How to Prepare Your PC for a Successful

Windows 10 Upgrade
Andre Da Costa | November 2, 2015 in How-To

Windows 10 has been available for the past couple months, but a lot of people still have not
jumped on the free upgrade offer. But you need to keep in mind that the free upgrade offer is for
one year and ends July 29th, 2016.

Prepare for a Successful Windows 10 Upgrade

Theres still plenty of time, so when you finally decide to pull the trigger, heres some things you
can do before you start the upgrade to ensure everything goes as smooth as possible.

1. Fix Hard Disk and OS Errors

If you have been running an installation of Windows for many years now, its a possibility even
though its running smooth, there might be potential blockers to a successful upgrade. Broken
applications, operating system updates, improper shutdown, power outages and other factors can
corrupt files on the hard disk that could make the upgrade to Windows 10 difficult. Windows for
years has included built-in utilities that can fix most of these common problems. Be warned, you
will need to get your hands dirty with the command line for some of these actions.
The first one we will start with is the check disk command that scans your hard disk for errors and
makes attempts to fix them. If you are upgrading from a previous version of Windows, sometimes
corrupted system files can prevent setup from working properly. See the following article for
instructions:
How to Check if Your Computers Hard Disk Drive is Bad
Also, run the System File Checker utility that will scan your system and attempt to fix broken
operating system files:

Click Start (Windows 8 users, press Windows key + X > Command Prompt (Admin)

Type: CMD, from the results, right click CMD

Click Run as Administrator

At the Command Prompt, type: sfc /scannow

This will check for any integrity violations

When complete, restart your computer

For computers running Windows 8 or later, another powerful command line utility users can run is
the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool that is used to service a Windows
installation. Similar to the System File Checker utility, you can use DISM to correct corrupted
system files and determine the status of the system.

Press Windows key + X

Click Command Prompt (Admin)

Type each command at the prompt then hit enter after each scan is complete)

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

2. Disconnect non-essential devices attached to your computer.

If you have non-essential external devices (printer, scanner, etc.) attached to your computer
during installation, these can interfere with the setup engine and prevent the installation from
completing because Windows 10 is trying to detect and install them. So, keep the bare essentials
attached, keyboard and mouse. If you have an external hard disk or USB thumb drive attached,
disconnect those too, I notice those can confuse setup.

3. Disable your Antivirus utility, non-essential services, and startup programs.

If you are upgrading from a previous version of Windows or a previous Windows 10 build, a
typical blocker for Windows setup is security utilities. Disable them; these include Antivirus,
AntiSpyware and Firewall utilities. In most cases, it is strongly recommended you uninstall these
security utilities and install versions compatible with Windows 10. Norton offered a free upgrade
to a compatible version of Windows 10 one of my systems.

4. Make sure you install the latest updates for your current version of Windows.
I have noticed before a new version of Windows launches; Microsoft might offer fixes that can
make the upgrade go smoother. You can choose this option during the Windows 10 setup wizard,
but it seems to take forever, instead, run Windows Update manually from within your current
version of Windows. Click Start > All Programs > Windows Update (or press Windows key + R >
type: wuapp.exe > hit Enter key) click Check for updates.

5. Make sure you have full administrative privileges.

If you are using a standard account, this can prevent the Windows 10 App from presenting the
Windows 10 offer. If you are installing from the Media Creation Tool, that will be blocked too since
setup wont have the privilege to write setup files to the hard disk.

Press Windows key + R

Type: control userpasswords then hit Enter on your keyboard

Click Change account type

Make sure your account privileges is set to Administrator.

If your computer is part of a business network, you will need to demote your PC to Workgroup
mode.

Heres What You Can Do if Windows

10 Upgrade Fails
Andre Da Costa | October 27, 2015 in How-To

The Windows 10 upgrade is free, but sometimes the installation can fail. If youre having
problems getting the upgrade to take, heres a few reasons why the upgrade failed and what you
can do for a successful upgrade.

Make Your Windows 10 Upgrade Successful

Disconnect non-essential devices attached to your computer.

If you have non-essential external devices (printer, scanner etc.) attached to your computer
during installation these can interfere with the setup engine and prevent the installation from
completing because Windows 10 is trying to detect and install them. So, keep the bare essentials
attached, keyboard and mouse.
Disable your Antivirus utility, non-essential services, and startup programs.
If you are upgrading from a previous version of Windows or a former Windows 10 build, a
common blocker for Windows setup is security utilities. Disable them; these include Antivirus,
AntiSpyware and Firewall utilities. In most cases, it is strongly recommended you actually
uninstall these security utilities and install versions compatible with Windows 10.
Background programs that start with Windows can also prevent a successful installation.
Configure Windows to do a clean boot before upgrading. For more, read our article: Use
Windows 8 Task Manager to Disable Startup Programs.

Faulty RAM (Memory)

Sometimes bad memory modules can be a factor into why Windows Setup refuses to install. Try
removing or reducing the amount of installed RAM to a single stick. If you dont know which RAM
module might be faulty, try switching around the memory modules between different memory
banks. On my workstation I noticed an issue after setup was complete, Windows 10 kept crashing
with the error message DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE, so I switched one of the modules
from memory bank 2 to 3 and the system booted the PC without a problem.
If switching memory banks does not work, you might have faulty memory modules. For this, I use
memtest86+ to scan them to determine which might be faulty. This runs from a boot disk or CD
and should eliminate or confirm if one or more of your memory sticks are bad or the SPD values
in the BIOS are correct. Let it run for as long as you can: 2,4,6,8 or more hours, if no errors by
then your RAM is OK. http://www.memtest.org/
Disconnect multiple hard disks.
If you have more than one hard disk installed in your computer, disconnect all except the target
hard disk where Windows 10 will be installed. If you have a RAID (Redundant Array of
Inexpensive Disks) configuration, disable your RAID controller. If you have an external hard disk
or USB key attached, disconnect those too, I notice those can confuse setup. Also, disable
General USB Devices (example Smart Card Reader).

Make sure you have enough disk space available.

Windows 10 requires a minimum 16 GBs (32 bit) or 20 GBs (64 bit) of disk space. If your hard
disk is full, this might prevent Windows Setup from successfully completing.
Some things you can do to free up disk space:
Move older files (Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos) to an external hard disk.
Uninstall older programs.
See the following Groovypost articles for the many ways you can free up disk space:

Five Ways to Reclaim Windows Disk Space groovyPost.com

Windows 8.1 Tip: Manage Modern Apps and Free Up Disk Space

If you are getting an error message that your System Reserved Partition is too small, then you
will need to enlarge it.
The system reserve partition needs to be at least 300 to 450 MBs.
Press Windows key + R
Type: diskmgmt.msc
Hit Enter
Click the system drive to view the size.
Make sure you select the right partition during setup.
If you are performing a clean install or dual booting, Windows creates additional partitions during
setup. Make sure you select the right one. Some persons will make the mistake of selecting the
System Reserved Partition which is used to store recovery files.

Restore redirected Personal folders to their original location.

If you keep your personal folders on another partition or drive for storage benefits, this actually
might prevent Windows from installing properly. The recommendation is you restore them to their
original location. Although Microsoft officials have said the configuration is still supported, I still
come across errors as a result of it.

Make sure your system actually meets the minimum system requirements to run Windows
10.

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster

RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)

Free hard disk space: 16 GB

Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

A Microsoft account and Internet access

Even some systems that meet these requirements might not be compatible with Windows 10.
To install Windows 10 on your PC, the processor (CPU) must support the following features:
Physical Address Extension (PAE), NX, and SSE2. Most CPUs have support for these features,
so if you receive this error, it is likely because the NX feature is not enabled on your system.
Download CPU-Z http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
You can use a free utility such as CPU-Z to determine if your systems processor supports these
extensions. If does and you are still prevented from upgrading, you likely need to enable the
extension your system BIOS or you need to update the BIOS itself. Such updates can often be

obtained from the manufacturer of your computer website or from the manufacturer of your
motherboard.

Next: Advanced Troubleshooting Tips