Microsoft → [WIN8] Updating from 8.0 to 8.1

My wife has an HP laptop that came with 8.0. She has been putting off going to 8.1 because she heard of folks losing their configuration settings when doing the upgrade.

I really haven't been keeping up with all of the W8/W8.1 hoopla, as I am fat, dumb, and happy running my rock-solid W7 configuration on my machine.

Anyway - here is how her machine is configured. Windows 8 was originally set up using a Microsoft account, but her account on the the machine is not tied to the Microsoft account. There are three accounts on the machine - the Microsoft account (only used to register the original set-up), her account, and an account for our grand-daughter.

Is there any danger in her losing her "stuff" as she calls it if she lets it finally do the upgrade to 8.1?

Any tips of pointers on doing the update?

If she chickens out, I will attempt to tackle it this weekend - I just don't want to be the one responsible for her losing her "stuff"!

Thanks in advance.

Well I'll say this... on a system that was updated to 8.1 over 8.0 certain programs didn't work anymore, even uninstalling them, then reinstalling them did nothing. I convinced them to use the restore partition that came with their package system, and before installing any other 3rd party software did the 8.1 update. The software works now. It was like it's requirements were met, but during the process the requirements didn't get re-registered. 8.0 to 8.1 is treated the same as if you were going from 7 to 8.x, not a service pack.

They'll have to update to 8.1 to receive any security updates in the future anyway as it's going to be treated like a required service pack.

Backup anything important, make sure you have the recovery available if absolutely needed, and hopefully you won't have an issue.

I had some dead metro app links I had to delete manually that the update was very bad about cleaning up, and they were to a previous version that no longer existed, however was replaced with a newer version.

I can't quote anything exact anymore but reading over some things.. looking around mainly in this forum I have decided to stick with 8.0 for my laptop(I am happier with my Win 7 pro PC though also). A little research may allow more of an informed decision for her.

My situation probably doesn't help you, but I got a new 8.0 computer, set it up with a local account first, backed it up, did all the updates, and then installed 8.1 without a problem.

I have only seen improvements on my 8.1 machines... the surface pro on 8.1 runs faster, the text entry stutters from 8.0 are gone, it seems peppier overall (now this very well could be due to firmware updates that came with 8.1 for that device since MS makes the hardware)... on my desktop it seems same as it ever was, perhaps a bit faster on boot.

I just disabled my antivirus HIP protection when doing the update, had no issues.

As far as loosing her "Stuff" there is danger in loosing it if you do no upgrades. Any "stuff" that anyone wants to be sure of needs to be BACKED UP. I had no program or data loss during the upgrade. My surface pro is on a windows account, my desktop is still on local accounts.

Why does she "have" to upgrade? I have 8.0 Pro. It is SUPPORTED BY MICROSOFT UNTIL Jan 2016. Before that date Windows 9 will have been released.

I'm going to stay with 8.0, and continue getting Security patches, and wait for Windows 9. When it is released I will decide whether or not to upgrade to it or do the 8.1 and then 8.1.1 upgrades. There is NO NEED to do the 8.1 upgrade before January 2016 when Microsoft support for 8.0 ends. I may even decide to continue with 8.0 after support ends but whatever I do I will NOT be BULLIED into making a PREMATURE decision about it like Microsoft is trying to force me to do....counting on my being an ignorant of computers user who can be easily bullied.

Microsoft can act like a bully to get one to upgrade (just told me Help is no longer available for IE 10 on Windows 8 and that if I want help for IE I must upgrade to Windows 8.1.1). That's crazy. Microsoft is supporting Windows 8.0 until January 2016 but is refusing to support IE 10 on Windows 8! I know how to deal with bullies and giving into their demands is NOT how you deal with a bully. There are plenty of Windows 8 websites where I can get help for IE10 (but it is easier to click on "Help" on the IE toolbar). With all the security problems with IE, I'd be a fool to use it as my default browser so totally avoiding it won't be difficult or getting help from a non Microsoft source.

Why would you encourage your wife to give in to a bully? Microsoft deserves NO ONE'S respect any longer.

Why put it off? It is going to be inevitable that she will have to do the upgrade, either now or later.

No disrespect, but stay with 8.0 if you want, Her choice is to go to 8.1.

I am just trying to make sure the transition goes easily.

I don't consider the upgrade "inevitable". That is where we differ. I still have XP Pro SP2 on my older machine. It hasn't had security patches since the summer of 2010 and I am not a bit worried about security issues with it. I may never upgrade Windows 8.0 Pro.

As others have said, the 8.0-8.1 is treated like a whole new installation of windows. The system will create a windows.old folder, and dump everything in there, backing up your settings and such, and importing them into the new install. When it boots, it will be like a new machine - insofar as the OS goes.

Treat it like a vista-7 upgrade, or a 7-8 upgrade, backup your stuff you can't live without, make sure you have the software you want running in case it also gets tanked in the upgrade, and have at it. My upgrade, while time-consuming, was rather flawless as far as data/software goes.

I personally haven't used it enough to know if the update was "worth" it or not, but I did it anyway to test it out.

Thanks - all my wife is worried about is her iTunes and email. She doesn't run any software other that those two items and of course a browser.

When her old machine crapped the bed (a Windows 7) machine, I was able to recover most of what she had on the old hard drive using File Scavenger, but she lost all of her email and her account settings/favorites.

You can make a backup of the itunes library, and then re-import it if anything goes astray. Guide: »support.apple.com/kb/ht1751

To restore (in the worst case) just hold the shift key while opening itunes and it will ask you to point it to a library.

Yesterday when I saw this thread I ignored it but I just visited a friend who I talked into completing the upgrade via the store and it was almost like the update wiped her system... your average person would definitely feel they lost their stuff.

The upgrade didn't remember her live settings, her user folders were empty and there was no way to progress unless she created a new internet account or used an existing internet account.

Since I couldn't shut the system down without creating an account and power button wasn't accepted, I was able to shift-F10, drop to DOS and saw all her data in a user folder. I used shutdown -I to reboot and starting back up we created a new account and all her data was on her drive but the installation fouled up her original profile to the point where it didn't exist.

Well, that was painless.

Last night she backed up all the important files, logged in to the machine on the MS account, went to the MS Store and got the upgrade started, then went to bed.

Got up this morning, accepted the license terms, and let the installation complete.

Nothing was lost; everything works as before - didn't need any of the backed up files.

Thanks for all the tips.

She has a Microsoft account?....not a LOCAL account! That's terrible for her privacy. Another reason to avoid the update. I could never update anyway because there is no way for me to log into the Microsoft store. Microsoft should make the update available on line and this is another reason to avoid it. They made it available only from the store in order to place even more spying crap on your computer.

Thats exactly right Mele!!!

You do know you could have done the upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1 via the Windows Store using a local account right?

Before I got the 8.1 ISO from Microsoft, I did exactly that using my local account.

You can read about it in this thread

»[WIN8] Windows 8.1

My posts are near the bottom of page #1 where I use a local account to open the store, select the upgrade, and allow it to run.

--Brian

You don't read very well, do you? The MS account was/is only used for the set-up of the machine. As indicated in my original post, her local account is not tied to the MS account in any way.

These was already an MS account that was used to originally register the machine, so it was no big deal.

That was my experience as well. I did have several full backup images ready in case...

If you go to the Windows Themes page, there's always a pop-up link on the bottom to upgrade to 8.1. It'll open up the Windows Store but you can upgrade with a local account. I did it that way. I only set up a Microsoft account recently because I wanted to get a couple of apps from the store, but otherwise I always operate on a local account.

»windows.microsoft.com/en ··· t_themes

Did your wife's laptop ever get a notification to remind her to upgrade from 8 to 8.1? The reason I ask is that there was an "required" update that Microsoft published on 10/22/2013 that may display "a notification that helps you update to Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1....when you unlock or log on to the computer."

I made a post about it here

»[WIN8] KB2885699

And, in case you want to get right to the nuts and bolts, here is the link for the KB Article from Microsoft

»support.microsoft.com/kb/2885699

--Brian

KB2885699 shows up as an "Optional" update on my Win8 Pro system.

What happens if you don't update to Win 8.1 until after May 13? Will you get the 8.1.1 update?

JohnD

Not everyone can upgrade via the Microsoft store. You cannot if you have disabled UAC in the registry.

Considering you have until Jan 2016 to upgrade 8.0 to 8.1, I'm sure the 8.1.1 update will still be waiting for you.

I have not gotten a single nag, notice, etc about any need to upgrade from 8.0 Pro but I suspect that may be because 8.0 is supported by Microsoft until Jan 2016. The nags will probably come in December 2015, perhaps, along with warnings that Windows Defender will cease to work after Jan 2016 unless the upgrade is completed.

Have PC Admin account for admin tasks, and Microsoft Account for daily tasks, (standard user setting) works fine, privacy is fine, use onedrive off and on, Skype, and various other features. Been working perfectly fine!