Windows 10 Tried to Download...I need to remain at Win7

[RickV]

Can anyone direct me to the correct person of sub-forum here? I heard Windows 10 forces you to upgrade but, did not believe this. MS just tried this and forced a reboot. I shut my laptop off...when it tells you not to. I was pissed.

Please advise as to how I can rid myself of the Windows 10 upgrade and what I need to do in order to turn my laptop on safely without allowing Windows 10 to continue configuring it.




Thank you,


Rick

 

[RolandJS]

Exactly what was Windows 10 upgrade doing just before you forced a shutdown?

 

[RickV]

The upgrade dialog familiar to everyone displayed as I was in the process of purchasing a movie to stream for my family. I pressed the "x" symbol in the upper right hand corner of this dialog and thought I was okay. However, I have found I am naive as MS acted nonetheless and shut down the movie we had just begun watching. Windows had advanced to the point where the blue shut down screen was displayed informing the user not to turn off their computer.

My response may have made my problem worse but, I pressed the power button to force the laptop to shut off. I will not turn it on until I have a solution in hand that will prevent Windows 10 for continuing and that allows me to retain Windows 7.

Strictly, speaking I cannot believe MS is being this bold. I am old enough to remember the investigation of MS regarding accessing computer owners hard disks without their approval. This is not that different a situation.

Does this help? Do you need more information?

 

[AddRAM]

You can easily revert back to Windows 7.

Going back to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 - Windows Help -

Change your mind about Windows 10? Here's how you can roll back - CNET

Then install the GWX Control Panel, so it never happens again.

Ultimate Outsider - Software Downloads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pcmDTDRGgA

And once you get back to W7, uninstall then hide these updates.

KB3035583

KB2952664

KB3123862

 

[AddRAM]

Your windows update settings should be set like this.

 

[RickV]

AddRAM,

I remember you...you have OS skills! I will look into this tomorrow as I am on EST. I will turn the pc on early to help time work on my side.

I have also performed a lot of frantic searching and reading since this occurred a few hours ago. Did Windows 10 simply download to my laptop or is the install? Strictly speaking, both are wrong (in my mind) for a corporation to be forcing this on consumers.

 

[HAVOC]

I installed GWX Control Panel on my system and applied the settings so I won't be bothered by Windows 10. Now when I see updates available I check what they are for and don't install any that have to do with "updating".

Ultimate Outsider - Software Downloads

 

[AddRAM]

Windows 10 and MS do not force you to upgrade, there has to be input from the user.

For example, Having Windows Update set to automatic, installing updates without reviewing them etc.

That`s all I`m gonna say about that.

 

[RolandJS]

Windows 10 and MS do not force you to upgrade, there has to be input from the user...

Yes and no. Even though many have set their WU to notify if WUs are available for download and install - doesn't matter. MS had made the input necessary from the user to reject almost akin to "Have you stopped beating your spouse today? Yes or No!" Well, according to scuttlebutt, not only has MS snuck in W10 download/install wrapped inside of recommended updates, but also: the "do not download or install W10" click is not obvious at all, unless one really reads carefully all the way to the middle or so of the html.
I've been using a WU-off batchfile [at every session], Gibson's Never10, GWX Control Panel for some time now. I've been experimenting with Spybot Anti-Beacon -- I'm not sure what it all does yet.

 

[AddRAM]

Yes, MS was quite sneaky. They should have put more effort into advertising and letting the end user know what was going on, like Hey if you would like to try Windows 10 here`s what you have to do.

That way the end user would`ve known everything. I did not like the way they did it at all, hopefully it`ll all be over in 2 months.

 

[townsbg]

I've wondered whyy M$ is not only making 10 available for free for users (a first) but doing all they can do force it on users. I don't know what their end game is. Surely there is one. I manually disabled the upgrade through group policy and task scheduler before I even found out about those programs. They are helpful especially for those not well versed in Windows. I agree that M$ has gone about this whole upgrade the wrong way and I think that it has degraded their reputation. Unfortunately I don't think that it will be over when the free upgrade ends. I think that they will continue to nag users and even attempt to perform an install for users to only find out that they have to pay for it. We shall see. FYI unchecking "Give me recommended updates the same way that I receive important updates" is not necessary once the upgrade is disabled be it by using group policy, the registry edit, or one of those utilities. I have it enabled with no auto install.

 

[RickV]

It appears I am okay for now. The only thing I have not been able to figure out how to accomplish is hiding the KB's referred to. Can anyone explain? They were easy to locate and uninstall.

Here is how I worked through these recommendations:
1 - booted into Safe Mode when laptop powered up and examined Control Panel; obviously nothing found.

2 - Re-Started laptop to examine Windows Update and Windows update history. Fortunately, I arrived at the Win7 desktop after rebooting without issue. Once in Windows Update the message informing me my Windows 10 INSTALLATION had not completed and I could continue by simply restarting...no thank you MS!

3 - Located & uninstalled KB 3035583, KB 2952664 and KB 3123862.

4 - Connected to Internet, downloaded GWX Control Panel, installed and ran the software. I deleted W10 files, folders, disabled W10 App, and prevented it from ever operating on this laptop again.

5 - Rebooted laptop...into Win7 Pro! Life is much better now.

Thank you for all the sound advice. This forum is excellent!

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
This usually works well
How to remove Windows 10 upgrade updates in Windows 7 and 8 - gHacks Tech News

 

[RolandJS]

"...The only thing I have not been able to figure out how to accomplish is hiding the KB's referred to. Can anyone explain? They were easy to locate and uninstall..." -- RickV
When you're faced with the suggested downloads/installs, you can right-click on any chosen KB and left-click Hide choice.

 

[RickV]

Most of my system remains okay with these changes. However, I am observing KB2952664 comes back after uninstalling it. Note that I have not been informed of any type of update to Win7 since I made these changes (and therefore no opportunity to hide a given update) a few days ago. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[ThrashZone]

Your windows update settings should be set like this.

Hi,
As posted on the image above on post #5 as long as your updates settings are the same any of the win-10 stuff can come back and yes they will
All you need to do is Ignore them in the Optional section
Only install Important section updates.
And even then create a system image well before downloading and installing them
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

 

[RickV]

I finally figured out how to Hide/Ignore the (3) updates. I was not looking at the correct of the three dialogs I see the updates in.

I should be in a better place now...yes Macrium is on the "to do" list and has gained higher priority.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yea without an image to fall back on you'd be up the creek without a paddle in many ways
Win-10 has a horrible system restore back to the previous install
Just the upgrade process has failed for many people hosing the previous install too.

I did run into this that might help as last resort
https://neosmart.net/blog/2016/fast-free-and-simple-windows-10-uninstall-utility/