Forum Discussion
Bypassing Windows 10 Features upgrade procedure's full system backup in Windows.old folder
Hello everyone.
This post concerns the Windows Development Team and must be considered as a new Feature Request.
How difficult would be to create two options for users that are about to perform a Windows Features upgrade in order to choose either the standard upgrade procedure which is very time consuming even with modern speedy PCs because a complete system backup is created every time and stored in the Windows.old folder or as a second option doing an in-place upgrade of Windows by bypassing completely the full system's backup however leaving all installed Apps, Users' Files, Settings and all non-microsoft device drivers unaffected.
The second option is useful for people that backup their personal files frequently and also keep updated full system images of their Pcs prior of doing any Windows Features Upgrade so sparing valuable time that is wasted unnecessarily when following the standard upgrade procedure.
It would be very convenient for users to have both of these options and choose at will what's best for them.
Thank you very much.
13 Replies
Interesting suggestion. Just for clarification the Windows.old folder is not simply a backup of files. The upgrade process performs what is called and OS Swap. To somewhat oversimplify it, the new OS is installed in a temp folder, then all the settings, user data, drivers, etc. are exported from the old and imported into the new. The the Windows folder is renamed to Windows.old and replaced with the new OS one. Again, this is an oversimplification of the process, but it is designed for easy rollback.
- So it will be created either way, the only suggestion here is to whether delete it automatically or let the user first evaluate the new installation and if every thing is alright then delete that folder which is the safest and better option, logically speaking.
- Hi,
as someone who does in-place upgrades/upgrades/clean installs/Reinstalls etc very frequently, at some points I felt the need for such option as well.
then I thought about this Fact:
there is Already an option, if you choose to remove everything during an in-place upgrade, the Windows.old folder will be a lot smaller and only contain "users" folder from the old installation.
I think, they didn't add that option because when someone chooses to do in-place upgrade and also chooses to keep apps and files, then having the Full Windows.old folder would help them if anything goes wrong.
and things Can go wrong, one of the hundreds of examples would be when a user is doing an in-place upgrade, chooses to keep his/her files and apps and during the installation a power outage occurs, or a hardware malfunctions or anything else, literally. in that case, the same user who Trusted Microsoft to keep his/her files and apps safe, would lose his/her data, and then blame who? the electrical company? nope, they will blame Microsoft.
Another thing,
it does Not cause any problems or slow downs on SSD disks and they are Quite popular and used these days, they have been around for more than 10 years now.
the more we go into the future and the more time passes, more people start using SSDs everyday.Hello.
The point of my suggestion is to give the freedom to the users to choose ( for all the reasons i explained in detail in my original post ) what's best for them taking of course into account whatever risks their chosen option implies and it does not concern the speed of the hardware Windows run on. All is about is bypassing unnecessary time wasted for backups already taken by end users as full system images (externally or internally) prior of upgrading Windows.
Thank you very much.
- You're welcome,
it's okay, I just explained it from a different perspective,
ultimately it's up to the developers to receive all the feedbacks and decide whether or not to implement a feature 🙂
