Windows 7 to 10 Upgrade

[spiffo]

Has anyone installed Windows 10 over the top of Windows 7 and asked it to keep all their Programs, Files and Data, etc..

Did it work correctly for Cakewalk and any VSTs or did everthing stop working and need re-installing?

Just curious as I really think it's about time I ditched Windows 7 but cannot face re-installing everything 😞

[Xoo]

Yes and yes (that included a simultaneous motherboard and CPU family swap - Intel to AMD, so pretty impressive).  That said, I'd take a system image (eg. Macrium) before pressing go...2

[Canopus]

I recently upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 on my last two Win 7 computers. On the first (laptop) computer I did a fresh install and that took over a week to get all my licenses and stuff to almost work. So when the next PC (desktop) was to be upgraded I wasn’t quite as patient and did not do a fresh install. The time it took was of course only a fraction of the time compared to the clean install, but I’ve yet to see any serious problems arise from taking this shortcut.

In both cases I first used Acronis True Image to clone both Windows 7 system drives. I then deactivated all software licenses that could be deactivated on the source drives. Finally I upgraded each clone and activated things that needed to be reactivated. That way it would have been possible to roll back by reinstalling the Win 7 source drives in case the upgrade didn't work, but that hasn't been necessary.

To be honest, I wasn't that worried about having to reinstall anything, but very concerned about not losing any of my software licenses in the process. CbB was of course a non-issue being free.

There’s a long thread about different ways to attack a Windows 10 upgrade here:

 

 

[rsinger]

3 hours ago, spiffo said:

Has anyone installed Windows 10 over the top of Windows 7 and asked it to keep all their Programs, Files and Data, etc..

Did it work correctly for Cakewalk and any VSTs or did everthing stop working and need re-installing?

Just curious as I really think it's about time I ditched Windows 7 but cannot face re-installing everything 😞

I just updated my DAW from win7.1 to win10. I backed up the drive and cloned it to a new larger drive. I had put off getting a larger drive due to all the SW licenses involved. After switching to the new drive I deactivated all the licenses I could - iLok, Waves, and so on. I then updated to win10 and activated the licenses. I had to re-activate IKM licenses and Omnisphere, but I didn't have to reinstall anything. The only problem I have is with iZotope's RX 6 which came with Sound Forge or something. I never use it and haven't tried to straighten that out yet. Good luck.

[spiffo]

Thanks for all the replies!

Well I just turned it on today and Cakewalk hangs on Startup, then I found this post:

So looks like I have no choice now but to try to upgrade, nice of the team to drop Windows 7 Support!

I can de-activate Waves Licences easily enough, but not sure about the Native Instrument ones, I'll have a look over on their forums.

[pwal³]

my win10 upgrade from 7 was also painless (although a full fresh install, albeit tedious, is the best way to go)

the team have dropped support for win7 as it is no longer supported by ms  (it's over 10 years old now)

[spiffo]

Official Extended (Security Patches) Support ends on 14th January 2020, just googled it !

I hadn't realised we were that close to the end.

[pwal³]

yeah just security updates, unless you're a govt/corp able to afford custom extended support (some like uk govt are still getting xp support)

[spiffo]

OK, I've done it, I'm on Windows 10 now.

Good News:    I didn't lose anything & Cakewalk now launches

Bad News:    I'm left with a error when Cakewalk Scans the Waves VSTs (pic below) I can tell Cakewalk to ignore it and they still work, but everytime I launch Cakewalk I have to go through the same process of telling it to ignore the errors!

 

[57Gregy]

Disable automatic scanning.

[spiffo]

Ha Ha, yeah that would work, like sticking your fingers in your ears and chanting 'La La La, I'm not listening' 🙂

I've tried using the Repair function in 'Waves Central' but it didn't change anything, I guess I need to re-install Cakewalk?

[Syphus]

I'm thinking of backing up (imaging current disk) and giving 10 a try but I need to understand what is meant by "Deactivating" licenses (as mentioned in previous posts).  Are we talking just ILok or all registered (licensed)  Vst's.

I don't want to fight my system to get things back to normal - thanks for info . . .

 

Syphus

[spiffo]

I only have two sets of Licences:

1  Native Instruments Komplete 12 ones. I left these completely alone as Native Access doesn't seem to give me any options and they transferred fine, no issues.

2  Waves Gold Bundle. I moved the licences to the Cloud first using Waves Central then moved the licences back after the upgrade. But now I have the slight Cakewalk issue you see above, but they do work, so I'm not sure if I shouldn' t have just left those alone as well or whether it's a Cakewalk issue, or a Waves issue?

[rsinger]

5 hours ago, Syphus said:

I'm thinking of backing up (imaging current disk) and giving 10 a try but I need to understand what is meant by "Deactivating" licenses (as mentioned in previous posts).  Are we talking just ILok or all registered (licensed)  Vst's.

I don't want to fight my system to get things back to normal - thanks for info . . .

Some license deactivate as well as activate. iLok, Waves, and there was a zynaptiq on my system. Deactivating frees up the license so you can activate it on another (or the same) machine or maybe a mobile key. IKM and Omnisphere needed to be reactivated. Cakewalk, Nomad Factory, Camel Audio, Scuffham, Overloud, Korg, Reaktor 6 and its stuff and others didn't care that the OS and SDD changed. Note that I changed both the OS and the SDD. It's common for a license to be locked to an SDD. Some of those listed may not be affected by an OS change.

[Canopus]

5 hours ago, Syphus said:

I'm thinking of backing up (imaging current disk) and giving 10 a try but I need to understand what is meant by "Deactivating" licenses (as mentioned in previous posts).  Are we talking just ILok or all registered (licensed)  Vst's.

Unfortunately it’s hard to find two companies with the same activation schemes. The obstacles are probably fewer if you don’t go for a clean Windows 10 install, but in case that’s what you’re aiming for, here are some of my findings:

• Obviously all plug-ins using iLok licenses stored on a computer should be deactivated on the Win 7 drive (i.e. put back into the cloud using iLok License Manager) and later dragged back to new Win 10 installation. Maybe it works anyway when not doing a complete upgrade, but considering the amount of money at stake I wouldn’t risk it and it only takes a few minutes. Any license stored on a physical  iLok dongle is of course a non-issue.
   
• Software licenses from Steinberg (like Cubase or WaveLab) and Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) are normally stored on a physical eLicenser dongle and thus non-issues as well. Also some older Arturia plug-ins run under eLicenser.
   
• Plug-ins from XLN Audio can’t be directly deactivated, but the XLN Online Installer will detect that you’re on a different OS and you can then easily move e.g. Addictive Drums licenses by removing your old computer and creating a new computer in your account on their web site. And that’s regardless if you’ve done a clean install or not.
   
• Toontrack will let you deactivate and later reactivate software on another computer directly from the Toontrack Product Manager. Great thinking there.
   
• Plug-ins from Arturia can be uninstalled using the Arturia Software Center. It's actually not clear to me if this will also deactivate the licenses, but it would certainly be strange if they weren't, as the Arturia Software Center is connected to your account when active. I didn’t have any problem reactivating them anyway.
   
• When it comes to Native Instruments the only information I could find was to uninstall my Komplete 10 Ultimate bundle using the Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features and then reinstall it. That worked for me. To be clear, I uninstalled the Bundle and not all the individual Komplete libraries and effects; they were automatically removed when the bundle was uninstalled. But I still find it strange that there’s currently no way to deactivate NI plugins from within Native Access.
   
• As for third-party libraries that only run under full Kontakt, they are never activated using computer-based fingerprints as far as I know and thus there's no need for deactivation. But of course there could be exceptions that I'm not aware of.
   
• iZotope products may or may not be authorized through iLok. If they are, licenses are of course deactivated as described above for iLok. If not, they can be uninstalled using the iZotope Product Manager. As with Arturia, it’s not absolutely clear to me whether this also deactivates the licenses, but it would certainly be strange if they weren’t as iZotope Product Manager is connected to your account when running. And I didn’t have any problem reactivating them anyway.

But of course the list of vendors goes on and on.