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Windows 1803 -> 22H1: a procrastinator's tale


Colin Nicholls

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I've been using Windows 10 1803  on my DAW since 2019, when the 1903 update made everything very unhappy (Pops and clicks on my PCI audio card). I reset my DAW computer using the hidden partition and with the assistance of WinAero Tweaker disabling Windows Update, I've been there ever since. Super stable. No problems. Awesome.

Until...

I took advantage of an offer I couldn't refuse - upgrading Studio One 3 to the new shiny 6.1 version for a relatively small sum. Brilliant.
Guess what: "This installer requires Windows 10 20H2 or later". WTF? Argh!

Sad Panda. I wish I'd known this before purchase. Still... it was only a matter of time before my reticence to update became a problem; I feel grateful to have made it to 2023.

Because I'm actually in the market for a new DAW computer, I said, screw it, we're going in. I'll update to the latest Windows 10, and if my PCI audio card doesn't make the journey with me, well, maybe I'll change my mind about the form-factor of the new machine and go with a USB interface from now on. Seriously wasn't looking forward to the tedious and possibly multi-stage task of upgrading from 1803 - 1809 - 1903 -> whatever it ended up being called -> 20H1...

Bear with me, here. I go to the Windows Media Creation Tool page and it says, "Click here to update to the latest version of Windows 10!" Okay, doing it...

What followed was 30 minutes of the most un-stressful update I've ever experienced. All my software appears intact. A quick test of playback seems to indicate that all is well with the audio card, didn't even need to reinstall the drivers, just a quick re-selection of MIDI ports in Cakewalk By Bandlab, which had become un-selected for some reason.

So, that's a relief. Of course, it could still go terribly wrong.. but then I'll just have to console myself with a new computer and many hours of installing only the software I actually use.

Thanks for listening.

 

Oh... and, yes, WinAero Tweaker has let me disable Windows Update again. Better safe than sorry.

Edited by Colin Nicholls
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I haven't lost any hardware (yet) from Win 10 upgrades, but the Win 7 -> Win 10 got a couple.

Edit: I was going to make a comment about deleting the Windows backup directory, but you actually shouldn't have one.

Edited by mettelus
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14 hours ago, Colin Nicholls said:

I've been using Windows 10 1803  on my DAW since 2019, when the 1903 update made everything very unhappy (Pops and clicks on my PCI audio card). I reset my DAW computer using the hidden partition and with the assistance of WinAero Tweaker disabling Windows Update, I've been there ever since. Super stable. No problems. Awesome.

Until...

I took advantage of an offer I couldn't refuse - upgrading Studio One 3 to the new shiny 6.1 version for a relatively small sum. Brilliant.
Guess what: "This installer requires Windows 10 20H2 or later". WTF? Argh!

Sad Panda. I wish I'd known this before purchase. Still... it was only a matter of time before my reticence to update became a problem; I feel grateful to have made it to 2023.

Because I'm actually in the market for a new DAW computer, I said, screw it, we're going in. I'll update to the latest Windows 10, and if my PCI audio card doesn't make the journey with me, well, maybe I'll change my mind about the form-factor of the new machine and go with a USB interface from now on. Seriously wasn't looking forward to the tedious and possibly multi-stage task of upgrading from 1803 - 1809 - 1903 -> whatever it ended up being called -> 20H1...

Bear with me, here. I go to the Windows Media Creation Tool page and it says, "Click here to update to the latest version of Windows 10!" Okay, doing it...

What followed was 30 minutes of the most un-stressful update I've ever experienced. All my software appears intact. A quick test of playback seems to indicate that all is well with the audio card, didn't even need to reinstall the drivers, just a quick re-selection of MIDI ports in Cakewalk By Bandlab, which had become un-selected for some reason.

So, that's a relief. Of course, it could still go terribly wrong.. but then I'll just have to console myself with a new computer and many hours of installing only the software I actually use.

Thanks for listening.

 

Oh... and, yes, WinAero Tweaker has let me disable Windows Update again. Better safe than sorry.

Be thankful you didn't have to reinstall Windows 10 on top of itself because of one update which refused to install.

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I had a total nightmare upgrading from 1903 - six months of BSOD during the update, then it rolled back.

Eventually, I found the cause: two drivers...

1.  An old Korg driver ( I think it was the USB driver for the nanoKONTROL series)
2.  An old Native Instruments ISO driver ( I think this was previously used in Windows 7 for mapping ISO files to fake drives for installing).

Once I'd uninstalled these drivers,  I successfully upgraded Windows 10.

So basically, uninstall all unused / old drivers.  You can do this from Device Manager - make sure you have "Show Hidden Devices" checked in the View menu.

I found DriverView by NirSoft useful for getting a list of all drivers on the system, along with their location/filename.  This way, I could rename/delete the underlying files too.

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