I finally upgraded to Windows 10 ... but very nearly didn't.
I build my own PCs from scratch so how hard could it be?
Famous last words.
The laptop went fine.
I burnt the Windows 10 64-bit ISO to DVD and it was all sorted within an hour or so.
It was a clean install so then began the laborious process of installing all the software and setting it up.
Still, no issues and it was all done and dusted within a day.
The PC however, that is an entirely different story.
I almost gave up on the idea several times.
I decided to take the opportunity to upgrade the system (C) disk at the same time, so replaced the 120GB SSD with a 250GB.
Again, a clean install from DVD and within half an hour or so Windows 10 was running on the PC.
Great!
Then the problems started.
Windows 10 helpfully (
) automatically downloads and installs updates and drivers.
Unlike previous versions, there's no easy way to prevent it; there is a method but it's a bit hacky.
So it downloaded and installed the NVIDIA graphics driver and then all of the windows disappeared from the screen.
Windows seemed to be working but whatever was clicked on only showed in the taskbar, not on the monitor.
Several formats and reinstalls later I gave up and did a clean install of Windows 7. Installed the graphics driver and it all worked as expected.
Then, when I was setting up my screens, I noticed that although the plasma (which is connected to the HDMI port) was set as display 1 and the two monitors were 2 and 3, it was in fact monitor 2 which had been set as the primary display.
I immediately realised that the Windows 10 driver must be setting the plasma as the primary display, despite it being switched off.
So another format and install of Windows 10 and sure enough, that's exactly what had been happening. Ironically, if the plasma was on when Windows 10 was installed, it wasn't set as the primary display. WTF?!
It was a 2 second fix - I simply had to set monitor 2 as the primary display but of course I had to use the plasma to do it as that's where the windows were showing.
That took 2 fucking days to resolve!
Then the real fun started.
Going through the new features and apps and setting them up, I suddenly got a BSOD.
Years and years without a BSOD in Windows 7 and then I get one within hours on Windows 10.
They kept occurring and it was a different error each time, with no additional error codes or anything.
Just BSOD, freezing, crashing, all kinds of issues.
I knew it wasn't hardware as it was all working perfectly fine on Windows 7 and the only thing which had changed was the SSD, but that had also been used on Windows 7 without issue.
I must have done about 30, yes 30 clean installations in an attempt to identify the problem.
8 frustratingly annoying days later I found out what was causing it.
It was simply due to having too many files (.mp3) in the 'Music' folder. Yes, really. No, me either.
Originally there were approximately 20K files taking up 100GB.
I reduced it to around 10K and 50GB and no more problems.
So, around 10 days after starting, I finally have the PC running on Windows 10.
Maybe that's why it's called Windows 10...
Not sure I like it though so may revert to Windows 7