How to upgrade my W7 PC to SSD & W10

AndyPix

^^ Nope - Still redirects


Has to be a forum issue

DoaM

Hmm - I clicked it and got a Dutch version of the Dell page, albeit does seem to be a BIOS download page.

Dell XPS 8300 and Vostro 460 System BIOS

This package provides the Dell System BIOS update and is supported on Dell XPS Desktop 8300 and Vostro Desktop 460 for Windows and DOS Operating Systems.

EveryWhere

mac.d wrote: »

At some point this year I plan to upgrade my Dell W7 PC to W10 and at the same time do it as a clean install on a new SSD drive. For some reason my PC wasn't eligible to get the free W10 upgrade (not sure why as it was a new system bought from Dell), so I figure I should buy a W10 licence (ebay?) in case I again hit problems with my W7 licence.

I have used the downloaded tool to install W10 from USB, so I just need to buy the SSD drive & mounting kit & W10 licence and I'm good to go right? Is there anything I need to do when installing the new SSD to make it the main drive, like should I swap it with the HDD, or just slot it in the empty bay? Should I unplug the HDD when installing W10 just to make sure, or is it sufficient just to point the installation to the SSD drive?

Also, will I need to back up my docs, photos and music from my HDD and then format it, or can I uninstall W7 from it and still keep the files?

Thanks!

What's this? You stated that it is still running Windows 7 Home Premium.

Anyway, assuming that it is still running Windows 7 and once you have completed the task I have set for you via PM, you'll need to create Windows 10 installation media.
You can use the Microsoft Tool to 'Create Installation Media For Another PC' or click here to begin the download; https://software-download.microsoft.com/pr/Win10_1809Oct_EnglishInternational_x64.iso?t=0c9893cb-795d-4187-bc90-bb7a8e1bd64d&e=1552770045&h=2f68784ae3e20867dc6b11e3aa00af5f
and then use https://rufus.ie/en_IE to create the installation media(choose MBR)


Plug in your newly created USB Flash installation media and copy gatherosstate.exe from the Sources folder to your Desktop screen.
Right click on the newly copied gatherosstate.exe file on the Desktop and choose Run As Administrator. Wait for the GenuineTicket.xml file to be created
Copy the GenuineTicket.xml file to a USB thumb drive or anywhere else. You'll need it later.
Boot to your Windows 10 USB or DVD and perform a clean install to your SSD.
Copy GenuineTicket.xml to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\ClipSVC\GenuineTicket\ and then reboot
All done. It will be activated

debitcardmayhem

Yet again the forum keeps putting in spurious spaces %20 into links.
Everwhere's link is below

https://software-download.microsoft.com/pr/Win10_1809Oct_EnglishInternational_x64.iso?t=0c9893cb-795d-4187-bc90-bb7a8e1bd64d&e=1552770045&h=2f68784ae3e20867dc6b11e3aa00af5f

mac.d

@EveryWhere. I have already created the W10 installation media using the Microsoft Tool, that was my first step so I have a USB drive ready for when I get the SSD. Once I've got the new drive and am ready to go ahead, I'll back-up any changes on my PC, upgrade and do the above to get the GenuineTicket.xml. Cheers :beer:

EveryWhere

mac.d wrote: »

@EveryWhere. I have already created the W10 installation media using the Microsoft Tool, that was my first step so I have a USB drive ready for when I get the SSD. Once I've got the new drive and am ready to go ahead, I'll back-up any changes on my PC, upgrade and do the above to get the GenuineTicket.xml. Cheers :beer:

You don't need to back anything up, since you'll be installing Windows 10 to a completely different drive.
The steps taken on the Windows 7 installation don't endanger your data and you will not be doing an in-place upgrade to Windows 10 over the top of the current Windows 7 install.
So what would be the purpose of the back up?

mac.d

I know its a clean install of W10 on a new drive, and all my files will be untouched on the HDD with W7, so the back-up is just playing it safe (and an opportunity to update my most recent back-up).

EveryWhere

mac.d wrote: »

I know its a clean install of W10 on a new drive, and all my files will be untouched on the HDD with W7, so the back-up is just playing it safe (and an opportunity to update my most recent back-up).

Nothing wrong with that...

techquest

When you get your new ssd it will probably be set as MBR, now you have the opportunity you should set it to GPT.

MBR does have its limitations. It only works with disks up to 2 TB in size and only supports up to four primary partitions.

On an MBR disk, the partitioning and boot data is stored in one place. If this data is overwritten or corrupted, you’re in trouble. In contrast, GPT stores multiple copies of this data across the disk, it’s much more robust and can recover if the data is corrupted.

GPT doesn’t suffer from MBR’s limits. GPT based drives can be much larger, with size limits dependent on the operating system and its file systems. It allows for a nearly unlimited number of partitions. The limit is subject to your OS. Windows allows up to 128 partitions on a GPT drive, you don’t have to create an extended partition to make them work.

The above is all subject to your Bios version, A06, now I recall. A06 doesn’t support UEFI, A07 does. Dell hasn’t supplied it on the support site but you can get it from your A06 bios file you downloaded by the following procedure:

Extracting A07 bios form A06 bios file:

1. Download the A06 BIOS from Dell's website here - downloads.dell.com/.../TR-A06_QS.EXE
2. Run the file (it will tell you your BIOS is newer and won't actually perform the update) but before
you close, open a Run command and type %TEMP%
3. Look for a folder containing the file afuwinx64.exe and other files (could be called "_971B.tmp")
4. Copy this folder and all its files to a folder you create such as C:\Dell_BIOS
5. Close the A06 BIOS update screen
6. Open a CMD window as Administrator and change directory to C:\Dell_BIOS
7. If you are running 32bit Windows 7 or 8 run - afuwin.exe A07.ROM /O
8. If you are running 64bit Windows 7 or 8 run - afuwinx64.exe A07.ROM /O

Note: The last command is a capital letter O.

Once complete, the file A07.ROM in C:\Dell_BIOS is your extracted A07 BIOS file. You can now run this file to update to A07.

A07 has EUFI capabilities and also better graphics card capabilities.

There are countless dell 8300 users running A07 , even A10, again not available on the site, with no known issues.

You don't have to do this if not comfortable and any questions let us know.

Chino

techquest wrote: »

Extracting A07 bios form A06 bios file:

When you copied these instructions from this post, did you forget to copy the step "Copy nomad88's A07.ROM to C:\Dell_BIOS" following the step you numbered "5"?

By the way, the link to the A07 BIOS extracted by the user "nomad88" appears to be dead:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=2AA11557C910E63F!120&authkey=!APAWrGIjalc_C68