# Windows 10 upgrade nightmare **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257 "2016-02-05T19:22:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/41 "2016-02-07T20:23:19Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > It is my understanding that the upgrade is available to Win-7 Home but not Pro. Did you have an icon at the bottom right of the taskbar that Win 10 was available? If not, updating was not a viable option. Windows 7 Pro is upgradeable, if it was purchased as a discrete licence, rather than a volume licensing scheme. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/42 "2016-02-07T20:58:25Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > If you click on settings - update and security - check for updates - advanced options you will be able to get system restore. I gave some bad advice. You can access system restore from the control panel. To get to the control panel right click on the menu. Then select Recovery, and then Configure system restore. To restore to a restore point click Open system restore. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/43 "2016-02-08T13:54:27Z")
I’ve had two close friends make the plunge to upgrade to 10, and both were unmitigated disasters. Small sample size, sure. But here’s what clenches it for me : Microsoft’s tech support is godawful. “Oh, our free upgrade ruined your computer? Give us $150 and we’ll try to fix it for you.” Bait and switch. If MS wants people to upgrade, it should be offering free phone support for any Win10-related issues that crop up for the first two years, minimum. Otherwise, it’s not just a risk of inconvenience, it’s a risk of being extorted with a surprise bill for a free upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/44 "2016-02-08T17:13:01Z")
The upgrade process is a big change to your system, and despite Microsoft trying to make it seem otherwise, the Windows 10 upgrade is no safer than any other OS upgrade. You should always back up your data before an upgrade (if not continually with backblaze). (The fact that it isn’t safe is why I said previously that I don’t think Windows 10 is ready for prime time. Because they apparently are making new builds use that exact same upgrade process–a process that screwed up my computer. Luckily I still had my Windows 7 backup. The difference is night and day–it doesn’t take 20 seconds for anything to start. Firefox doesn’t occasionally hang for 2 minutes.) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/45 "2016-02-08T19:42:36Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The Metro (later known as ‘Modern UI’) interface in windows 8 was designed for touchscreens. Windows 10 is designed to be more touchscreen friendly than win7, but yeah, it’s not really correct to imply that win10 is designed _just_ for touchscreens. Actually that is correct. The new ‘tiled’ UI for Win 8 was called ‘Metro’, the one I was referring to, the one that came with Windows XP, was actually called ‘Luna’. > [@China\_Guy](#): > > More accurate is that Win10 is designed for both traditional desktop and for touch screens and tablets The deal-breaker for me as far as Windows 10 was concerned was the difficulty and cumbersomeness in something as simple as changing a window’s border thickness. It’s linked to system colors, which was also made needlessly complicated. And the default window border thickness was _one pixel!_ Why? Because you don’t click & drag window size on a tablet, you pinch & zoom. The other deal-breaker was the difficulty in linking file types (.mp3, .doc, .txt etc.) to whatever program you wanted to open each with. Win10 links \*everything \*to all its new ‘app store’ ones and makes it very difficult (registry editing) to break those links (all previous version of Windows made this simple). And third: The new ‘Edge’ browser absolutely sucked\*!\* And \*\*\*was \*\*\*totally designed for a tablet… ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/46 "2016-02-08T19:55:04Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Actually that is correct. The new ‘tiled’ UI for Win 8 was called ‘Metro’, the one I was referring to, the one that came with Windows XP, was actually called ‘Luna’. > > The deal-breaker for me as far as Windows 10 was concerned was the difficulty and cumbersomeness in something as simple as changing a window’s border thickness. It’s linked to system colors, which was also made needlessly complicated. And the default window border thickness was _one pixel!_ Why? Because you don’t click & drag window size on a tablet, you pinch & zoom. > > The other deal-breaker was the difficulty in linking file types (.mp3, .doc, .txt etc.) to whatever program you wanted to open each with. Win10 links \*everything \*to all its new ‘app store’ ones and makes it very difficult (registry editing) to break those links (all previous version of Windows made this simple). > > And third: The new ‘Edge’ browser absolutely sucked\*!\* And \*\*\*was \*\*\*totally designed for a tablet… Don’t use Edge. I use IE still but Chrome on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/47 "2016-02-08T22:47:09Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Actually that is correct. The new ‘tiled’ UI for Win 8 was called ‘Metro’, the one I was referring to, the one that came with Windows XP, was actually called ‘Luna’. I’m lost now. Are we still talking about where you said Windows 10 is the desktop version of windows phone? > [@](#): > > The deal-breaker for me as far as Windows 10 was concerned was the difficulty and cumbersomeness in something as simple as changing a window’s border thickness. It’s linked to system colors, which was also made needlessly complicated. And the default window border thickness was _one pixel!_ Why? Because you don’t click & drag window size on a tablet, you pinch & zoom. OK, I guess. I never tripped over this issue. Window borders in Win10 are invisibly thin, but the zone in which the mouse cursor turns into a resize glyph is quite broad - it appears to extend from a little way inside the window to a bit more outside of it. Personally, I despised the fat window edges in Win7 - they existed only to show off the pointless transparency, but if you loved them, I’m not going to argue with you about that. > [@](#): > > The other deal-breaker was the difficulty in linking file types (.mp3, .doc, .txt etc.) to whatever program you wanted to open each with. Win10 links \*everything \*to all its new ‘app store’ ones and makes it very difficult (registry editing) to break those links (all previous version of Windows made this simple). I don’t think that is correct - Win10 offers more than one way to manage default apps - perhaps too many choices, but the old-fangled way is still available without any reg hacking. [How to change file associations in Windows 11 | Digital Trends](http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-set-default-programs-and-file-types-in-windows-10/) > [@](#): > > And third: The new ‘Edge’ browser absolutely sucked\*!\* And \*\*\*was \*\*\*totally designed for a tablet… Not going to dispute that, but who cares? My expectations were not high anyway, and nobody is obliged to use or care about any browser they don’t like. IE sucked, how was Edge not going to suck? Use Chrome or Firefox or whatever, like you’re supposed to. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/48 "2016-02-08T23:28:33Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > Don’t use Edge. I use IE still but Chrome on occasion. I don’t use Edge either. I use Firefox. PDFs will automatically open in Edge unless you go into Settings\>System\>Default Apps and change that back to Acrobat the way God intended. And when did ALL programs become “apps”? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/49 "2016-02-09T00:05:57Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > It’s worth a shot, at least. I’ll switch back over to the Win10 doorstop and let it churn away all day and night. This was largely a fail, probably due to the screen saver putting the computer to sleep every 10 minutes. So clearly, the OS isn’t locked up. (Ctrl+Alt+Del also immediately brings up that system screen where you can shut down or restart.) Anyway, I left it on but mostly sleeping for over two days, waking it up whenever I was near the computer, but still the black screen of inaction. Now I’m going to try and make a recovery/boot DVD and see if I can get in that way. To be honest, my motivation is super low because I’m hugely discouraged. In terms of data loss, I backed up all my files and documents before upgrading to Win10, so that’s not really an issue. I’m super particular about my settings, though, and those take hours to get back the way I like them even with backups. The biggest worry is whether or not my firefox bookmarks are included in my backups. They may not be, which would be a major bummer, albeit not the end of the world. ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/50 "2016-02-09T00:23:18Z")
So what exactly is happening now? From a cold start of the computer, how far does it get before you get the black screen – do you get to try to log in or does it not get that far? (You may be experiencing the “Black Screen of Death”, often related to profile corruptions – not to be confused with the Blue Screen of Death.) ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/51 "2016-02-09T00:33:13Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Does this have anything to do with the Admin account? Were you in admin then but not now? Well, no, but remember, I’m not in _any_ account now. I can’t get to the welcome screen to log into an account. Prior to that, both profiles were already admin accounts. > [@drachillix](#): > > did any of these folders under users contain your missing files? Not the suspicious ones. Let’s say my primary profile is named Ellis. Back before I ran into the black screen of limbo, the welcome screen let me choose the Ellis profile. Logging into it, though, revealed it to be blank. While logged into this ghost Ellis profile, navigating to C:\Users revealed: C:\Users\Ellis \<=== contains all my documents; looks fine C:\Users\Ellis.Ellis-PC \<=== blank So all my stuff is still there, but I’m apparently getting sent to “Ellis.Ellis-PC” instead of “Ellis”. Or at least I was, up until Win10 went into doorstop mode. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/52 "2016-02-09T00:34:14Z")
> [@arseNal](#): > > So what exactly is happening now? From a cold start of the computer, how far does it get before you get the black screen – do you get to try to log in or does it not get that far? (You may be experiencing the “Black Screen of Death”, often related to profile corruptions – not to be confused with the Blue Screen of Death.) I do not make it to the welcome screen. What’s the fix for the black screen of death? I can burn DVDs on this machine if need be. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/53 "2016-02-09T18:04:15Z")
My recent “upgrade” experience to Win10 is of a different form. I am trying out Windows 10 IoT on a Raspberry Pi 2. (An ARM processor, no X86 here.) MS wants you to install Win10 on a PC and install onto the SD card using that, which I won’t. Turns out you can do the SD copy using older versions if you get the right tools off a Win10 ISO. (I have a developer version.) So after mucking around, I got something called “Windows 10” installed on my Pi. It’s a very cut down version with no real user interface (you work with it via a PC). Not much I can do with it. I can SSH into it, have a wimpy command prompt. I need VS to build programs but I’m an olde sckule g++/vi/command line type. I want Cygwin on it, dagnabbit. I was hoping there’d be some interesting apps developed for it already, but, uh, yeah. It seems those are mainly for hardware project people. So I haven’t drunk the Win10 Kool-Aid yet, just a sip. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/54 "2016-02-09T20:51:16Z")
Running windows on a Pi in order to then run cygwin seems a bit pointless when it can run linux directly. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/55 "2016-02-09T22:02:37Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by **Hail Ants** > > Actually that is correct. The new ‘tiled’ UI for Win 8 was called ‘Metro’, the one I was referring to, the one that came with Windows XP, was actually called ‘Luna’. > > I’m lost now. Are we still talking about where you said Windows 10 is the desktop version of windows phone? No, it was just a minor point. When Microsoft makes major changes to their GUI (and they don’t always in every new version of Windows) they give the new ‘look’ a name. The ‘Tiles’ GUI revamp they introduced for Window 8 was called [Metro](http://images.pcworld.com/images/article/2012/03/live20tiles-11331051.png). The brightly colored, rounded-edged one they introduced with Windows XP was called [Luna](http://cdn3.tekrevue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130808_winxp_royaletheme_1.jpg). I was pointing out their similar, ah, simplistic, Fisher-Price-like gayness… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/56 "2016-02-10T03:33:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I find it a little sad that the people with negative opinions about new versions of Windows seem to carry some sort of authority, even if (as is very often the case) they havent actually used the new version except briefly in a shop perhaps. I will note that if any apparent authority on 10 is implied in this thread, it seems to befit none other than yourself. Your disdain for those of us who do not share your enthusiasm for Microsoft and it’s iteration of 10 is interesting… Nothing posted in this thread at the time of the above quote explains such a derogatory personal comment on your behalf. What gives? We (I) just don’t like 10… Which, after all, is simply a consumer product. That is our prerogative, despite your opinion or expertise. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/57 "2016-02-10T05:51:22Z")
I will however, defer to Mangetout’s cites to workarounds to Win 10 glitches.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/58 "2016-02-12T03:56:33Z")
> [@funky\_little\_lee](#): > > (snip) > > ETA: Immediately after the reformat, I turned off all Windows updates and installed [GWX Control Panel](http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/) to make sure the computer never even thinks about updating the OS. I can’t add anything about the OP but I would really like to thank you for this link. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/59 "2016-02-12T04:48:31Z")
> [@ZurBob](#): > > I will note that if any apparent authority on 10 is implied in this thread, it seems to befit none other than yourself. > > Your disdain for those of us who do not share your enthusiasm for Microsoft and it’s iteration of 10 is interesting… Nothing posted in this thread at the time of the above quote explains such a derogatory personal comment on your behalf. > > What gives? We (I) just don’t like 10… Which, after all, is simply a consumer product. That is our prerogative, despite your opinion or expertise. Come on, Mangetout: Just because you’ve been busted on a snit, doesn’t mean you can’t help the OP. You are the best hope so far. Please? ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257/60 "2016-02-12T16:03:16Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I do not make it to the welcome screen. > > What’s the fix for the black screen of death? I can burn DVDs on this machine if need be. Unfortunately there is no single fix for the black screen, as it is caused by a variety of different problems AFAICT. And most of them seem to occur after you log in, which is not what you’re experiencing. Have you tried starting in safe mode or anything like that? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-10-upgrade-nightmare/745257.md?page=4)