Windows 10 Compatibility

[Jub]

I'm majorly on the fence about getting Windows 10 on my desktop. I had it on my rarely used, and since given away, laptop and it worked fine but for my gaming desktop I have a few more worries about the exact compatibility with my parts. The compatibility checker provided by Microsoft does a piss poor job at giving a part-by-part breakdown of what is and isn't compatible. It just says that I shouldn't have any issues.

What I want to know is the likelihood that this report is true and that all my games and programs will continue to run as expected. I'd also want a part-by-part breakdown of my machine and confirmation that it will work at least as well as it does with Windows 7. I'm not about to ask anybody to do that for me, but if anybody knows of a program or method of getting this info without reading over lists for each component and driver I'd much appreciate the info.

[Ace Pace]

I have three different answers.

1) Very few things have changed behind the scenes with Windows 7 till Windows 10, I have yet to run into a program that doesn't work on my Win10 box.
2) You can use the Upgrade Assistant for Windows 8.1 to see if your box has any issues, this checks your hardware and software. If it works on 8.1 it'll probably work on 10.
3) Microsoft provides the following guidance.

For details about your specific devices and apps, check the compatibility report that is a part of the Get Windows 10 app. To do this, open the Get Windows 10 app, select the menu in the upper left corner of the app, and then select Check your PC (or Your PC is good to go) to see any known compatibility issues and recommended resolutions.

[Bedlam]

I've recently gotten a new computer with Windows 10 on it and copied over most of my hard drive onto it and I'm still getting problems running most of my games from steam, I get the preparing the launch window for a second or two then it disappears and nothing happens. According to steam itself the game was run and I haven't managed to find a fix yet. I've tried reinstalling a few times for no difference.

However, apart from this (admittedly fairly annoying) issue I've not have any other problems.

[Jub]

I have three different answers.

1) Very few things have changed behind the scenes with Windows 7 till Windows 10, I have yet to run into a program that doesn't work on my Win10 box.

Yeah, they haven't changed that much under the hood. I wouldn't be overly concerned if I still had my laptop on hand as a backup, and even then rolling back would be more of a pain in my ass and a waste of a day than anything. I'd still like it if Microsoft or some 3rd party would compile a list of edge cases and known issues just in case.

2) You can use the Upgrade Assistant for Windows 8.1 to see if your box has any issues, this checks your hardware and software. If it works on 8.1 it'll probably work on 10.

The only thing I'm that worried about is my graphics card, it's a 7870 and on the older end of things at this stage. My CPU, motherboard, and ram should all be fine.

3) Microsoft provides the following guidance.

For details about your specific devices and apps, check the compatibility report that is a part of the Get Windows 10 app. To do this, open the Get Windows 10 app, select the menu in the upper left corner of the app, and then select Check your PC (or Your PC is good to go) to see any known compatibility issues and recommended resolutions.

I've done that last bit, the report is pretty useless. It says I'm compatible, but I've heard that there are more than a few corner cases where that program says you're good to go while not working as intended.

Honestly, I'm probably worried over nothing, but I'd rather not run the upgrade find that something doesn't work, and then spend a day fixing it.

[Jub]

I've recently gotten a new computer with Windows 10 on it and copied over most of my hard drive onto it and I'm still getting problems running most of my games from steam, I get the preparing the launch window for a second or two then it disappears and nothing happens. According to steam itself the game was run and I haven't managed to find a fix yet. I've tried reinstalling a few times for no difference.

However, apart from this (admittedly fairly annoying) issue I've not have any other problems.

I've used 10 on my laptop, and run some games on it. It seemed to work okay, but I've heard enough anecdotes about unexpected bad stuff that I figured I'd ask around.

[Ace Pace]

The only thing I'm that worried about is my graphics card, it's a 7870 and on the older end of things at this stage. My CPU, motherboard, and ram should all be fine.

I am pretty sure I upgraded to Win10 when I still have a 7xxx line and it worked fine. I just gave it away so I can't test it for you.

[Jub]

The only thing I'm that worried about is my graphics card, it's a 7870 and on the older end of things at this stage. My CPU, motherboard, and ram should all be fine.

I am pretty sure I upgraded to Win10 when I still have a 7xxx line and it worked fine. I just gave it away so I can't test it for you.

No worries. I've already convinced myself that I should just upgrade. I like most of 10's features and I'm like 99% that everything will work just fine.

It's just one of those things where I figured I'd ask around first.

[Borgholio]

All my computers updated to Win10 fine, including those that the upgrade assistant said were clearly not compatible. I've had very few issues. Only one worth mentioning on my personal gaming PC was an incorrect driver being selected by Windows for my USB WiFi adapter. I just had to manually install drivers from the manufacturer website and that was that. On the "incompatible" machine, I just installed a Windows 8 driver for the video card (low-end Nvidia onboard graphics card) and that was fixed.

[Jub]

My upgrade was pretty easy. Though they really should just have the installer disable windows defender if it causes so many issues.

[SpottedKitty]

Only one worth mentioning on my personal gaming PC was an incorrect driver being selected by Windows for my USB WiFi adapter. I just had to manually install drivers from the manufacturer website and that was that. On the "incompatible" machine, I just installed a Windows 8 driver for the video card (low-end Nvidia onboard graphics card) and that was fixed.

Keep an eye on that situation — I'm on a forum for 3D graphics, and several people have reported Weird Stuff™ where a Win10 upgrade has chosen works-but-not-completely-compatible drivers, mainly but not all for graphics cards. At the next regular update, if you've installed the proper manufacturer's drivers, Win10 boots them and reinstalls its own choice. This hasn't happened to everyone, but a number of people have reverted to 7 or 8.

[Borgholio]

Keep an eye on that situation — I'm on a forum for 3D graphics, and several people have reported Weird Stuff™ where a Win10 upgrade has chosen works-but-not-completely-compatible drivers, mainly but not all for graphics cards. At the next regular update, if you've installed the proper manufacturer's drivers, Win10 boots them and reinstalls its own choice. This hasn't happened to everyone, but a number of people have reverted to 7 or 8.

No issues and it's been several months so I'm not too worried.

[Vendetta]

Windows 10 overriding manufacturer's latest drivers with the ones provided on Windows Update was fixed shortly after release.

I had a bit of trouble with my old laptop's 8600M, but that was also a 32bit install so was poorly supported on that front as well.

[Raj Ahten]

Avoid windows 10 like the plague. I've encountered an issue where to the start button will not function and most programs have to be accessed by using desktop icons or manually going through program files to find executables. Looking at the microsoft support forums this has been going on since July to a fair number of people and there is still no fix in sight. Upgrading to Windows 10 is the worst computer decision I've made in a long while as its crippled my machine for now and likely into the foreseeable future.

[Ace Pace]

Avoid windows 10 like the plague. I've encountered an issue where to the start button will not function and most programs have to be accessed by using desktop icons or manually going through program files to find executables. Looking at the microsoft support forums this has been going on since July to a fair number of people and there is still no fix in sight. Upgrading to Windows 10 is the worst computer decision I've made in a long while as its crippled my machine for now and likely into the foreseeable future.

This sounds like the exact same things with upgrading to anything new. Initially there are teething issues, this is why workplaces don't upgrade right away. This is also why downgrade exists. If your computer is so crippled, just downgrade.

[Jub]

I'm happy to report that I've not had a single issue since upgrading. I know it's only been a few days, but so far Windows 10 just feels like Windows 7+.

[Vendetta]

Avoid windows 10 like the plague. I've encountered an issue where to the start button will not function and most programs have to be accessed by using desktop icons or manually going through program files to find executables. Looking at the microsoft support forums this has been going on since July to a fair number of people and there is still no fix in sight. Upgrading to Windows 10 is the worst computer decision I've made in a long while as its crippled my machine for now and likely into the foreseeable future.

This sounds like the exact same things with upgrading to anything new. Initially there are teething issues, this is why workplaces don't upgrade right away. This is also why downgrade exists. If your computer is so crippled, just downgrade.

There are actually a whole bunch of possible solutions for that issue.

http://www.urtech.ca/2015/05/solved-win ... -function/

Usually goes away if you just make a new user account as well.

[Raj Ahten]

Avoid windows 10 like the plague. I've encountered an issue where to the start button will not function and most programs have to be accessed by using desktop icons or manually going through program files to find executables. Looking at the microsoft support forums this has been going on since July to a fair number of people and there is still no fix in sight. Upgrading to Windows 10 is the worst computer decision I've made in a long while as its crippled my machine for now and likely into the foreseeable future.

This sounds like the exact same things with upgrading to anything new. Initially there are teething issues, this is why workplaces don't upgrade right away. This is also why downgrade exists. If your computer is so crippled, just downgrade.

There are actually a whole bunch of possible solutions for that issue.

http://www.urtech.ca/2015/05/solved-win ... -function/

Usually goes away if you just make a new user account as well.

From what I've seen in my research the new user account is not a silver bullet. A lot of folks still have the problem after doing that or it just comes back in a week or so after they do it.