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(I've done those rollbacks a lot during this beta.)Īfter the upgrade is complete, you can create an ISO file from the cached upgrade files. If something goes wrong, you can roll back easily. The staged installer used with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 is as close to failsafe as software gets. I have done hundreds of clean installs and upgrades, on physical and virtual machines, using the Windows 8.1/10 installer family. I know long-time Windows users have wake-up-in-a-cold-sweat nightmares about Windows upgrades gone horribly wrong. But Fast ring updates are delivered only via Windows Update, and at this point we don't know how Microsoft will make ISO copies of the final Windows 10 release available for download. That's mandatory if you want to set up a dual-boot installation, for example.įor the Insider Preview, Microsoft makes an ISO available for download with every Slow ring release. Having that installer image available gives you access to some installation and repair options that you don't have otherwise, such as the option to create bootable media. If you are old school, you want an ISO because installing Windows on bare metal is just what one does, period. Review: Goodbye, Windows 8 hello, Windows 10īut a lot of my readers want traditional installer files, either on a DVD or in an ISO image file that is the equivalent of a DVD.
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FAQ: You've got questions, Ed Bott's got answers.Microsoft: More than 75 million devices.
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