Windows 10 for musicians SOS article

[CS70]

<a href="/sos/nov15/articles/windows10.htm" target="_blank">http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov15/a ... s10.htm</a>

I hope this article might be useful to some people here. I put a lot of time into getting the information right and speaking to the right people at Microsoft about it. Solid information can be hard to find so hopefully this is helpful to the conversation.

Cheers
Robin

Since nobody seems to have said it (but I'm sure everyone thinks it ): well done, very good article and it is actually convincing me to give W10 a try (on my new build, not on the laptop).

Great job.

[awjoe]

I don't think I know how to do it. What drivers do I need to make sure about? Interface, check. Video monitor will be taken care of automatically? What else? Will plugins that run on Win 7 run on Win 10? I hate this stuff cuz I don't understand it, but I think I'm going to do it.

[ef37a]

I now have W10 on the "second best" music PC. Bit of a long winded process but no glitches.

A day or so ago I downloaded (on a W7 machine!) the W10 drivers for my NI KA6 and burned them to a DVD. Finding "Computer" in 10 was tricky but then I found the DVD drive and ran the drivers.

No sweat, just did the bizz and on connecting the AI it was found and worked straight off the bat. I then left it running all day on Radio 3 and it never missed a beat. After about 3 hours there was a "ClangWhooshe" sort of sound. I found "Banner Sounds" and turned them all off. No more clang.

I find ten bloody awful to be frank, almost nothing is the same or where it was in 7 and this PC will hardly ever be used except for curiosity. I shall certainly resist putting what someone descried as "Windows 7 with a tablet bolted on" on any of my other computers.

Dave.

[Lostfollicles]

Hi guys! I wanted to start a new thread but not sure of how to do that so apologies for tramping on anyone's feet!

There have been many discussions regarding Win 10 upgrades and possible future problems with Win 10 drivers supporting "Or not" hardware "Old and new" etc...etc... Indeed I had many problems with my Line 6 UX2 when I tried Win 7 on a new hard drive on my old Asus P4P800 as the UX2 would simply not work properly! The Asus P4 MB not good enough to run sataII drive it seemed or run Win 7 without seriously slowing down just about everything making it a total pain to use, so I have relegated that computer to stay on XP which runs flawlessly-ish!
One of the questions I want to ask you guys is: - Is there a non bloated version of Win 10 available??
I only want to use my computer as a DAW music making device, of course all software has to have an OS but I really don't want all the usual bloat and resource using windows crap that normally go's with an windows install!
Also recently I have been trying to investigate and source all the relevant information for building a new Audio work station that will run my favored DAW Sonar X3 and any USB audio interface that will work with windows!? I will of course be trying to use my UX2, however! As I said above it wasn't until I started to research all the new hardware that's available today that I am now well and truly perplexed! I have tried in vane to find any relevant information regarding the strengths or weaknesses of the now it seems favored for gaming Z99 or Z170 motherboards let alone the different Quad or Octa CPU's! I am now in a state of total stagnation computer build wise as I don't know which way to turn Help!!

[ef37a]

Felicitations of the season L and welcome.

Now I am only the merest dabbler here but...That Line 6 has W7 (and W10) drivers listed so I suspect there is some other reason you could not get it to work with 7. Others here will surely have some ideas.

As well as this esteemed emporium I have infested at least two other recording forums for many years and cannot recall anyone having a problem with that AI and W7.That is not to say there has never BEEN a problem, just that it is not at all common AFAIK.

As for a new build? You will surely have advice from Olympus in the form of Pete (Scan) and Martin but it seems to this mere mortal that there are very few problems involved these days? I would look for a MOBO with plenty of USB 3 and especially USB 3.1 capability, i5 or i7 CPU, SSD main HDD and a 2TB or bigger spinner for backup. Much depends on what you need/want to do? Easy to go way overboard when all you have is a mic and a guitar!

But then I am just a V old valve jockey.

Dave.

[Wonks]

Win 10 does install a lot of stuff by default, though most of it is pretty easy to uninstall again. It's also easier than ever to decide what gets loaded on start-up, so you only have running what you really need to.

[Exalted Wombat]

Win 10 does install a lot of stuff by default, though most of it is pretty easy to uninstall again. It's also easier than ever to decide what gets loaded on start-up, so you only have running what you really need to.

Out of interest, what have you uninstalled from your Windows 10 setup? Did it make any perceptable difference?

[Wonks]

Some of the apps like maps, news, finance etc. On a fast machine like mine, I don't really think it makes much difference. But the less there is, the less there is to start doing stuff like updating in the background.

[Exalted Wombat]

Do the apps on the "dark side" auto-run then? I thought they were simple run-when-asked-for program.

I agree, the downside of Windows 10 is all this auto-update malarky. Though I'm not sure it's much different to what responsible Windows 7/8 users did anyway.

[Atinshola]

Quick question (ok, longwinded question):
I've heard that there is a 30-day limit for rolling back to Win7/8 - does this mean that if I install Win10 over my Win7 install and then do a clean Win10 install, and after say, 6 weeks, decide it's not for me and want to go back to Win7/8, I cannot do so, even by doing a clean install with my original (and legal) Win7/8 dvd?

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

[Exalted Wombat]

No, it means that a Windows.old folder is retained on your computer for 30 days, enabling an in-place roll-back. Obviously you'll also have a full system image of the computer, pre-update, as part of your routine backup strategy.

[ConcertinaChap]

Just an aside. The Register has published an article on the official way to stop W10 being installed on your PC if you do not want it. The article is here.

CC

[alexis]

So ... if I wanted W10, after imaging is the best thing just to start clicking Yes on the big blue box that keeps popping up when I power on the computer?

Or should I somehow do a "fresh install" instead of going through their update process?

Thanks -

[robinv]

Accepted wisdom dictates that you should do a fresh install - which is a good and healthy thing to do from time to time anyway. However, ive now upgraded 3 different machines with no ill effects.

In order to do a fresh install you'll need to go through the upgrade procedure so that your system gets recognised for the free upgrade - so you can always try it and see before doing the fresh install.

[The Elf]

I can't say it's the 'best', but the update is what I've done on all my PCs and it's been painless. All my software still in place and nothing to fix, short of the mousepad settings on my laptop.

[OneWorld]

The Post Ghost has struck again!
I was sure I asked if the factory recovery partition on my HP laptop would allow a return to W7 at any time if I went ahead and installed the free W10?

Dave.

The Windows 10 installer will back up your Win 7 install and revert back to it (with all your settings and programs intact) whether you have a recovery partition or not.

Really? Not the impressive I have got. So, I have ABSOLUTLY NOTHING TO FEAR INSTALLING W10 ON THIS LAPPY?

Dave.

Image first!

+99!

If there were ever 2 words that have profound impact on life, it is those 2 words 'Image First' Yes of course there are a few other 2 word phrases equally profound but computing wise 'IF' is surely the most important

[alexis]

Having upgraded to W10 (I IF'd!!), and played around with the settings a bit, I just have one question. The computer is 97% DAW, 3% general surfing machine btw. I'm wondering whether I should check the box "Defer Updates".

Seems like a reasonable thing to do - helps the user bypasses the inevitable dodgy upgrades while MS works on a hot fixes to rectify (thereby avoiding potential DAW downtime), while still getting security updates as they are released.

Thanks for any thoughts!

[robinv]

Personally, i've been finding that with each update my computer gets "better", but accepted wisdom says you should defer.

[alexis]

Personally, i've been finding that with each update my computer gets "better", but accepted wisdom says you should defer.

Thanks for that, robinv!

I should also explicitly thank you for your great article. So glad it is pinned to the top of this subforum! I reviewed it last night as I was setting up my new W10 - great resource.

One other question for your or any other W10 cognoscenti - regarding MalwareBytes.

The W10 update process was done on my DAW, by ADK remotely. I noticed before they upgraded they seemed to remove MalwareBytes from my computer, "the upgrade works better with it gone" they answered when I asked.

So, after all was said and done, there was no trace of MalwareBytes on my computer. I contacted them, and within hours they had emailed me my personal code (worth $$), and now I'm up and running with that as well.

But ... I will be doing the upgrade on my other computers myself ... and am wondering - do I really have to wipe all traces of MalwareBytes from my computers before doing so?

Thanks for any thoughts!

[JSantos]

Just recently updated to Windows 10 earlier this morning.

Then I had to roll back because

-plenty of my drivers were missing. My ASIO was even mis-aligned.
-my wifi adapter wasn't working. also my LAN card.
-some USBs lost functionality.

I upgraded from Windows 7 Ultimate Edition to Windows 10. I believe registry troubles caused these little problems.

Has anyone ever encountered a different outcome coming from Windows 7 Ultimate? I'm planning to do a fresh install instead of proceeding with an upgrade.

[damoore]

You were lucky. When I tried to update to W10, my machine wouldn't even boot. Had to completely reinstall 7.

The software I had used to clone my disk before hand did not create a bootable drive, too, so it was back to square 1. At least I was able to get all my files back.

[alexis]

You were lucky. When I tried to update to W10, my machine wouldn't even boot. Had to completely reinstall 7.

The software I had used to clone my disk before hand did not create a bootable drive, too, so it was back to square 1. At least I was able to get all my files back.

Hi - I don't know much about these things ... so I was under the impression that a clone was a bit-for-bit copy from one drive to another, so it would be supposed to create that bootable drive.

Where is that thinking in error, yikes!?

[Bojet]

Hi all,

I'm on Windows 10 with Pro Tools 12 HD. My problem is when I try to import a video to PT (no matter what kind of... mp4, mov, avi, whatever) it can't import it. I installed the latest quicktime (7.7.9) and Avid codecs LE 2.7.3 for win...
But no luck.
Any help?
Thanks a lot!

[robinv]

Hi all,

I'm on Windows 10 with Pro Tools 12 HD. My problem is when I try to import a video to PT (no matter what kind of... mp4, mov, avi, whatever) it can't import it. I installed the latest quicktime (7.7.9) and Avid codecs LE 2.7.3 for win...
But no luck.
Any help?
Thanks a lot!

Hi Bojet - welcome to the forum!
Do these videos play back ok generally in Windows in Films/TV or Media Player?

[fxsoundscapes]

I found that WIN 7 was much more problem free in so many ways. After switching to win 10 all the problems started with daw software, plugins etc.
So it needs some figuring out and setting changes but once you get there it works just fine.

[N i g e l]

Dont be afraid to ask the hyper global mega Microsoft corporation support team for help.

When I first read Robins article intro I was highly sceptical that Microsoft were keen to help *me* get the best Windows 10 experience.

This week I contacted Microsoft support for the 1st time using the chat app (about my THR10 editor problem). I now stand corrected and am impressed by their level of commitment .

Amazing ! There was no waiting & after 3 guesses the AI robot gave up and put me through to a real person. He knew his stuff and was very keen to help. Unable to solve the problem at his level, he connected me to the Level 2 support. Again very efficient and keen to assist me achieve a solution to the problem.

This was all over a couple of hours of Microsofts time.

[shmuelyosef]

I have always been windows and Unix (never MAC or iOS), and have lived with the 'wonkiness' of it all. I am delighted with Windows since moving to Windows 10 PRO. I have also let the updates run unfettered in both my laptop (recent) and DAW Workstation (7-8 year old custom tower build).
Thanx for the pointer to this (albeit dated) article!

[adrian_k]

A bit of a post script - I finally upgraded my 6 year old W7 laptop today. Wouldn’t have bothered but my DAW is no longer supported on W7. Bit of a faff, a couple of hangs, a reboot and 2 attempts but got there in the end.

If there is anyone else out there on W7 and thinking of upgrading note that despite what MS have said you can still upgrade for free. I followed the instructions here:

ZDNET article

[Von Junzt]

WDF01000.sys started giving me quite a bit of bother last weekend. I hadn't recorded in a whlie. So I finally decided to reinstall Windows 10 (Pro), and set up a user account specifically for audio.

Despite this, a renewed check with LatencyMon still showed the scoundrel was acting up, as well as the DirectX driver. I found a fix - in advanced system settings I simply deactivated all visual effects. This seems to have had a positive effect.

Has anyone else here experienced the same?

BTW I am using a Lenovo ThinkPad T480 with an i5 8350U, 16 GB of RAM, and a 250 GB M.2 SSD (the latter will be upgraded to a 1 TB M.2 SSD sooner or later). I have been thinking about getting a workstation tower PC, and throw in an RME PCIe card to hook up a preamp to achieve low latencies.

[CS70]

That's just the library with the generic windows driver framework functions, so the problem is likely elsewhere, in one of your drivers. Long shot, but if it's graphic-card related, these Intel onboard graphic cards didn't use to have their own memory, but used the regular one.. failures may indicate a looming problem your dram chips. Try a RAM diagnostics and see what it gives.

As of RME on PCI, I cannot but recommend it: on a pc which is by far not super-powerful (and some 4-5 years old now) I can run a 32 sample buffer = 0.7ms reported latency, with 4ms roundtrip latency. W10 needs a bit of tweaking to achieve that, however.