Restoring an image of the Free Windows 10.... years later

I have family and friends asking my advice on whether they should install the free version of Windows 10. Both of them are using Windows 7 Home Edition now. I'm not going to tell them what to do but instead just give them the information they need to decide. I've told them they could download it and try it but if they didn't like it before a month is up, they can go back to Windows 7. But, I also told them before they did anything, to make a backup on to an external device so we would have something to fall back on if we needed it. I told them about Microsoft saying they will not support Windows 7 after Jan. 2020. I explained a lot more than this but to make a long story short, my question is, do you think that if they install 10 and not like it, can they make a backup of it before they go back to their 7 and restore it years later if they need it and it will still work for them without Microsoft giving them problems or would they still have to purchase one?

 

Licence is locked to the hardware ID, I doubt, they will have the same hardware, even 4 years from now. Too much work, it is not really worth it.
Not to mention, that MS is forcing 10 on users, I am sure, that when the support for 7 ends, they will give a free upgrade to 10 like an update for 7.

 

I tried to edit the title and place a comma between the 10 and the years later so it would read, "Restoring an image of Windows 10, years later" and that could be 1 year or more, but it wouldn't let me. I don't mean it to read 10 years later. I just meant to restore it after 2020 when they quit supporting Windows 7 and they're not giving free versions away. These 2 will certainly still be using the same computers then. They don't purchase new ones until they have too. As far as "too much work", I don't mind the work and I'm the one that will be doing it for them because they don't even know where to start. I also explained how they couldn't use it on another computer. But, if that's what they wanted to do, I just wondered if it would work?

 

Why not just get a copy of Macrium Free, install Windows 10, image it and then roll back to Win 7. If the hardware is unchanged you can re-image it in 2030 (although everyone will be using Linux by then- or so I am told).

 

That's exactly what I had in mind and told them we could do, so you think it would work? It sounds like it. I thought it would be worth trying. What would they have to lose by trying?

 

Thank you! Now it reads like I meant it to.

 

Cathy- Great Minds think Alike!!! It absolutely would work- just choose your storage vehicle for the image wisely.

But just a thought- I assume they want to keep Win7 because of the interface. If that is the case why not install StartisBack after you throw on Win10 and see if they notice any difference. There is a free trial and if you want to buy it it's about half the cost of a StarBucks's coffee.

 

In April 2020 Windows 10 will be 5 years old. The existing PC and peripherals will be 4.5 years older than they are today.

I wonder if the 'old PC internals' will be supported. I wonder if the existing USB will be supported. I wonder if the external HDD will be supported. I wonder if the 'current' build will be recognized? I wonder what other unknowns need to be known. Microsoft is changing.

I wonder if all this is worth it. You will be saving about $20/yr (ASFAIK, Home edition is $119 new).

 

That's right, "great minds do think alike"!!!! I told them they would need an external hard drive for the backup. I've always used external hard drives for my backups of any kind and they haven't given me any trouble. I also told them that if they HAD to use Windows 10, I could install Classic Shell to make it look more like Windows 7. I haven't used StartisBack so I'm not familiar with it but it sounds like it might be similar to Classic Shell. I have installed Classic Shell on other computers so I'm familiar with it.

 

Personally I would prefer StartisBack- Classic Shell is something that will start with Windows and eats up resources, whereas SIB essentially will unlock the traditional Start menu, etc that Microsoft has suppressed but still exists within WIN10. So no overhead at all.

 

This is a myth that you believe. All Start menus whether it's Stardock's product, StartIsBack or Classic Shell inject a DLL into the Explorer process when they start up with Windows. StartIsBack uses a COM hack to inject the DLL. Classic Shell uses a 2 MB process. Stardock uses a service and a process. The advantage of using a tiny extra process is that you can exit the Start menu without killing or restarting Explorer.exe. StartIsBack also uses its own code, it does not "unlock the traditional menu" - that is absolutely incorrect. The original menu code was removed by Microsoft a long time ago and it can't be just brought back like that. Classic Shell and Stardock are at an advantage because they can start and exit their menus without killing Explorer.exe. StartIsBack has less features and customization than Classic Shell and behaves the same way as other menus (injects a DLL into Explorer.exe, so a tiny 2 MB process or not, the memory usage of Explorer.exe is what you should be watching for ANY Start menu product.). Hope this is all clear now.

 

I have 2 PCs currently with Win7 that will definitely be used well beyond 2020, but Win10 still looks like a buggy Beta. I've read that I should be able to - install Win10 & register it - roll back to Win7 for now - re-install Win10 a year or 2 from now and it should pull the license from when i originally installed (i.e. no image of Win10 is required).

So 3 questions 1) Can anyone confirm that the above plan will work - I'm not confident with what I've read so far...

2) When is Win10 likely to settle down - major bugs dealt with - no major feature/GUI changes.

3) Office 2007 is supposedly compatible with Win10 - anyone get it to work? looks like lots of people are having issues with it...

 

rm22,

It has been stable since it was released almost a year ago. I have it on multiple computers and it's the best OS I've used.

 

Windows 10 is solid as a rock on all my computers also.
In fact, I can't recall a crash or blue screen on any of them.

 

Pete,

This was a frequently reported issue with Ghost 15 and Win7. ShadowProtect is similar to Ghost 15. It was a drive letter issue and could be fixed by zeroing the disk signature and doing a BCD Edit. This would allow the OS to boot as C: drive.

 

Peter, any idea what caused the issues? What are Fast ring builds? Are they previews? I am in the process of moving across to Win 10, one pc at a time and sofar was only positively surprised how relatively easy the process is. I found I could customise the new version quickly to how I liked it and so far they have been stable without any issues. Mind you, so far I have not moved on my main pc which is closest to my heart.

 

That is very weird and would suspect some thing in the imaging software. In hundreds of restores and clones over the years, I've never had any thing like that with broken activation. I've used Aomei , Easus the the built in Windows imaging and the errors I've gotten have all been boot sector or BCD issues that are easily fixed. I tested Macrium at some point and remember everything working well but I'm not familiar at all with Shadowprotect.

In response to the original poster's question, making an image of the Windows 7 system will always be the best thing to do because you can always restore it whether it is days or years later and you won't be limited to the 30 days the Microsoft upgrade process allows. It is also possible to partition the drive and have both Windows 7 and 10 on the boot menu. I've done that several times but at this point I almost always go to Windows 7. I haven't had any serious stability issues with Windows 10 but it doesn't have much to offer me either.

 

Even if Win10 is stable on my PCs it seems like it is still changing too much to use as a main OS - that is the main reason I want to delay using it. I don't want to be re-testing my system after every OS update. Anyone have any comments on what the rate of change will be like after the anniversary update?

 

MisterB,

It was reported frequently in the Ghost 15 forum. Pete gives a very good description of what you see with Win7.
With WinXP you see a blue screen after the login.
With Win10 you see a black screen after the Win10 logo starts flickering.

It's due to the OS adopting a non C: drive letter following breaking these cloning rules...

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.shtml

The rules apply to WinXP, Win7 and Win10. You can simulate the error by editing {MountedDevices}. Change C: to some other letter. Make sure you have a backup to recover.