Installing Windows 10 on an old Windows 7 laptop

Creating Installation Media

• Installation Media Creation Tool
• Media Creation Tool Wrapper

Installation Tips

• If you have an old Windows 7 key you can use it to activate Windows 10. This still works as of Sep 2022.
• If you want to create a local account on Win 10 Home don’t connect to WiFi when prompted

Setup Checklist

❏ Max out UAC
❏ Run Windows Update
❏ Fix User Experience
❏ Enable Storage Sense (if needed)
❏ Disable unneeded tray icons
❏ Disable OneDrive if needed:

reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\OneDrive" /v DisableFileSync /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OneDrive" /v PreventNetworkTrafficPreUserSignIn /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

❏ Unpin unneeded icons from taskbar
❏ Change computer name:

powershell -Command "Rename-Computer -NewName NAME -Restart"

❏ Enable Admin:

net user Administrator /active:yes
net user Administrator PASSWORD

❏ Install useful freeware via Ninite
❏ Install Browser Extensions
❏ Set up Shadowcopy
❏ Drop down to regular user