Windows has been prompting me to upgrade to 11 for some time but, having a relatively low powered laptop running the Home version of Windows, I have been hesitant to make the jump to 11 as I didn't see any major advantage in doing so and was worried that I might take a performance hit from what I assume is a larger operating system.
In the past week or so the prompts have become more persistent and pointed out that the current release of Windows 10 is the final one which will reach the end of servicing (the prompts made it sound more imminent, but the actual end of servicing date is October 14, 2025). The prompts gave me a button to click to accept the upgrade or schedule it for a later time, but did not have any obvious way to cancel or decline the upgrade.
I decided that maybe it was time to do the upgrade. I have subsequently reverted back to 10 (within a few hours of the upgrade), but thought I would share my experience here ...
The upgrade took over an hour, and when it was completed my laptop was running extremely slow (took several minutes just to sign in). I was prompted that my video drivers needed updating, but was not guided into a process to do that. I found the environment unfamiliar (e.g. the Windows key did not seem to do ANYTHING, about half the shortcuts previously on my desktop had disappeared). I could not work out how to run DataCAD (shortcut was gone, no start menu appeared when I pressed the Windows key, and I subsequently discovered that the exe was missing).
I found that several exe files for programs I used frequently were missing (thought perhaps they had been moved, but a search of my C drive did not find them anywhere). A basic internet search regarding the missing files seemed to suggest that files could be missing if I hadn't selected to "Keep personal files and apps" during the update ... I don't remember seeing such an option and would certainly have selected to do so if I have been presented with the option.
One (of the many) missing executable was for Password Safe (a password manager that is probably fairly dated but which I have been using for many years and does everything I need it to). I downloaded the installer and tried to re-install it, but my system just seemed to hang and the installation never proceeded. I was getting more than a little worried by this stage.
Further investigation revealed the extent of missing application executables (the exe files for all 4 installed versions of DataCAD were missing, as were several others ... notepad++, infranview, vlc, examdif, Foxit PDF Reader to name a few). Other programs were still there (all the Microsoft apps were still there, and Softech's Sprit was still working).
At this stage I decided to go back to Windows 10 rather than battle any further with 11. Fortunately Microsoft do provide instructions for doing so (although you need to do it within 10 days of upgrading).
Reverting to 10 did not bring back the missing files, but fortunately I have been able to download and re-install all the missing things I have noticed so far. Only the actual exe files were missing, so in all cases I have come back to where I was prior to the upgrade without having to reconfigure anything (I selected the 'Repair' option on those installers that offered it).
On investigation it appears that 32 bit executables were deleted by the upgrade whilst 64 bit ones were untouched. I didn't see any prompts about this during the upgrade, so it does seem a bit extreme that it should do that without any warning.
I didn't take notes during the upgrade, so can't swear that I didn't unwittingly select something that caused the problems (although I'm pretty sure that I didn't). Just thought I would warn others who may be in a similar situation.
I have now configured my PC to not upgrade past Windows 10 version 22H2 (using instructions I found at https://www.howtogeek.com/765377/how-to-block-the-windows-11-update-from-installing-on-windows-10/) and all appears to be running normally.
In the past week or so the prompts have become more persistent and pointed out that the current release of Windows 10 is the final one which will reach the end of servicing (the prompts made it sound more imminent, but the actual end of servicing date is October 14, 2025). The prompts gave me a button to click to accept the upgrade or schedule it for a later time, but did not have any obvious way to cancel or decline the upgrade.
I decided that maybe it was time to do the upgrade. I have subsequently reverted back to 10 (within a few hours of the upgrade), but thought I would share my experience here ...
The upgrade took over an hour, and when it was completed my laptop was running extremely slow (took several minutes just to sign in). I was prompted that my video drivers needed updating, but was not guided into a process to do that. I found the environment unfamiliar (e.g. the Windows key did not seem to do ANYTHING, about half the shortcuts previously on my desktop had disappeared). I could not work out how to run DataCAD (shortcut was gone, no start menu appeared when I pressed the Windows key, and I subsequently discovered that the exe was missing).
I found that several exe files for programs I used frequently were missing (thought perhaps they had been moved, but a search of my C drive did not find them anywhere). A basic internet search regarding the missing files seemed to suggest that files could be missing if I hadn't selected to "Keep personal files and apps" during the update ... I don't remember seeing such an option and would certainly have selected to do so if I have been presented with the option.
One (of the many) missing executable was for Password Safe (a password manager that is probably fairly dated but which I have been using for many years and does everything I need it to). I downloaded the installer and tried to re-install it, but my system just seemed to hang and the installation never proceeded. I was getting more than a little worried by this stage.
Further investigation revealed the extent of missing application executables (the exe files for all 4 installed versions of DataCAD were missing, as were several others ... notepad++, infranview, vlc, examdif, Foxit PDF Reader to name a few). Other programs were still there (all the Microsoft apps were still there, and Softech's Sprit was still working).
At this stage I decided to go back to Windows 10 rather than battle any further with 11. Fortunately Microsoft do provide instructions for doing so (although you need to do it within 10 days of upgrading).
Reverting to 10 did not bring back the missing files, but fortunately I have been able to download and re-install all the missing things I have noticed so far. Only the actual exe files were missing, so in all cases I have come back to where I was prior to the upgrade without having to reconfigure anything (I selected the 'Repair' option on those installers that offered it).
On investigation it appears that 32 bit executables were deleted by the upgrade whilst 64 bit ones were untouched. I didn't see any prompts about this during the upgrade, so it does seem a bit extreme that it should do that without any warning.
I didn't take notes during the upgrade, so can't swear that I didn't unwittingly select something that caused the problems (although I'm pretty sure that I didn't). Just thought I would warn others who may be in a similar situation.
I have now configured my PC to not upgrade past Windows 10 version 22H2 (using instructions I found at https://www.howtogeek.com/765377/how-to-block-the-windows-11-update-from-installing-on-windows-10/) and all appears to be running normally.
joshhuggins, Mark Bell likes this
David Henderson
dhSoftware - Add-on Macros for DataCAD
dhSoftware - Add-on Macros for DataCAD
