Help - Windows 10 Forced Upgrade

erb

I got the notification that Microsoft Windows 10 will upgrade in the background and to leave my pc on. This is because I am on version 1507. However, I have to stay on that version because my Toshiba Satellite S70-A-11H is not compatible with later versions of Windows 10. I found this out when I tried to upgrade the first upgrade of Windows 10 whcih did not work and I had to recover back to version 1507. I am worried that if my laptop tries to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10 it will not work.

Can anyone advise what to do? Is it possible to stop this upgrade?

Jivesinger

Version 1507 is no longer getting security updates, apart perhaps from upgrading itself to the next version.

So by staying on 1507 you'd have the risk from malware attacks which other versions of Windows have patches to prevent.

It's possible that whatever problem affected your first attempt to upgrade isn't an underlying compatibility problem though- it may be that the later versions will work?

Is there some hardware component on the machine that you definitely know is incompatible?

Personally I would use something like Macrium Reflect Free to take a full backup of the disk in its current state (so you could roll back if needed) and then let it attempt the upgrade.

AlSto

The problem was likely the upgrade process, rather than an issue with compatibility.
So, after backing up your data, you can opt to run a manual upgrade or a clean install of Windows 10 if the automatic upgrade fails.

Frozen_up_north

How do you know the Tosh is not compatible? A friend had an issue with an Acer that lost its driver for the WiFi in a Win 10 update, it is only a few months old and came with Win 10 factory installed. It was fairly easy to sort and certainly not a reason to cease further updates.

As per other replies, doing a full independent backup is a good idea, I use Acronis. In the past I’ve had to roll back due to 3rd parties not testing their hardware properly... with Acronis True Image backup and restore is pretty straightforward.

erb

Thanks for advice. I found the compatibility issue on Microsofts site after updating to version 1511 which practically stopped my internet from working. The was a list of devices compatible and my Tosh was only compatible with version 1507 and not 1511. I could not do without internet so rolled back and everything was fine again. I will do a bit more research on compatilbilty.

Frozen_up_north

Assuming your Toshiba came with Windows 10 from new, I would ask Toshiba Support for advice. If it came with an earlier o/s, they might not offer updated drivers.

Neil_Jones

I'm surprised that laptop is only compatible with a certain version of Windows 10 as it came with 8.1 originally and Toshiba's site says "we recommend Windows 10 pro" for it.

It may be a case that if the internet doesn't work after the upgrade (and that is the only issue), you may just need to update the drivers for the wireless/network card. Download them before you update otherwise you'll be in the situation of "need drivers off the internet to get the computer on the internet"

You can always get the wireless USB adapters fairly cheaply and Windows 10 is happy with most of them out of the box so there are workarounds...

Jivesinger

I have an older Toshiba which isn't listed anywhere as compatible (that I'm aware of) but runs Windows 10 just fine.

And as others have said, if Toshiba themselves recommend Windows 10, it should be OK, although I'm not sure Toshiba sell new laptops any more so I'm not sure how actively they've updated their website since the original Windows 10 came out.

Can you remember what the message about compatibility actually said?

If you go into Device Manager ( Right-click the start button and select Device Manager) and look at Network Adaptors, what are the devices listed?

erb

I have found the page with links to show compatibility here

Going to the Toshiba link confirms my laptop is not on the list of compatible machines. Considering I only bought it in 2014 this is not much of a life. If I had stuck with the original Windows 8.1 and not updated to Windows 10 it would be supported until 2020. I think I have been conned.

Jivesinger

erb wrote: »

I have found the page with links to show compatibility here

Going to the Toshiba link confirms my laptop is not on the list of compatible machines. Considering I only bought it in 2014 this is not much of a life. If I had stuck with the original Windows 8.1 and not updated to Windows 10 it would be supported until 2020. I think I have been conned.

My Toshiba isn't on that list... and runs the latest version of Windows 10 just fine, so I wouldn't put too much faith in it as meaning your machine won't run the latest version.

erb

Jivesinger wrote: »

I have an older Toshiba which isn't listed anywhere as compatible (that I'm aware of) but runs Windows 10 just fine.

And as others have said, if Toshiba themselves recommend Windows 10, it should be OK, although I'm not sure Toshiba sell new laptops any more so I'm not sure how actively they've updated their website since the original Windows 10 came out.

Can you remember what the message about compatibility actually said?

If you go into Device Manager ( Right-click the start button and select Device Manager) and look at Network Adaptors, what are the devices listed?

Network Adaptors are:
Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.30)
Qualcomm Atheros AR956x Wireless Network Adaptor