Windows 10 - Yea or Nay?

Mike_W7TUS

I am running my 6500, Maestro, DDUtil and HRD under Windows 7 and all is working together very well.  The Windows 10 free upgrade is about to expire  and I am wondering if Windows 10 is ready for the Flex.  While I would hate to pass up a free upgrade,  I would really hate to have a huge hassle trying to get all the pieces of a Flex Radio install working.

The computer in question is an i7 with lots of memory and an SSD.

 Thanks,

Mike – W7TUS

George KF2T

I've been running it smoothly for some time. Early releases did seem to have issues, but lately have no complaints. Running W10 in a Parallels VM on my Mac Pro.

G4NRT

I was running Windows 10 before I acquired my FRS 6500 and I have not had any problems with it of any kind.

That is not so say that you may not have problems after upgrading but I recently bought a Microsoft Surface Book which had Windows 10 pre-installed and re-installed my whole application suite from scratch again without issues.

David G4NRT

Kent Hufford

We ran at least 2 6500 at field day for over 24 hours on Windows 10 laptops, never shut down, or had any issues.

Windows 10 has had at least 2 major updates since it has come out. It is stable for the FLEX software.
 

Steve W6SDM

I upgraded to Windows 10 with SmartSDR running on the machine under Windows 7.  It didn't miss a beat and has been running great ever since. 

EA4GLI

I read somewhere that you can install windows 10 and then go back to windows 7 and that will allow you to keep your free version of win10...... not sure if there is any truth to that.
I have had horrible experiences with Windows 10 and remain in Windows 7 which works flawlessly for me.

km9r.mike

I have had no issues running win10 after upgrading from win7. To be conservative, there is a guide on doing a complete delete of SSDR, install of win10 and then reinstall of SSDR. That is what I did about 3 months ago. No issues from doing so. Finally, win10 appears to be a big ole piece of snoop ware but unless you can write your own os this appears to be a modern day reality.

David

You will get a mix of responses.

My personal experience is Windows 10 has be fine no different than previous versions. It has worked fine with SSDR and a the few third party programs I have used with the 6000 series. I have done many upgrades and non them have been a failure maybe some struggles but in the end it works. I would encourage the upgrade while it is free but you have to be comfortable.

K3ZJ - Dave

I too have had no problems with Windows 10.  I also used Windows 8 with no problem, then upgraded to 10, using it under Bootcamp on a MacBook Pro.

Jim Gilliam

There have been many instances of installing Windows 10 and having to COMPLETELY uninstall SmartSDR and then reinstall. It is not easy to completely uninstall SmartSDR so you might have problems. However, once you do a complete uninstall there have been no issues with Windows 10.

Jim, k6QE

Ernest

Mike,
 I am running the Maestro and HRD and Win10 that was installed about a month ago. I have not encountered a single problem; after updating from Win7/64.
I did not install DDUtil since there is no need for my operation; CAT and DAX does a wonderful job handling my F-6700.

K5CG

SmartSDR works fine for me on W10. The only thing you might miss is the Start Menu so after you finish the upgrade install Classic Shell and you can set the Start button back they way you are familiar with.

NM1W

I saw reports of DDE being broken in win10; DDE  is needed for DXLAB; I'm not sure if its been fixed.

Al K0VM

As I recall, the Flex recomendation is to uninstall SSSDR, DAX & SSDRCAT before you do the WIn10 upgrade  Then reinstall after..  You will have to redo any DAX/CAT setups in external programs ( WSJT, FLdigi, etc.). For me, Flex has been solid Win10 for over a year.

AL, K0VM

K6OZY

Windows 10 has been working great for me.  Honestly,  I've never had any issue with any version of Windows, not even Vista.  Win98SE was OK too!    I like all OS's, Unix or Windows based.   I did not like the Win8 Start menus, but that was easily removed.

If you not like the Win8.1/Win10 Start Menu interface, you can revert it to Windows 7 or older style using Classic Shell.  I highly recommend it if you prefer that.

http://www.classicshell.net

Jerry W2TXB

I have been running Windows 10 (64-bit Pro) since I built (upgraded all the stuff except the case and PS) this PC last November and it has been working well. No problems and very few issues. Keep it updated (various fixes and drivers) and it should work well.

Mike_W7TUS

Thanks to everyone for their Windows 10 comments.  Since all the comments were positive I went ahead and upgraded to Windows 10.  I followed Tim’s guidelines for uninstalling SmartSDR as well as Ken’s NM9P (thanks Ken) ideas on installing Windows 10 (https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/windows-10-update-what-to-do-8u0g81ry1i66g). 

It took somewhere between 2 to 3 hours to complete the upgrade (while not a “clean” install, it sure was nice to have all of the old software still available) and after many hours of testing it appears that all is working well including Maestro, DAX , CAT, HRD and DDUtil. 

Thanks again for all the comments and advice.

 

73,

Mike – W7TUS

Tim - W4TME

:-D

Gene - K3GC

The DDE problem mentioned is with Windows 10 insider (beta) versions only.  DDE and DxSuite work perfectly with Windows 10 official release.
Gene  K3GC

KC9NRN

I removed myself from the fast ring in Windows insider, I had 3 releases within 2 weeks, was driving me crazy. Back to the slow ring for me. Other than that, everything is working fine.

Gene - K3GC

I have bailed from slow ring as well.  DDE doesn't work in the latest rendition and I do love DXLab.  Only a month to the annual and hopefully the important bugs will be squashed

SDR Fan

You don't mind wasting money for Flex subscription but you advocate stealing from Microsoft.  Unethical!   You are wrong in so many ways! Windows 10 operates perfectly if your smart enough to figure it out.

James Whiteway

????? Stealing Win10?? How did you draw that conclusion?

K6OZY

Again, more ignorant users.  Gary doesn't understand that the way Win10 licensing works is by hashing your motherboard's ID.   During the free upgrade window, if you upgrade to Win10 with a valid copy of Win7/8/8.1, MS's licensing server will register that motherboard as an authorized device.   You can then revert to any OS you want. In the future, if you install Windows 10 again, activation will be granted because of the prior authorization.

EA4GLI

Thanks for the clarification Chris!

K5CG

You can also upgrade from an illegal installation of Windows 7 to Windows 10 and it becomes legal. M$ is willing to give that away to get everybody on the same spying platform.

SDR Fan

All this from a guy who cant make windows 10 work.  Yes I know about licenses and we can learn nothing from a guy like you.  The license does not allow you to run the qualifying product and Win 10 upgrade at the same time.  I will enjoy following and commenting on your so called information. Your my new best friend. 

Tim - W4TME

This question topic has been answered and it has started to veer off subject, so I am inclined to close it.