Slowly restoring things on the Media PC.

Slowly restoring things on the Media PC. Win 10 is still only partially mapped out for me so it's a learning curve. I almost panicked earlier when I looked in that partition and found nothing in it! Well of course not, because I HADN"T RESTORED ANYTHING YET! Doh!
#Win10Install #MediaPC

So, finally!

So, finally!

Didn't go out for a dogwalk until mid morning. Instead, I just sat on the lounge-room couch and tried another install. And it seems to have worked!

Not sure what happened before but I suspect the install crashed before it completed, which would explain why it couldn't boot. This time I deleted the partitions the aborted install created and THIS TIME IT WORKED. Of course the bloody thing's taking forever to download and install updates, but I sort of expect that. Which is all a relief.

And why did I want to update in the first place? Well I knew that sooner or later the WIN7 installs I had to no longer be supported; and after playing on the NUC that arrived last year, I could see that as I was committed to certain Windows apps it made sense to update and make sure my Windows was legal.

Even so, I have two more PCs to update, but I'll wait until I finish re-installing stuff (like Thunderbird) to get the Media PC back up to spec. That might take a while, because I'll want to see if there are apps on the Win10 install that might work just as well.
#Win10Install #MediaPC

The Win10 install saga continues.

The Win10 install saga continues.

I found this solution at the Microsoft community site. It suggested the issue here is that Win10 needed unallocated space on the drive, in order to do it's own thing in installing. Huh? And yet when I DELETED partition 1 and selected NEXT, it started a proper install!!!

It hasn't finished that install, yet. Will post an update when it does (or doesn't).
#Win10Install #MediaPC
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_install-insiderplat_pc/windows-10-clean-install-cant-find-a-valid/b1269c6d-89a9-4f8f-9d50-f738fc0a3a65

Got back home, started the Win10 install (AGAIN).

Got back home, started the Win10 install (AGAIN). Got as far as this screen, and even formatted Drive 0 partition 1 using the install program, and got this?! This is beyond a fucking joke. Maybe there's a helpline I can call?
#Win10Install #MediaPC

So the utility didn't work.

So the utility didn't work. I went to Gparted and wiped and reconstructed the drive as GPT, then created all the partitions in the right places and formats. Then I fiddled around with a second drive making space for an alt boot Linux install (further down the track). I have to go out for a bit and will do a fresh install of Win10 when I get home.

The ongoing saga, but this will save me time when I upgrade to Win10 on the other two PCs at home. It's all a learning curve. Even so, it was emotionally hard for me to wipe out the C: partition. But I have faith, and backups.
#Win10Install #MediaPC

So, I have an appointment today at noon.

So, I have an appointment today at noon. But I've also backed up anything useful from the drive with Win7 on it. I'll try using gptgen-1.1 to convert the drive to GPT, and if that fails I'll just wipe the partition table and make the new one GPT using Gparted, and then install Win10.

That feels a bit like "brute force" to me, and I could just do that first, but using gptgen-1.1 is an effort to save time. Upgrading to Win 10 seems to take lots of that.
#Win10Install #MediaPC

I need some feedback/advice

I need some feedback/advice

The install failed AGAIN, even after I turned off Anti-virus software. I booted to the USB disk and got to the which partition to install to and got THIS message. AHA! So, it looks like I will have to re-format that partition to GPT. However, I thought that GPT was the whole disk partition table format, not just for an individual partition. I could be wrong though. More research needed.

However, even if I DO need to redo the whole drive, I've already backed up the data partitions from the original drive, though I'd also need to backup two new partitions I created (one for general incoming files, the other for incoming software) because I'd already copied stuff over to them. So maybe I should just backup all the storage partitions again (groan), wipe the drive and start again! I might also save everything in C:/USER/.

*Feedback please!!!!
#Win10Install #MediaPC

BUGGER! So much or "take 2". Informative, isn't it?

BUGGER! So much or "take 2". Informative, isn't it?
#Win10Install #MediaPC

The Windows10 install on the Media PC is finally happening. At 9% and continuing!

The Windows10 install on the Media PC is finally happening. At 9% and continuing!
#Win10Install #MediaPC

And after all that I've discovered that I can't save my Apps after all, because they were created on 7.

And after all that I've discovered that I can't save my Apps after all, because they were created on 7. However, I did find an easy way to list them.

Nothing happening until tomorrow.
#Win10Install #MediaPC
https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/111076-using-wmic-to-retrieve-a-list-of-all-installed-programs

After most of the day working on this, I haven't been able to install Win10 and in the process of trying to fix...

After most of the day working on this, I haven't been able to install Win10 and in the process of trying to fix that did something horrible to the MBR. And despite being able to boot to Win7 via using the Supergrub 2 and using EasyBCD to fix the MBR, a boot still gives a volume contains no Operating System message instead of booting properly. When I go through all the motions of using a Windows Repair disk to use BootRec /FixMbr and then a BootRec /FixBoot, I continue to get a Volume does not contain a recognisable file system error!

So, it's been a frustrating time of things. I dont think I'll do anything more today. It's too hot and I'm more likely to make mistakes and screw up more. And I'm wondering if maybe the best thing to do would be to FORMAT the C: drive and do a "clean install". I mean everything I have installed can be reinstalled if I need it as I have my rego codes and details. It's a lot of work. I'll have to think about that, and I guess also see if I can actually boot from the USB drive WIN10 comes on.
#Win10Install #MediaPC

So, after researching the error on the Win install it seems the most common cause of that error is having set-up a...

So, after researching the error on the Win install it seems the most common cause of that error is having set-up a dual Linux boot! Perhaps because when Win10 attempts to read the MBR, it can't read the format, hence the error message. So, I shall download, burn and try this. I seem to recall using it a few years back and it worked perfectly.

The usual routine is a) Install Windows first, then b) install Linux and a boot menu. This time around I might just do something different.
#Win10Install #MediaPC
http://linuxbsdos.com/2012/03/10/restore-the-windows-bootloader-to-mbr-after-dual-booting-with-linux/

So, I finished the cloning, re-arranged the partitions and copied files over to their new homes.

So, I finished the cloning, re-arranged the partitions and copied files over to their new homes. Then, I attempted to install Win10. So far I've got to this point TWICE. So why isn't there a I understand, try to install anyway option????
#Win10Install #MediaPC

So, disk cloning complete, and tomorrow I shall attempt to install Win10 on the Media PC.

So, disk cloning complete, and tomorrow I shall attempt to install Win10 on the Media PC. Actually it was complete hours ago, but it seemed too late in the day to do anything that could get out of control if I wasn't careful.
#Win10Install #MediaPC

After lots of mucking about hunting discounted versions, I might just go out and Buy several copies of Win 10 Home...

After lots of mucking about hunting discounted versions, I might just go out and Buy several copies of Win 10 Home tomorrow, at Officeworks. Yes, they're only $4 cheaper than the official M$ price for Australia, but they're the full version and in stock now. The other copies I found that were heavily discounted were wither OEM versions, or located in for me) impossible to get to places, and adding delivery charges would have bumped them back up in price.

These are in stock at a store about 40 minutes away by public transport. But we'll see.
#Win10Install #MediaPC #RecRoomPC #StudioPC