total traffic per minute/hour/day (you choose) and which applications contributed to it with their individual download/upload sum
- check the 20 or more (you choose) top applications/IPs/countries/protocols that shared your network traffic e.g. today

It is a good way to know what's going up and down through your internet connection and check if your anti-windows 10-spyware measures are efficient. I found it recently and I use it although I don't have Windows 10 (so I can know that my Windows 8 aren't too chatty - thanks God).

Used Media Creation Tool to get iso

Win 10 Home Version 1511 (OS Build 10586.164) Try Pro next but time for work

Used Noels Retweaker script 1.8 in VirtualBox and it removed all but Candy Crush icon. Even Cortana gone with icon left to hide

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Select Name, PackageFullName

Name                                  PackageFullName
----                                  ---------------
Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost_10.0.10586.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
windows.immersivecontrolpanel         windows.immersivecontrolpanel_6.2.0.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
king.com.CandyCrushSodaSaga           king.com.CandyCrushSodaSaga_1.68.500.0_x86__kgqvnymyfvs32


Your remaining proisioned Apps:

Get-AppXProvisionedPackage -Online | Select PackageName
Press any key to continue . . .

Hi guys - I've already posted this in Classic Shell's forums and Ten Forums and after coming across this one, I'm hoping for some valuable feedback that may diagnose this issue. So far I haven't received any unfortunately and the issue is driving me nuts now lol. So copy pasting begins:

Quote

Hey guys,

Something really weird is happening ever since I upgraded (which is a few days ago). Every window, if opened brand new, minimises with the correct animation (the window would fade and minimise to its button on the taskbar). But if I maximise it, the animation changes - it maximises from the bottom-right corner of the screen and minimises to the bottom-right corner as well. For example, if I create an instance of Notepad, click on minimise, it will play the correct animation. But now if I click on the button on the taskbar to bring it back up, it will play the wrong animation and will play the wrong animation upon minimising as well.

It somehow strangely fixed itself once, until I restarted and it's been the same ever since. I've attached a GIF to show it. Any ideas what's going on? Never experienced anything like this.

EDIT: Not sure how my attachment broke, since it was fine when I posted it, so I've uploaded it on imgur.

http://imgur.com/UHji5sf

Been trying to download the latest version on my pc and for some reason the links or the website aint loading properly. 

Greetings, 

Guys i just formatted my pc and the following happens when I install/re-install Glass on Windows 10.
Also the close and minimize buttons seem a little...off (although nice)

Any ideas on how to fix it? 

i am truly sick and tired of mickysour/windows update wanting to use the last driver put out by nvidia instead of the latest one. anyone have a work-around to force 10 not to rollback my driver to the previous version?

Let me start by saying this:

I've uninstalled/disabled/hammered much of Cortana, OneDrive, and cloud-oriented, Modern App components, I never use the Windows Start Menu, and I log in with a local account and disable UAC, and have a deny-by-default firewall setup.

In short, I only need / want a desktop-oriented system - however archaic that may seem - that does pretty much what I am able to do with Win 8.1 and with 7 before that. 

I'm not interested in cloud-integration, save for the delivery of updates (e.g., to keep ahead of those who would take advantage of security holes).

In pursuit of these goals, I'm leaning the system down to being a pure desktop servant that isn't chatting with servers all over the internet, nor supporting any part of "Modern" activity.  Unfortunately, I apparently DO still need the Settings app.

I've already made strides...  I have a system that settles to a process count in the mid 40s when it's idle, and uses maybe about 1 GB of RAM (on an 8 GB system).

But I'm not done.  I want to find out what it will take to eliminate the following processes that are always seen running.  I don't believe they're needed at all on a system with the above goals, and I don't want them to even start.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong or have characterized what they do incorrectly.

• InstallAgent.exe - (presumably) Looks for updates for Modern Apps
• RuntimeBroker.exe - Manages permissions / trust for Modern Apps
• SettingSyncHost.exe - Syncs settings on multiple systems through the cloud - not wanted.
• ShellExperienceHost.exe - Unversal App integration in the shell.  Needed for Settings?
• sihost.exe - Shell Infrastructure Host, not sure what this does.
• svchost running UnistackSvcGroup - not sure what this does; haven't matched it to a named service.
• taskhostw.exe - running {222A245B-E637-4AE9-A93F-A59CA119A75E}; not sure what this does.

All these new "hosts" and "brokers".  Sheesh.

Initial experiments imply that the system can run with no problems without at least some of these.  I'd like to know your thoughts. 

-Noel

Hi,

Can you help me with this. I have the warning "The driver \Driver\WudfRd failed to load for the device SWD\WPDBUSENUM\{c2804ef5-f4eb-11e4-962d-806e6f6e6963}#000000A040E00000" and I'd like to identify which drive or partition the problem is about.

I have many partitions some ext4, some hfs+  and I don't remember how to identify them.

Thanks in advance!

Because of the UI and UX awfulness of Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10, there have been many people who stayed on Windows 7. I hate stock Windows 8/8.1 very much but after intensive modification by third party apps, it becomes somewhat acceptable. So I began comparing it to Windows 7 to evaluate if there were any actual improvements too that were worth upgrading to Windows 8.1. Windows 10 is still extremely awful to the point where it no longer remains an enjoyable experience for long due to forced updates, size of updates being hidden and Microsoft resetting what you have carefully set up every few months. Nevertheless, Windows after Windows 7 did have some improvements on the hardware experience side. I am trying to make such a list. I already moved to Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell and a dozen other third party apps to fix the awful software experience. On the hardware and software side,

Windows 8.1 has the following benefits for me over Windows 7:

- USB 3.0 support. Even though Windows 7 PCs do have USB 3.0 drivers, Windows 8.1 supports USB Attached SCSI protocol which makes UASP flash drives much faster than USB 3.0 on Windows 7. UASP with USB 3.0 is a significant speed boost over USB 2.0.
- USB Type C connector with KB3103696
- Bluetooth Low Energy (LE)/Bluetooth SMART support means I can use devices like Bluetooth wireless mouse which supports the Bluetooth 4.0 LE standard or LE headsets. The batteries in these devices last for a long time.
- 802.11ac. With a fast 802.11ac router, 2 PCs with PCIe/NVM Express SSDs, you get amazing WiFi speeds. (OK, after doing some testing on Windows 7, it turns out, as long as you have the right drivers installed under Windows 7 and an 802.11ac router, you will get the same faster than N speeds as Windows 8 on 7 as well. It's only that Windows 7 continues to report your radio as 802.11n.)
- Offloaded Data Transfers for file copying
- More WMI classes and PowerShell cmdlets
- Miracast wireless streaming to a display which 8.1 supports (although you could also use Windows 7 with Intel WiDi or buy a Chromecast dongle). But Miracast in 8.1 lets you not only mirror your display wirelessly to the second display but also extend your desktop to it. Like a wireless multiple monitors solution!
- Windows 8.1 supports external manifests for application executables ("PreferExternalManifest"=dword:00000001) without any side effects of Windows 7 like the Network icon breaking. This is important if you are using a High resolution/High DPI display because Microsoft f***ed up DPI scaling with Windows 7. I wrote an article "How to fix apps that look small on high DPI and high resolution displays" but the modications in it requires the PreferExternalManifest Registry key to be set which works correctly only on Windows 8.1, not on 7).
- The DPI scaling engine in Windows 8.1 loads much earlier than Windows 7 so apps which load at startup are scaled properly
- Windows 8.1 has better WinSxS cleanup using Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase
- Chkdsk Spotfix ability, Hyper-V
- Most issues on the software side were resolved for me by using third party apps - Classic Shell, 7+ Taskbar Tweaker, Classic Task Manager, Equalizer APO, Google Chrome, Everything Search, PerigeeCopy, OldNewExplorer, FileSearchEX, VistaSwitcher, Media Player Classic - Home Cinema, and reinstating Sidebar Gadgets, Classic Games, classic MSConfig, various tray applet fixes, ERUNT, AutoHotkey, EasyBCD, UxStyle plus this theme, WindowsFirewallControl etc
- All the Metro crap uninstalled, default programs set to Win32 apps, Group Policies to disable crap like OneDrive, Bing Search and Customer Experience Improvement Program, it is OK.
- DOZENS of Registry fixes to make it work like the way I want - more like Windows XP Professional and Windows 7 so Windows 8.1 is now a pleasant and stable experience!!
- Media Center is missing but I got a new LG TV which has far better DVR recording features using modern compression and takes the load off the PC.
- Aero Glass project is there if you miss Aero. Personally I don't miss Aero's transparencies any more. I prefer this theme instead. From a usability perspective, I find the Windows 8 theme is uglier compared to Windows 7 but the visual cues are better. For example, it is easier to tell the active window due to the use of solid colors in the title bar compared to transparencies. The baby blue selection color in context menus is also more visible in the Windows 8 theme vs Windows 7.
- Windows 8.1 has great performance as a virtualized guest OS vs Windows 7 (even with WDDM drivers) and Windows 10.

Windows 10 has the following benefits over Windows 8.1:

NONE WHATSOEVER. I only find cheap gimmicky features like Cortana and all the silly Metro stuff forced on us!

Given the extremely intrusive nature of Windows 10, it is not suitable for serious use on a business/enterprise class PC. I can think of no good reason to use it for now. Windows 8/8.1 on the other hand whose childish UI and Metro silliness killed it has now evolved because great hardware is available and the f***ED up software side is fixed by third party apps.

Do you have any good reasons on the hardware side to "upgrade" to Windows 10? The software changes in Windows 10 are already AWFUL with silly features like Store, Cortana, ugly and silly Metro/UWP apps, totally crap visual style and graphics, slow bloated .NET code in the shell, Windows Update nonsense, Telemetry crap, Tablet mode/Touch UI infecting more parts of Windows destroying the mouse/keyboard usability, GarbEdge being worse than IE. Discuss.

Hi guys!

Been a strange day...

I had a customer come with an Asus UX32LN and Windows 10 which was experiencing all sorts of problems...

When I checked with Asus..there was no drivers from Windows 10 and several others had had similar problems and reset their computers to Windows 8.1 to fix them...

This particular model has F9 to envoke recovery...

I backed up my customer's files and restarted the computer....F9 I was surprised to see no choice for resetting to factory settings...being as I have done  this many times without problems since Windows 10 was released...rang Asus support to see what I could do to force the recovery partition to give me the "reset to factory settings" option. The first guy I spoke to said no chance Windows 10 writes over the recovery partition and after 30 days you will need your recovery media... I tried to point out this isn't actually the case and tried to explain to him why...he was not receptive at all...and when I raised my voice because he wasn't listening ...he said he was terminating the call and put the phone down on me... I was fuming!!

I rang them back and got someone else who I tried to explain that it isn't polite to hang up on customers trying to explain things to them...Anyway I tried to get help from this guy and he said the other one was comletely right and I would have to buy recovery media....and when I pointed out he was also wrong the call didn't last very long...

Well, I did a little search for Asus Recovery and came up with this page there you can download the recovery app for your particular OS. I downloaded the app and installed it on my customer's computer...I then ran the program and it makes sure that the computer restarts and F9 is active...

After restart I was prompted for my choice of language and after that I came to a menu where I could choose to reset the computer back to factory settings.....

Of course I rang Asus again and got them to note this basically as a little help for others having similar problems and to try and improve the standard of help one gets...

Of course my customer is well pleased...

what upset me more than anything was being told I was mistaken and couldn't have reset computers back to Windows 7 , 8/8.1 after having Windows 10 for more than 30 days becuse all files are overwritten...how little they know...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bookie32

There are very few tweaking threads here about Windows 10.  Likewise, in a few other places I frequent the discussion about configuring and modifying Win 10 has all but stopped.  I personally DON'T go to answers.microsoft.com - wouldn't be caught dead there any more since Microsoft made it plain my kind wasn't welcome.

As a tweaking community I feel like we're losing critical mass with regard to Win 10... 

I mean, I kind of understand...

• Win 10 is just stagnant and isn't that interesting any more.
• Microsoft's policies of continuing to un-tweak Win 10 are wearing people down.
• People aren't really adopting it, but are mostly just falling back to older Windows after trying it once.
• People are waiting for the next (Redstone) release before fooling with Win 10 any more.

Did I miss anything?

-Noel

If anyone uses Microsoft Windows Bob 10 , they might find this guide useful: Manage connections from Windows operating system components to Microsoft services It covers the official s*** that tries to phone home to provide "enhanced services" half of which you may have no use for.

Hey guys,

as you all know, i am not a very big fan of NTFS Rightsmanagement....

- In this Case, MS trapped into their own piece of ....

There are some Services, who cannot be controlled (start/stop/...)
They all have a random Number at the end, like _3565F, so here is the mistake...
But why is that so ? - If you take a look to the Registry service Sektion, you find some doubled entrys

a) one with that random number
b) and another one with different entrys, and: This one has LOCKED permissions !!!

Because of that, the setup make the second wrong entry !

To fix it, - you need to export both entrys of every service, - need to take the ownership, and reset the permissions !
After that, you can delete both entrys, put the regfiles together, and reimport the good entry...

Now, the services work like they have to...
greeting r4