Questions about upgrading from Win7 to Win10

[Gravemind]

1. I know there's an option to keep all your programs and data, but how much will really be saved? Will things like Steam or iTunes or even Speccy still be in the same places and just work? (Barring any that don't work across different OS's of course.) What about my folders on the Desktop and things like that?

 

2. Aside from the obvious risks of something simply not going right, will Win10 just work the same way it would if I did a totally clean install?

 

I'm gonna make backups anyways but it'd be nice to know ahead of time what I can expect.

[RONOTHAN##]

3 minutes ago, Gravemind said:

I know there's an option to keep all your programs and data, but how much will really be saved?

When the upgrade was originally offered, pretty much all of it. However, since we're so far outside the upgrade window you really don't want to do the in place upgrade, enough has changed to the point I don't trust that the OS wouldn't brick itself. 

 

4 minutes ago, Gravemind said:

Aside from the obvious risks of something simply not going right, will Win10 just work the same way it would if I did a totally clean install?

Theoretically yes, but again, the Windows 10 of 2015 is not the same Windows 10 of 2022, and I would be very skeptical of the in place upgrade at this point. If you're already doing a backup, you really should just do a clean install.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1. I have done many a upgrade of things like pos systems from 7 to 10 and it keeps basically everything, like apps and settings(well except stuff like default browser).

 

2. Not really, it generally goes well, but there are some issues, so Id make sure to have a backup of the windows 7 insteall just in case. 

[manikyath]

4 minutes ago, Gravemind said:

1. I know there's an option to keep all your programs and data

pretty sure that ship has sailed long ago, and reinstall is your only option.

if it still works.. the process is/was surprisingly seamless, at a previous job i've actually caught a colleague that cut curners on devices that *should* have been reinstalled but werent. basicly the only way we could tell was because it did very strange things to the default color scheme, and some machines had a very broken windows 7 install, which resulted in a very broken windows 10 install.

[Lord Bloobus]

So we redeploy desktops from 7 to 10 daily and we work with teachers/admins who are not tech savvy. Not much really changes from 7 to 10 in terms of file and folder operation, everything just gets a bit cleaner and structured for the most part.

 

If you do backups then I would just reinstall programs that you use, you can also do mildly compressed game backups through steam so you don't have to redownload the games. Everything else that works on 7 will work on 10, and you can also run it as 7 through compatibility settings.

[Gravemind]

Got 2 people saying "You'll be fine" and 2 people saying "Don't do it"

[Lord Bloobus]

9 minutes ago, Gravemind said:

Got 2 people saying "You'll be fine" and 2 people saying "Don't do it"

If you have your crucial data backed up there's no reason not to try. Worst case is you spend some extra time reinstalling programs.

[porina]

I'd also vote for go for it. I've upgraded systems long after the official offer was over. Can't say I've done any recently though.

[GuiltySpark_]

I'm very much in favor of wiping the drive. Just the idea of such an old system, the years of crap buildup.. I don't care even if the upgrade did succeed, the whole idea feels wrong. 

 

That system deserves a wipe and clean install.