Time for a Windows Feature Update

Tim K9WX

I am running SSDR v2.4.10 on a Win10 Pro PC built in the fall of 2020. It has received security and minor updates since then but no major updates. I think it may be time to install a Windows feature update and version 21H1 is the newest version being offered to me. 

Is the advice offered by https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015816552-Best-Practice-for-Surviving-a-Windows-10-Major-Update still the preferred approach to avoid corruption of the DAX drivers during a major Windows update? Is this uninstall/reinstall driver strategy still necessary?

The PC is capable of running Win11. Instead of updating to the latest version of Win10, would it be preferable to jump to Win11?

Tim K9WX

RFord

Tim I made the move from 10 to 11 without issue…if I was going to update anyway… I would make the move to 11.

73

Ronald

Val DM1TX

I can only confirm. I have directly juped to Win 11 and SSDR and all related software that I am using is running

smooth. No issues whatsoever.

73

Craig_KØCF

I was not so fortunate. I kept getting errors when upgrading to Windows 11. They were related to DAX. I followed Tim’s procedure to de-install SmartSDR and the update then went smoothly. Reinstalling SmartSDR was easy and I did not lose any settings.

73, Craig. K0CF

Craig_KØCF

I should clarify that the "Tim" I referred to in the previous comment is Tim Ellison, W4TME. Tim is the FlexRadio tech expert and he used to post many tech tips on this forum's predecessor.

73, Craig KØCF

Tim K9WX

Ronald W4RJF: thanks for your reply. Did you uninstall the Flex drivers before you did the jump to Win11?

Tim K9WX

Tim K9WX

Val DM1TX: thanks for your reply. Did you uninstall the Flex drivers before you did the jump to Win11?

Tim K9WX

Tim K9WX

Craig K0CF, thanks for your reply. Can you clarify, did you do a complete uninstall of SSDR and all drivers when you made the jump to Win11? Or did you do the part of Tim W4TME's advice where he says, "What we recommend is to uninstall all previously installed versions of SmartSDR, but select the option to keep the DAX drivers installed - except for the last or latest version you uninstall - then you want to select the option NO when asked if you want to keep the DAX drivers."

Tim K9WX

Craig_KØCF

Yes, it is one of the drivers that caused the fault. I followed W4TME's routine to eliminate any trace of SmartSDR, including all the drivers. I removed all old versions as well.

Re-installation goes very smoothly.

All that said, your mileage may vary. It is certainly worth trying the update before going through all the de-installation. The symptom was a Blue Screen of Death as the Windows 11 update was nearly complete. Then Windows reverted to Windows 10 with no apparent ill effects.

73, Craig KØCF

Al K0VM

You may get a BSOD the FIRST time you install DAX ( WIN 10 or 11 ). Simply reboot the PC and all should be well

AL, K0VM

John KB4DU

Is there something not working with the current installation? I believe in ain’t broke, don’t fix.

Tim K9WX

I took the plunge and made the jump to Windows 11, following the instructions at https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015816552-Best-Practice-for-Surviving-a-Windows-10-Major-Update regarding SSDR

I only had one version of SSDR installed (2.4.10) and, when prompted, I selected the option to uninstall the DAX drivers.

The Windows update went very quickly without issues and, so far, seems to have corrected a faulty driver issue I had with WIN10 that would occasionally result in a BSOD.

When I went to reinstall SSDR I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of my old CAT settings were restored. I feared I was going to have to recreate all off those, but everything came back with the same port numbers and settings.

I had to reestablish the soundcard settings in MMTTY but that has been the only program where the old DAX settings did not come back as they were before.

Tim K9WX

Ted S

I always create an image of my hard drive before doing this, then I can easily restore the prior image if things don't go so well. In addition to the image, I would create a bootable recovery USB, then you can restore the image even if your PC won't boot. This also protects you from ransomware, hard drive crashes, etc...

Ted WR4T