windows 10 upgrade - onsite and remote installation instructions - tips and advice

For most, the Windows 10 upgrade was painful in the past 3 years, yet lately, as of Nov. 2019, it became faster and faster with some caveats. 

 

Here are the caveats: 

1. network connectivity on or off  // if on domain, stay connected, if off domain unplug network - speed versus driver and softwaer updates. on network 2+ hours. off network, 45 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes max, both desktop and server samples and examples.

2. multiple monitors -- unplug extra monitors until upgrade is complete otherwise multiple reboots on and off network will get confused which monitor to use and just freeze and go black during reboots.

3. docking stations for laptops -- remove laptop from docking station to perform upgrade. make sure you are hardwired on your laptop if you can be. some of the newer laptops don't have RJ45 connections, so the untypical Type-C USB to Ethernet adapter is appreciated if available. You have to be on 10Mb download speed or higher for Windows 10 upgrade while connected to the Internet. note, the docking station profile and undocked profile have fun with this one in a bad way. get off the dock and let the laptop upgrade on its own without the extraneous drivers and attachments

4. application failure like quickbooks having to have the client enrollment cert file renamed or removed - see Intuit guide for this. i prefer off network at this point for speed and most applications will show up as migratable during the compatibility check and bringing along applications that will work and not that will be removed. as long as you have your software and serial numbers you should be okay. if some are registered and locked to your profile and OS and the upgrade decouples this, you might have to contact your OEM software support group to get them re-registered.

5. OEM drivers having to take a little while to update and upgrade once you get back on your high speed internet connection, so chill out for 20-30 minutes after update was required. Just be patient for OEM video drivers and the like to install and bounce your video and ding-dong bing-bong your sound out and ports and other devices and ports (the .inf stuff), etc.

 

Now with those warnings being said, if you are feeling froggy, we can go ahead and create a few Windows 10-1903 jump drives to upgrade/install windows 10 on your computer, and/or do the same on other computers as well in lieu of getting replacement computers.

 

INSTRUCTIONS (resource links at the bottom of this page and REMOTE Installation note at the bottom. Read it before proceeding.)

Step 1. Download Media Creation Tool, and run it and Create Media on USB jump drive and let it format it,

            OR just run the Upgrade This PC step and carefully follow along BUT do the steps below FIRST  up to step e.

Step 2. Identify machine to update and do the following

a.Uninstall antivirus program and reboot

b.Enable the local administrator account and password and set it to something we know like yourfavoritephrase (not the domain admin password) (Start | Run | control userpasswords2 | Advanced, Administrator enable & change password) // more techie. cmd admin prompt. net use Administrator /active:yes, net use Administrator * and then enter a strong passphrase as password remember it. remove local user current password, net user Username * and press enter twice, and that will blank out the password.

c.Make sure the data and files and backups are done for what its worth. Most should be on the server, or in the cloud, and email is in the cloud (exchange), and bookmarks and favorites are easy to recover, and printers, and shares will be transferred just fine

d.If there are multiple monitors (!!!)… unplug the 2nd and 3rd monitors and only have one monitor installed. If it’s a laptop, undock it and make it standalone with power cable plugged in

e.Once (a through d) are done, unplug the network cable or turn off wifi

f.insert the jump drive

g.run the setup.exe

h.follow the installation steps to save programs, user files, etc. accept and acknowledge agreements

i.when you are done, it should start automatically and reboot several times and take about 45-60 minutes to complete. Once you get here and done, login and, you can remove the USB jump drive.

j.once done, login and make sure all looks good, accept the settings by default, yet DO NOT accept the Hello and other connect devices and move your account to the cloud

k.When that is done, the video card and OEM driver(s) might need updating, and to do so, …

l.Plug in network cable and reboot

m.Log back in and see that network connectivity exits via wifi or network cable and wait 15-20 minutes and let the OEM drivers update

n.Check the activation under (Start | Run | Control | system info – see that Windows Pro is activated

o.Make sure Teamviewer 15 or higher is installed and open and has numbers and codes

p.Check network connections

q.If a laptop, go ahead and plug back into docking station

r.if multiple monitors, plug in secondary and third monitors, let those re-orient themselves

s.Check and open word, excel, outlook, adobe acrobat, printing, networking

Step 3. When done give me a call. 

 

note: re-establish any passwords blanked out in the process just to make sure security is re-established. Windows 10 antivirus is fine. if you wish put your antivirus you like back in. the removal of the existing was to allow Windows to get through all the firewall, security and permission blocks that might have halted a successful upgrade. 

 

REMOTE UPGRADE NOTE: if you are using Teamviewer or some other remote access tool to perform the remote upgrade,  prior to getting started, enable Teamviewer or your remote access to, (1) Run at Startup (as service), and (2) in the Options | Security add an unattended password phrase, and (3) select Allow Administrators remote login to the desktop option.

RESOURCES:

 Media Creation Tool (10-1903, 1909, etc.)

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209 (DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK for EXE)

The various instructions and steps (just in case you need to brief yourself)

 more to come...