Has Anyone Downloaded and Installed the Creators Update?

[GabeU]

I'm just curious if anyone's done this, and if so, did you notice any problems afterward?  

Did you notice any advantages to Windows 10 after installing this update?

If you know, how large was the update for you?   

[maratsade]

@wildcats198308, I did set the connection to metered once and I didn't like the system's behavior after that. I kept getting messages from apps that were trying to run updates (one was the antivirus app) and I didn't care for that.   I changed my active hours to 8 am - 2 pm, and that seems to make the updates download outside of those hours. 

[GabeU]

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@wildcats198308 wrote:

@GabeU  I already did the upgrade to Windows 10 on my desktop  then went back to Windows 7.   I read that they are still allowing people to upgrade free even though they encouraged people to do so for 1 year, and it supposly only being a 1 year thing.  Its suppose to still accept the Windows 7 key for activation.  I dont know for sure if its true.  (When I was trying to install Windows 10 fresh on my laptop after trying the Creator Update - I entered my Windows 7 Key and it said it was not valid.  I thought I was screwed, but here I guess the Windows 10 Key is stored in the computer --- which I did not know)

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If you had already installed Windows 10 free upgrade on your desktop and then went back to Windows 7, you should be able to reinstall Windows 10 on it without issue due to Microsoft registering your desktop's Windows 10 free upgrade with a "digital license."  When it's reinstalled Microsoft should recognize it and activate it without issue.  That is, I believe, as long as you haven't replaced much hardware, especially the motherboard, in the desktop since you had Windows 10 installed.

[wildcats198308]

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@GabeU wrote:

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@wildcats198308 wrote:

@GabeU  I already did the upgrade to Windows 10 on my desktop  then went back to Windows 7.   I read that they are still allowing people to upgrade free even though they encouraged people to do so for 1 year, and it supposly only being a 1 year thing.  Its suppose to still accept the Windows 7 key for activation.  I dont know for sure if its true.  (When I was trying to install Windows 10 fresh on my laptop after trying the Creator Update - I entered my Windows 7 Key and it said it was not valid.  I thought I was screwed, but here I guess the Windows 10 Key is stored in the computer --- which I did not know)

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If you had already installed Windows 10 free upgrade on your desktop and then went back to Windows 7, you should be able to reinstall Windows 10 on it without issue due to Microsoft registering your desktop's Windows 10 free upgrade with a "digital license."  When it's reinstalled Microsoft should recognize it and activate it without issue.  That is, I believe, as long as you haven't replaced much hardware, especially the motherboard, in the desktop since you had Windows 10 installed.

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Nothing was replaced in the desktop.  My main concern is the Creator Update not working like it was with my Laptop.  All my systems are OLD.  My desktop is older than my laptop.   I do have a Netbook computer which is a few years newer but I dont use it at all really.  Its extremely slow and small, I got it free and plan to just use it if travel better to take on a plane or something than my 17" laptop which it being an old system its bulky and heavy.    

Nieces laptop is only a few years old, it had Windows 8.1 which I upgraded to Windows 10 right away.  My moms laptop is a newer Dell it came with Windows 7, but Dell supports it for Windows 10 - they have Drivers and all for Windows 10 on the website for it.  

[GabeU]

@wildcats198308

If the desktop ran decently when you had Windows 10 installed on it before, it should be able to run version 1703 (Creators Update version) without a problem.  You may not be able to do some of the things that require more ample power, like the 3D,  VR and Ink apps, but for the most part it should be okay.  

I believe the system requirements for 1703 are the same as they are for the previous versions of Windows 10, but like I said, some things may not work well, or even at all, due to your computer's age.  BUT, with that said, Windows 7 is getting up there in age.  Mainstream support is over, but you will at least still get critical updates for a few more years.  

If your system just barely meets the minimal system requirements for Windows 10, it may not run very well.  It will run, but it won't be very responsive.  This is why I changed back to Windows 8.1 with my notebook. It just met the minimal system requirements for Windows 10, and I mean just.  When I upgraded it, even after adjusting everything I could to boost perfromance, it was still pretty slow.  This was even with an SSD instead of the standard HDD that came with it.  Going back to Windows 8.1 made it much more responsive and pretty speedy for such a minimal notebook.  

If you have easy options for going back to Windows 7 if 10 is too slow, I'd say try it, but if not, I don't know that I would.  If you have an original Windows 7 installation disk, and a way to save a system image, you may be able to save a system image of the Windows 7 that's installed on it now and use that for later if Windows 10 turns out to not be good.  In order to restore with the Windows 7 system image, though, you'd have to use the Windows 7 installation disk to install Windows 7, then use the system image to restore that Windows 7 image.  The reason for this is that you can't use a Windows 7 system image to restore a computer that has Windows 10 on it.  It will say that the Operating Systems don't match.  If you don't have a Windows 7 installation disk, but you do have a valid Windows 7 product key, you may be able to download the Windows 7 ISO from Microsoft and burn it to a DVD.  

If restoring didn't work, but you do have a W7 installation disk or a valid key so you can use it to download the ISO and create your own, you'd have to download all of the updates and such after installation.  That's the pain in the butt part, and with there having been so many since Windows 7 came out, there's always the possibility that you could run into problems doing so.  Ricky was having all sorts of problems trying to get his fresh Windows 8.1 installation to Update.  I had a problem updating a clean Windows 8.1 install until I got some help on Microsoft's forums.  I'm not trying to scare you, just stating the realities of what can happen.  

[wildcats198308]

My laptop runs good with Windows 10 1607 Anniversary Update and all other previous builds of Windows 10 that I installed.  But when I installed 1703 it did not work.  My Wireless adapter and Ethernet adapters would not work.  I tried reinstalling the Drivers and still didnt work.  I tried using a USB Wireless Adapter and could not get that installed either, but it also was an older adapter - I didnt try the other one that I have which is newer.   Its kinda stupid all other Builds worked perfectly.   So just because one Build works doesnt mean the next or other up-coming Builds will work.   

I want to install it on my Laptop again and mess around with it more.  I always run out of paitence with it and forget about other things to try and then go back to previous the Build and then remember stuff I can try.   (I use my Laptop daily pretty much so I like to keep an working version installed)

I purchased Windows 7 when it first came out so I have the original installation disk and Product Key.  BUT I also downloaded the Windows 7 SP1 version since the disk that I have is the original version.  The last time I did clean install a message came up saying my system was no longer supported because I did not have SP1 installed.  It did eventually come up in Windows Update but instead of having to download it every time I now have a full version. 

[GabeU]

@wildcats198308

It's interesting that the first two builds of Windows 10 would work properly on the laptop, but 1703 would not (at least with the network card and wireles adaper).  You'd think that any Windows 10 build would be compatible with any Windows 10 driver.  Perhaps it is a "glitch" that they will fix with a patch.  

I, personally, have not found any active advantage to using 1703 over 1607.  There are most likely some improvements that I'm not aware of and wouldn't notice unless I was looking for them, though, so I'm sure there are advantages to using it.    

I hope you're able to figure out how to get your network card and wireless adapter to work with 1703.  

[wildcats198308]

Yea I don't see much of a change in the builds to make a network card not compatible when it was in the past...  I have been also using Windows 10 longer than its been released to public.  I was using Insider Preview Builds for maybe a year before the release, also with no issue on my laptop.  All builds and versions I ever installed all had internet connection. Some Insider Preview Builds had other issues which I had to end up going back to previous builds (testing software you will run into some issues).    I also posted on Microsoft Forum about this issue and others have had the same problem and no fixes were found other than using a USB wireless adapter (which I tried but with a 2008 version adapter which isn't exactly compatible with Windows 10 and couldn't get drivers to update)  A Microsoft employee replied that my system is not being supported or tested by Dell for Windows 10.  Also said that I would have to go back to previous build and block the Creator Update from Windows Updates. So sounded like they could care less.  ...  They wanted people to upgrade now making changes where older systems are not compatible to force people to purchase new systems is what I think... My laptop runs great I am not buying something else unless the motherboard or something major quits working. 

1703 is suppose to be more secure so I'm sure theres stuff that benefits that you don't exactly see.   Have you read the site I linked in a previous post with what's new in Creator Update?  The site lists a lot of things.  It goes on and on.... I got tired of reading it and started just scrolling and it went forever before reaching the end.   The feature for Metered Connected on an Ethernet connection is one thing I am excited to see.  (When I get around to installing it on my desktop I will probably end up using Ethernet connection since I will be able to set it to metered now and not have to go through registry to change it manually, which I was always afraid to mess with before so just used a WiFi adapter)

[C0RR0SIVE]

Believe it or not... they make more internal changes for networking than you would think... There is a reason people with Dual Intel GBit NICS that want to do load balancing are upset with Win10...  It's pretty much the first major OS that has stripped all those functions from that part of the OS in favor of SMB Multi-channel which sucks horribly on mixed networks.

I bet they changed something that would require a driver update if you are having NIC issues.

Also, yes, I am one those people that hate Win10 for removing load balancing features as I could really use a 2Gbit uplink to my local file server...

[GabeU]

I did read some of the site you posted, but like you, I didn't read all of it.  I read the basics.  

I, personally, won't bother with setting anything of mine to metered.  I've never used enough data to be at the point where I needed to be concerned with controlling the data usage being caused by updates and whatever else Microsoft does, though, so far, the Smart Technologies used by Gen5 don't seem to be saving me as much data as it did with Gen4, so I may end up using more data overall.  I can most definitely see the advantage in it for some, though, especially when there is the occasional large update.  

[maratsade]

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@GabeU wrote:

I'm just curious if anyone's done this, and if so, did you notice any problems afterward?  

Did you notice any advantages to Windows 10 after installing this update?

If you know, how large was the update for you?   

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The Creators update downloaded automatically for me, and I have no idea how large it was, and it downloaded during the night, so I don't know how that went.  Installing it took 4 hours.

I notice no differences between the way things were before and the way things are now; no advantages or disadvantages so far.