When did you install your OS?

I have W10 LTSC and it's been running flawlessly since 9-18.

 

That's almost 9 months, that's pretty good. I think 10 and 11 have gotten very stable with time.

I installed Windows 11 with a bootleg ISO (dev channel build) way back at end of June 2021 and I wasn't too confident but curious about it. Turns out the ISO was legit and ran beautifully for about a year until I got kicked out of the DEV channel for tpm noncompliance and it needed to be cleanly re-installed. My 11 currently runs a few hours/month since this past year but it's good.

I see sometimes where people are re-installing the OS like every 3 months or whatever and I'm like: why?

 

I also don't reinstall OS any more. I've bought my computer with Win 10 pre-installed 3 years ago and upgraded it to Win 11. Since I don't encounter any problems I don't have a need to reinstall OS. IF any problems do happen I prefer to restore system to state when everything run fine.

 

In December of 2018 and I don't plan to reinstall it for many years. Whenever I buy a new computer, I just take the SSD from my old system and put it in the new one.

 

My first OS was Windows 98, 1999. Now I'm using 10, installed in 2018 and 7, installed in 2015 I believe; but I restored a disk image of 7 many times.

 

My Debian was installed December 2018 on SSD that I bought in second half of November 2018 (black friday)

 

10-Nov-22. I do it at least once a year for various reasons, like to learn what has changed, to verify if my configs are working, to remove any hidden malware, etc. It is like a spring cleaning for me.

 

on 29 / 05 / 23 Win 11 I like to do a clean install every now and again.

 

8 years on my previous computer. 3 years on my current computer.
I do clean OS installs when I build a new computer.

 

I used to do that with Windows 98. It was unstable by then.

My current desktop... I'm not even sure. I built it in 2011 and installed windows 7. It has been updated through Windows 8, 8.1, and all versions of 10. If I run the Powershell command here:
Find out when Windows was installed. What is its original install date? (digitalcitizen.life)
it shows the oldest install as Windows 8.1 in 2013. But I find multiple folders on my system with a creation date of 2012. I don't remember if I clean installed 8.1 or upgraded. In any case my last clean install was 10 years ago at the least.

 

Same, Windows 7, I reinstalled countless times. But W10, there is no need now.

 

Same for me, about 4 years on my my current computer. Never do a clean install in between.

 

Just changed my PC; but the previous one was running the original Core i5 760; so 12 years old. Yes, I upgraded from Win 7 > Win 10 & would have upgraded to Win 11 if I could have (but could not due to the TPM limitation, of course).

Having been careful with what was installed, using regular images to roll back to prior 'good' states if and when the installation of an app caused issues & the judicious use of good cleaner apps...and in all of that time I never, nor had to, reinstall Windows even once.

 

That's amazing.

 

Baldrick,

If you still have that computer you could be able to upgrade to Win11. Rufus has an option to ignore old CPUs and lack of a TPM.

 

On this computer, around 2010 or so. It has been upgraded of course. A couple of restores from backups too (hard drive failures).

 

Thanks for the tip, Brian. However, I think that over 12 years from the 1st generation Core i5 is pretty good going , and it is due its retirement...

 

I'd guess W7P64 around 2011.

 

Here you go.

 

Funny that mention and the date. Contrary to popular opinion of "older systems" longevity my Windows 8.1 was originally installed roughly the same year. However i suppose it can't really be recorded as such any longer. That is because on ALL my many 8.1 systems, each one has been reinstalled but not how you think. I overlayed them with good safe image restores which if that counts are each roughly about 1 year old.

One thing that i am sure of, Windows 8.1 like 7 once installed can run multiple years and for sure beyond a decade if not longer. That right there is attributed to NOT giving in to the constant barrage of Windows Updates which can be strenuous for a good machine IMHO.

 

Forgot to mention, that this was to a new computer. What was installed was the backup of the old computer. The OS on this computer goes back a long way.

 

That sometimes give incorrect information. It my case it shows the date I upgrade Windows 11 from 22H1 to 22H2, not the date that I originally installed Windows 10 on this computer.



But the following from the link @xxJackxx posted works.

Code:

5. What is the original install date? How do I find out when Windows 10 was installed? (& upgraded)
This last method uses PowerShell to extract information from the Windows Registry and convert it to a readable format. It’s also the only method we know that can tell you the original installation date of Windows.

The original Windows install date might be very difficult to find out if you’ve upgraded from an older version of Windows (like from Windows 7 to Windows 10), or if your Windows 10 has received one or more major updates as time passed by. Here’s how it works:

Open PowerShell and run the following two commands (you can copy/paste them):

$OS=@(Get-ChildItem -Path HKLM:\System\Setup\Source* | ForEach-Object {Get-ItemProperty -Path Registry::$_}; Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion')

$OS | Select-Object ProductName, ReleaseID, CurrentBuild, @{Name='InstallDate'; Expression={[timezone]::CurrentTimeZone.ToLocalTime(([datetime]'1/1/1970').AddSeconds($_.InstallDate))}} | Sort-Object "InstallDate"

It correctly shows that I installed Windows in December of 2018. It also shows the dates that I installed feature updates to new builds and when I upgraded to Windows 11.



It is incorrectly showing Windows 11 as Windows 10. But at least is has the correct install date.

 

My information is correct.

 

I just ran it on my laptop and same for me, it does show 11 as 10. It originally had 10, was upgraded to 11 when it was released. Original install date is 2 months short of 3 years.

 

Your information shows 1 install less than 2 months old. It would be hard for that to be wrong.