Idle Thoughts

[jmccleary50]

Here are some thoughts about what i've encountered lately. My efforts at dual booting finally suceeded. One glitch was the .iso file download resetting into a second run. Yanking the thumb drive took care of that. Another unexpected message was that account user could not be personalized until windows was activated. I think that was because i clicked do this later instead of entering a product key. Since then i have managed to post an account picture. Do you suppose it might have deactivated?

I was just playng with One Drive a while ago. I didn't understand what it was at first. What brought this on was an effort at Easy Windows Transfer which i used after purchasing the second laptop to transfer pictures and documents from 7 to 8.1. Little did i know that 10 does not include this. But here's the real clinker-after downloading one drive to 7 i find out that it's an app in 10.
Trying to use it brings up a message that you must sign in as an eligible trial user of of office 365. So if i understand this correctly in order to use one drive you've got to try some unwanted snake oil along the way. Way to go Microsoft!

Some things that went well were using the recommended Mini Tool partition to make room for 10. And finding out that msconfig is where the action is for multiple boot. I just found out some more about that black background Windows Boot Manager. If you watch closely you can see the delay time going down and there are options offered for startup and recovery by pressing number keys. All in all a definite learning experience when i had serious doubts along the way about just abandoning the whole effort and settle for two laptops that did work.

All this is exactly what i said-just idle thoughts for information or amusement only. No response required.
Say something anyway if you feeel like it.

 

[davidhk129]

Don't know what you did. Something is not right.
OneDrive is part of Win 10. It has no "fine prints" or prerequisites for using it, least of all Office 365.
Is it listed on the left side of File Explorer ?

I am using it and I have no Office 365.

 

[jmccleary50]

One Drive was listed on the left side when i clicked on all apps. I right clicked it and pinned it to start apps. But when opened there was a message to sign in as an eligible trial user of office 365 which becomes a subscription service after a trial period, As i said-unwanted snake oil. Microsoft has lowered itself to adware and attempting to monetize 10 by any means.

 

[davidhk129]

But when opened there was a message to sign in as an eligible trial user of office 365 which becomes a subscription service after a trial period,

THAT does NOT happen to me.
That is why I said "Don't know what you did. Something is not right."

 

[jmccleary50]

I'm still playing with it. I did manage to copy a couple pictures from my file to One Drive picture file. I just need to keep floundering- i'm great at that.

 

[jmccleary50]

Had an on line chat with Microsoft help desk. the best I could get out of that was that I downloaded from an .iso file instead of updating from an already activated version. The suggestion was to go back to 7 home on C drive and 7 pro on a new D drive install all available updates for pro and a prompt to upgrade to 10 should appear. This update would be in line with the proper sequence of doing things. What I have does work with some small issues in question. I don't know how to create a new D drive so I think i'm going to live with what I've got.

 

[davidhk129]

I need to make sure I understand what you wrote. English is not my 1st language, actually my 3rd.

As of now, you have Win 10 Pro on D drive.
MS Help Desk suggested that you put Win 7 Pro back to D drive, go through the god-forsaken Windows Updates and then upgrade back to Win 10 Pro. Yes ?
You have issue about that because you are not sure how to "create a new D drive". Yes ?

 

[jmccleary50]

I was just looking around at duck duck go browser. Create a new drive does not mean what I thought it does. I was thinking of a separate physical device like an external drive. But in the browser it says create a new drive actually means partition an existing drive like I just did to install 10. I have also discovered that the version of 10 I installed is not activated. This is causing minor problems that I will live with, I am satisfied with what I have.

You are absolutely correct when you refer to updating after reset as godforsaken, Been there done that!
Microsoft advice aside leave well enough alone,

Remember I said I had serious doubts along the way but not so now.

Here are more idle thoughts. I finally figured out One Drive, I put some pictures on there and then discovered that with 10 not activated there is no left side list for documents etc. Classic Shell perhaps? See how well my floundering pays off? I told you I was good at it.

 

[davidhk129]

I have also discovered that the version of 10 I installed is not activated. This is causing minor problems that I will live with, I am satisfied with what I have.

You wish.
If the Win 10 is not activated and you are unable to get it activated, you only have ( I think) 30 days. After that, it will start unresponsive until it will not boot.

 

[jmccleary50]

Oh well so there ain't no free lunch. I tried.

 

[davidhk129]

Oh well so there ain't no free lunch. I tried.

Correction.
Yes, there is " free lunch ". You folks just misinterpret the condition.
You get free upgrade if you upgrade it over your existing genuine qualified Windows, namely Win 7 SP1 or Win 8.1.1.
If you did a Clean Install into a blank partition with no Windows present the install will not be activated
If you did a Clean Install over your existing Windows, it won't get activated either.
It has to be done via Windows Update or via an in-place upgrade with an ISO. That's " Upgrade Install " that Microsoft asks us to follow.

 

[jmccleary50]

That makes a lot more sense than what I got from the online help. I told him I had the original key from purchase (coa sticker on rear of case) and an upgrade home to pro key that I paid for. I did use an .iso file I downloaded from Microsoft using a tool called create media (or something like that). That's how I got started with the thumb drive.
At any rate he suggested the neverending update route which does not appeal to me.

Just looked over your post again. My upgrade from 8.1 to 10 for the other laptop went without a hitch because the starting condition was correct.

 

[davidhk129]

I did use an .iso file I downloaded from Microsoft using a tool called create media (or something like that). That's how I got started with the thumb drive.

It's called Media Creation Download Tool.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

I used the same Tool to upgrade my 2 laptops to Win 10 Home and Win 10 Pro.
The difference between you and I was......................
You inserted the USB and did a Clean Install and so you didn't get activated.
I used the downloaded ISO file > right click at it > click Mount > click Setup.exe.
That is in-place upgrade install and I got my 2 laptops activated.

 

[davidhk129]

At any rate he suggested the neverending update route which does not appeal to me.

Actually, it is not as bad as it appears.
If you are using Windows Update to upgrade over your Win 7 Pro, then you Win 7 has to be SP1 installed.
If you use Media Creation Tool to upgrade over your Win 7 Pro, you do NOT need SP1.
Just install your Win 7 Pro into partition D.
Make sure it is activated.
Use the Media Creation Tool to download the Win 10 ISO file ( no need to burn it to a bootable media but it is advisable to do so) > right click at the downloaded ISO file > click Mount > click Setup.exe > installation will begin.
This method allows you to keep your files, settings and apps.
This method does not require product key which nobody has.
This method will get activated automatically.

 

[jmccleary50]

Just looked at 7 pro to see if it was activated. In system there was a line saying 27 days to activate. I had to stop and think: that's right i took 7 all the way back to factory and then used my key to go to pro. Also on that same system page was a line activate now. I clicked it and verifying key came up and now 7 pro is activated.

About that .iso file- i still have that on a thumb drive. Can i use that to activate 10? Last time i had to change boot order in BIOS so it would boot but that shouldn't be required now.

Installed classic shell on deactivated 10. Couldn't get it started so uninstalled then reinstalled before finally discovering need to press start. This reminds me of my first foray into Facebook. I could not understand why a new post had a post comment button but a reply to a post did not have a button. Someone finally informed me to press enter. I thought geez nobody ever told me that. Funny how the obvious can so easily escape you.

 

[davidhk129]

About that .iso file- i still have that on a thumb drive. Can i use that to activate 10? Last time i had to change boot order in BIOS so it would boot but that shouldn't be required now.

Not to "activate".
To "Install".

I almost always use the ISO file.
I never use USB to install OS. I did use DVD a few times. They should work the same way.......
Insert your USB > go to File Explorer, Right click at the USB drive > click Mount > click Setup.exe.
If right click does not show Mount > open the USB drive, Setup.exe should be there.

 

[jmccleary50]

Opened thumb drive. List of contents appeared in big white window about 70% screen. Setup was there without .exe suffix. Clicked on it and setup started with smaller bright blue windows in front of white one. Eventually action stopped and after waiting a while I went for the red X to close the white window only to discover that the next blue window in setup was hidden behind the white one and waiting on a next click. Continued setup through a pretty long update process then went into installation of windows 10. This took the better part of an hour and when complete I went to control panel and clicked system to see that windows is still not activated.
Start menu has no left column and classic shell is still controlling start configuration.

Remember what I said about floundering? Oh well, not to complain. I'm getting used to it.

 

[davidhk129]

I can't help any further.
I usually used ISO file itself as I mentioned in my previous posts and I never had any non-activated issue.
This thread has been going round and round in circles and getting no where. I must bow out.
Good luck.

 

[jmccleary50]

OK Thank for your help. Some of it really was beneficial. By the way I have finally figured out One Drive. I now have all of my documents and pictures on there. Your disclaimer about the difficulties I expressed had a lot to do with my perseverance in floundering ( there it is-my favorite word) till I got it right. As you suggest THE END.