Upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows Enterprise 10 LTSC

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by juanriccio, Sep 8, 2020.

  1. juanriccio

    juanriccio MDL Novice

    Jul 17, 2017
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    I have a headless server that I manage mainly by Remote Desktop. It is running Windows 7 Ultimate SP1. I would like to upgrade to Windows 10, in particular I like the LTSC version.

    Is it possible to upgrade without losing installed programs and user data? If so, how? It would be a real mess if I should lose the working installations there.

    I do have a working LTSC image that I installed on another box, but I'm not sure it's going to be useful for this particular purpose. Any help will be appreciated.
     
  2. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

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    #2 Enthousiast, Sep 8, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2020
    Nope not possible directly, first upgrade to 2015 LTSB and next to 2019 LTSC should work.

    There is a publication about modifying 2019 LTSC to be able to directly upgrade from 7 with keeping files and apps but that will result in integtrity errors, according to @whatever127 in the past.

    ps, there always can be incompatible apps when upgrading from 7 > 10.
     
  3. juanriccio

    juanriccio MDL Novice

    Jul 17, 2017
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    Thank you for your answer, @Enthousiast!

    I've got this ISO: Windows 10 Enterprise X64 2016 LTSB en-US MAY 2018 Version 1607 Build 14393.2248
    Do you think it will be OK as a first step (LTSB)? Should I just install it from scratch, or should update process start with Windows 7 running?

    (I hope these questions are not too newbish.)
     
  4. pm67310

    pm67310 MDL Guru

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    Install windows 10 1809 enterprise (upgrade windows 7 )
    regular edition

    And switch to ltsc 1809 after upgrade
     
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  5. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

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    How?
     
  6. pm67310

    pm67310 MDL Guru

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    All operations must offline ! Without networks

    Upgrade windows 7 to windows 10

    With windows 10 1809 iso

    Convert windows 10 1809 pro to enterprise by entering windows 10 enterprise gvlk key , reboot ,

    After that use windows 10 1809 ltsc iso and choose upgrade

    Windows 10 enterprise 1809 to enterprise 1809 ltsc are supported
     
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  7. juanriccio

    juanriccio MDL Novice

    Jul 17, 2017
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    Thanks to @pm67310 for chiming in and to @Enthousiast for checking. So now as a first step I'm downloading en-gb_windows_10_enterprise_2015_ltsb_n_x64_dvd_6848318.iso - is that right?

    I'm not understanding this
    But here's my plan. Does it look good?
    • Firewall the Windows 7 machine away from the internet (firewall running in my router).
    • Mount en-gb_windows_10_enterprise_2015_ltsb_n_x64_dvd_6848318.iso in my Windows7 system and proceed to upgrade by running the setup.exe in the "DVD" drive (virtual: Daemon Tools or something like this).
    • I could be happy like this and not upgrade to LTSC. But if I want to upgrade... ??
     
  8. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

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    No use the normal one, not the N version.
    The upgrade failed for me with the officially 5 year ago released ISO, probably needs to be offline updated first.
    Not really needed.
    Deamon tool should work, extract the ISO to a folder too.
    I would not want to be on that ancient 2015 LTSB.
     
  9. juanriccio

    juanriccio MDL Novice

    Jul 17, 2017
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    Wow @Enthousiast, helpful and quick! Thank you. :)

    Oh thanks... I missed the N bit. Downloading en_windows_10_enterprise_2015_ltsb_x64_dvd_6848446.iso

    I think I'm coming across as a super-noob, but what does offline update mean? How do I do that?

    I trust your judgement. So neither would I. How do I go about bringing 2015 LTSB to 2019 LTSC? Just mount en_windows_10_enterprise_ltsc_2019_x64_dvd_74865958.iso, run setup and I'm good to go?
     
  10. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

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    Pre-integrate the latest updates, using W10UI or by using dism manually.
    Yep, same process.
    To answer this question in some way, i would just upgrade to the latest normal Enterprise and be done with it.
     
  11. AndyMutz

    AndyMutz MDL Senior Member

    Jun 30, 2011
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    you can "sidegrade" enterprise 1809 to LTSC 2019 and keep all apps and programs by changing the EditionID in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion from "Enterprise" to "EnterpriseS", before you start the LTSC setup.
    I have done this a few times in the past.
    a nice side effect of doing it this way is, you will keep the microsoft store and all installed UWP apps after the sidegrade :)

    -andy-
     
  12. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

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    Yes, i know, but last time i checked it, it didn't work.

    Will try again asap.
     
  13. juanriccio

    juanriccio MDL Novice

    Jul 17, 2017
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    After a few tries, I just found out I can't actually upgrade and keep all installed programs and preferences. There's a language issue: I bought this computer second-hand, and its Windows7 has a different installation language, although all messages are in (US)English. If I want to switch to Windows 10, I have to lose several years' worth of installations, configurations, and tweaking.

    Is there a solution besides finding all the necessary iso files in another language?
     
  14. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

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  15. Enthousiast

    Enthousiast MDL Tester

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    All ISOs in all languages are available at the SVF repo's by @GezoeSloog
     
  16. AveYo

    AveYo MDL Expert

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