Here's a new trick I recently learned, and it comes in handy for System Builders, as well as system restorers.
I was installing a non-branded copy of Windows 7 Professional on my Dell Studio 1536 laptop. While installing all the drivers from Dell, I included a registry patch that inserted the model number as well. Going into the System Properties screen, I saw it now showing the model, but it did not have the manufacturer information.
On July 29, 2015, Microsoft started a free upgrade to Windows 10 for consumer level versions of Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1. This was started by using the Windows Update feature, but required you to make a reservation to get the download. Once your reservation time was reached, you would get a popup saying that Windows 10 was ready to install, and as I mentioned in my August post, this went fairly simply on my primary system. I also mentioned that Microsoft made available a Media Creation Tool as well for creating a USB Flash Drive or DVD which can be used to update other computers without waiting for the reservation time, or for reinstallation.
Here, I will go through the process of creating a USB Flash Drive.
When I wrote my last article, I promised the next would be installing Windows 10 on my laptop. Unfortunately, a few things have hindered me from writing that. First was that the rough draft, with screenshots, apparently wasn't saved as I thought it was, so I lost it and would have to start over. Second, and more important, I began having issues on my main computer. Six times in a two week period, I received the Windows 10 version of a BSOD error. I have to admit the new screen (which I think was actually implemented with Windows 8) doesn't look as confusing as we have grown used to over the years, but still frustrating and annoying. Especially when it happens to a "computer geek".
Well, as many know on July 29th, Microsoft started rolling out FREE upgrades for Windows 7/8 users to the new Windows 10 through the Windows Update service. Anticipating massive bandwidth issues, Microsoft made it where you had to reserve your upgrade, and then the upgrades would be staggered, so not everyone was able to get the upgrade on July 29.
