Windows 10 Tech Preview on Alienware 17 :)

Good evening everyone

Thought I would post up a thread and give everyone some insight on how the new version of Windows gets along with our machines. There is a thread up in the Alienware 18 section for people who are installing as well so feel free to check that out for more info.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-18-m18x/762513-windows-10-driver-guide-m18xr2.html

I grabbed the tech preview last night and installed a new copy instead of doing an upgrade since I prefer to always go with a new copy , especially with something like this. It loaded up quite quickly and was up and running in I would say about 10 minutes but that is on an SSD so regular HDD users may see that be a tad slower.

Initial impressions are pretty good and it looks and feels like 7 but with an 8 overlay. Your start menu is back but it also integrates the live tiles in and the updated icons from 8 and the theme and overall feel. All drivers installed perfect with the exception of the free fall sensor which after reviewing the thread in the 18 category I found out has to be installed manually, it won't self extract and install like all the others. All drivers were also the drivers from Alienware's website under the 8.1 category for reference. So far I have re-installed all my critical programs and games although I have not had a chance to game on it short of loading up an intro or two. I did run FireStrike on it and scored 5079 which is pretty much what I had before, maybe 20 points higher give or take , so no real change there which is good as it does not seem to run any worse then 7.

If anyone else is on the fence I would give it a shot, I am liking it thus far and due to the fact that I have two windows 8 keys I am hoping for the free upgrade option when it comes out. If the changes I am seeing so far are a sign of things to come then perhaps Microsoft actually pulled their heads out of their collective asses and are listening to their user base for a change.

Feel free to add to this with questions and comments if anyone else is using the tech preview so we can get everything in one place.

 

Just installed a tech preview
Using Oracle VMBox

Haven't really tried windows 8, so it felt very new to me
Start menu felt great
the OS felt a bit sluggish, maybe due to the virtual machine

did not install any alienware specific drivers on it
running it with stock drivers

the feedback felt a bit intrusive, kept asking me about tiles and resizing it

other than that, no issues as such
will be installing alienware drivers later

as a windows 7 user, i felt it compelling enough to make me do an upgrade(or it could be just me)

 

I found the exact opposite, the OS seems faster although I wouldn't call Windows 7 on an SSD slow. This just seems snappier for some reason :S but I have it installed to my SSD not running virtually so that is a def possibility.

 

Thanks for taking the time to create this post with your thoughts about Windows 10. We´ll start installing it soon on some of our lab machines to provide feedback to Microsoft as well.

 

MS you're still not listening... Aero Glass for Windows 8




Never update drivers using windows update...


After turning off hibernation and shrinking the page file, Install .NET 3.5 using installation media (USB). This will prevent many issues, next install drivers and then let windows update.
cmd (Admin)

Code:

DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:F:\sources\sxs

"F" the proper assigned letter to the USB stick.


Enable F8 boot option like win7.
cmd (Admin)

Code:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

 

Alien Autopsy and more specifically PC Checkup seems to be having problems when run from Windows 10. It takes longer then normal to load up and it freezes during the actual checkup once it is running.

 

I'm not too surprised on the drivers front. I installed it on vmware using the Windows 8 is selection and it installed fairly quickly and was pretty snappy to boot. I suspect it would run fine on my older m17x r4.

 

Ummm. What happened to Win 9? Is Microsoft bypassing 9 and going straight to 10? Did I miss something?

 

Because 7 8(ate) 9!
Hence the 10!

 

The most talked about explanation is there is some legacy code back from the Windows 95/98 days ( long before these OS's were ever considered) that makes reference to a few spots where it will just to looking for an OS with "Windows 9" because they were lazy. This would cause problems apparently when there actually is a Windows 9 instead of 95 and or 98. Hence we got Windows 10.

Is this why Microsoft named it Windows 10? - CNET
Why The New Version Of Windows Is Called Windows 10 - Business Insider
Why Windows 10 isn't named 9: Windows 95 legacy code? | PCWorld

Hope that clears it up

Whether or not this is true or just a smoke screen to move past Windows 8, we will probably never know. I am not going to pretend to understand why code from a long dead OS would matter or be used in a newer one but ...oh well

 

Has anyone gone to Win10 using the upgrade option? I have a lot of files that I just don't want to attempt backing up, but really want to leave win8.

 

Wondering if it's possible to install 10 on a drive and then have dual boot with 7; rather than running a VM........ Has anyone done this?

 

Driver v344.24 (gtx 980M/970M) works better than v344.11. Not a single BSOD.
880M, 780M and 680M. All models.

• Disable driver signing
• GeForce 344.24 WHQL
• Extract/7-Zip
• Display.Driver folder -> copy/overwrite nvamsi.inf

 

I like rjtnag's explanation better.

 

Man I want a copy of this. Is it on the MS site.

 

It's the tech preview so yes. Preview.Microsoft.com.

 

I also have it bugging me on my Windows 7 Desktop, it is coming up in windows update as an optional update.

 

My first impressions are NOT VERY GOOD.

 

Not sure what performance issues your encountering unless it is SLI related in which case I can't relate as I don't have any SLI enables systems but my performance has been no different then any of my Windows 7 numbers across the board....the only thing I find is my Civ 5 won't alt tab worth but other then that.....

People need to also cut Microsoft some slack as this is a PREVIEW....wait until the RTM before serving them up on a skillet. As for the differences in your FireStrike scores I presume that has something to do with the SLI as my single GPU numbers remained unchanged from 7 to 10. I never stuck with 8 long enough to run much for tests.

 

In the dozen or so tests I have run today, CPU performance seems to be slightly impaired compared to Windows 8. It is not as apparent in Fire Strike because that benchmark is all about GPU performance and largely CPU agnostic. In other, more intensive CPU performance tests, Ivy Bridge and Haswell Physics scores have dropped comparing Windows 7 to 8, and dropped a little bit further still going from Windows 8 to 10. I am hoping Micro$haft makes up for Windows 8's CPU performance defects and at least matches the CPU performance I have come to expect running Windows 7. I ran about a half dozen game benchmarks for before/after comparison and the framerate also seems to be down somewhat.

I understand it's a preview. I won't cut Micro$haft any slack until I see an RTM that is better than Windows 7, since they missed the mark with Windows 8, 8.1 and 8.1 Update 1. If they get it right, then I will certainly acknowledge a job well done. Once I get situated a little more with the preview and have lots more data to use as support for my opinions, I suspect I will be giving them an ear full with the feedback tool. Any signs of lameness with respect to performance and aesthetic atrocities reminiscent of Windows 8 will be exposed, vigorously ranted about, and supported with benchmark data where applicable, LOL.

I do give some credit right now that the Win10 UI is a major improvement from Windows 8.X.X, although it still leaves a lot to be desired in its current form...

• Still no Aero window border transparency
• Still only using black title bar text that doesn't show up well with dark border colors
• Still abusing the dull-looking pastel color schemes, but now even the icons are boring
• Still wasting screen space on tacky tiles (just using a bloated start menu for tiles instead)
• Still delivering lackluster performance like Windows 8

As far as their statement that they will be listening to customer feedback this time, the RTM will show us whether they really meant it. (They claimed to have listened last time, but they either chose the wrong customers for feedback, applied it selectively if and when it fit their agenda, or just lied about listening.) The short list above causes me to be suspicious about whether they really mean it. They should have known better and already fixed at least some of that crapification before releasing the Technical Preview.

 

The cumulative degrading of performance from Windows 7 > 8 > 10, preview excuse or not, is not particularly pleasing. [ LINK] We can hope they fix it, but they never fixed it with Windows 8... probably shouldn't expect them to fix it with Windows 10. It's shaping up to what looks like may be round two of Micro$haft's CPU performance killing spree.

And, round two of this is inexcusable...

 

Ah that's a windows 8/10 thing? I wondered about that but I never looked into it.

 

Yes, it is a Windows 8 thing that still seems broken in Windows 10. This is why using Windows 8 for many benchmarks is banned on HWBOT.org, as the results are inaccurate and it makes a Windows 8 machine appear to be faster than it really is... all the numbers are miscalculated due to RTC bugs. Windows 8 is actually slower, not faster.

Hey, are you guys seeing DX10 problems? I am getting identical DX10 errors on the M18xR2 and Alienware 18, and I know of another guy testing Win10 that does not have a high performance machine that is seeing the same problem.

See what I posted over here for more details.

 

I will run some tests and see what I can come up with , but take into account Microsoft has said that the retail version WILL launch with Direct X 12 so......

 

Well, launching with DX12 does not mean they need to stop supporting DX10 or DX9. Too many people have too many products in their Steam libraries for them to get away with a shyster move like that. That would really hurt them at a time when they need to have a success story in Windows 10. Another failure like Windows 8 will cause Micro$haft irreparable harm.

It looks like we can add degraded SSD performance to the list of Windows 10 "features" LOL. Posted over here is more detail on that... LINK

 

I Installed and ran 3D Mark Vantage and don't seem to get the graphical errors you were seeing in your video...I also ran winsat d3d but didn't see anything error wise , but then all I get is windows spewing a bunch of numbers out at me and then it closes the screen after 60ish seconds.

 

It should not close the window if you first open a command prompt with admin rights and type out the command to the right of the C:\ prompt. That command windows should stay open forever, or until you manually close it. If you are issuing the command through a "run" dialogue box, that would explain the problem with the window closing.

The error is easy to detect because the readings are all zeros for the DX10 tests.

Maybe the graphical errors are because they screwed something up with SLI. I haven't tried disabling SLI to see if it goes away. That's not acceptable as a workaround, but it might answer the question "why" it is happening.

 

Well, Build 9860 screwed up a bunch of stuff. Anyone else experience this nonsense? [ LINK]

 

I did try the beta but win 10 doesn't recognize my keyboard including any bluetooth keyboard. Mouse watks.

 

I thought some of you would get a kick out of this ....

 

HAHAHAHA!! This is doubly funny to me especially since I'm an aeronautical engineer

 

Tried an upgrade from 8.1 to 10. Setup worked smoothly, everything went alright, but as soon as I hit the desktop things exploded.

If you have Aero Glass8, UNINSTALL IT. It'll force Windows into a DWM.exe and EXPLORER.exe restarting loop.

My second problem hasn't been solved yet--I can't get internet access on 90% of my programs. I have full bars on Wifi, and some programs like Skype and IRC can access the internet, but Chrome, Steam, Battle.net, and everything else I use just acts like there's no internet connection.

Funsies.

 

I would strongly recommend a fresh install with it comes to these things. As it stands I have not had any internet problems at all, everything seems fine.

 

Had to get rid of the tech preview today...what a nightmare that became...I was getting black loading screens on boot that wouldn't change until I powered off and powered back on the computer almost every time I started it up ( known and acknowledged by MS ) and Skype was crashing almost every time I tried to use it. I will wait for the final release before I try it again now.

It also did something freaking weird to my storage drive. My 750gb HDD has always been NTFS as I go between 7 , 8 and 10 for things to do but always keep my games and stuff on that drive. Well when I tried to put 7 back in this time it would not find the storage drive at all AND 10 apparently installed a recovery or something on it so if it was in the computer after I got 7 in stalled it would just BSOD and tell my on the nice windows 10 screen my computer was FUBAR. I used my HDD dock and grabbed what I needed, loaded back in the windows setup and proceeded to try to wipe the drive but setup couldn't even see it, it was just gone, although the BIOS saw it just fine.....long story short after about 6 hours I finally managed to find a format tool that set it back to stock and wiped the drive so that the windows setup can see it again...yeesh....what a cluster **** MS.

 

That's weird. For the drive what might of happened was that the install couldn't recognize the partition table for some reason? I would of hit shift+f10 to get a command prompt then checked to see if diskpart could see the drive. From there you could of ran a clean command to wipe the table and then proceed to reinit the drive.

 

I to recently had to remove Windows 10 from my machine and go back to Windows 8.1

After installing the latest build (which in its self was a pain) I started having random freezes, crashing, system could detect the hard drive then it couldn't, then it would often want to do a hard drive scan more times then not. Windows 10 seems ok but to be honest you could say it was Windows 8.2 and I wouldn't know any better.

At the moment I'm quite happy with Windows 8.1, although I have Windows 7 Ultimate on standby just encase

 

Please rollback to Win7 ultimate / pro, this Win8, 8.1 & 8.1 update 1 and the 10 tech preview all are screwed up, A user coming from a messed up Win8.1 heck !!

 

Yeah, it really seems like Micro$lop is asleep at the wheel. They have produced nothing but garbage after Windows 7 and Office 2010. The newer versions of Windows and Office are trash. I am not even trying to use Windows 10 Tech Preview any more. It's an unstable joke.

 

I do have high hopes that the consumer final release will have patched or fixed all these problems but only time will tell. I will no doubt try the final release as well and just hope for the best I like to tinker to much to leave my OS alone for to long haha.

 

I hope so, too. It would certainly be nice to have something new that is better coming from Redmond for a change.

Off topic: Just updated my phone to iOS 8.1.1, so now my phone OS version matches my latest Windows version.

 

Umgh excuse me? Office 2013 is trash? As a matter fact, at least for me, Its probably their best version of office yet.. Its got more functionality then ever.. I won't comment on windows 8.1 as the hate for it can be justified but it''s been much more stable then 7 for me at least...

 

so any one tried win 8.1 drivers on win 10?

Edit: shoulda read the OP

 

Is it for PEG or optimus mode?

 

I tried my printer's driver (it's Windows 8.1). Worked like a charm! If that counts

 

looking for modded nvidia drivers. if there's a modded inf for the latest nvidia driver then i will dive in.

 

Tomorrow, will give a try at this windows 10 and will mod drivers as well.

 

I only really need the basic modded inf for PEG and optimus.

 

As far as I know, there are not any good NVIDIA display drivers available for Windows 10 yet. It's not 100% crystal clear what, if any, challenges we will be facing with aftermarket GPU upgrades. You can disable DSE with Windows 10 Preview, but there is no guarantee that Windows 10 RTM will allow that. With Windows Updates being force-fed the ability to disable DSE may go bye-bye as well. Micro$haft is hell bent on playing god and controlling everything, so don't be too surprised is this turns out to be a problem.

 

boo! that's why there's the insider preview to find out

 

The Insider Preview is a publicity and marketing stunt to make it appear Micro$haft cares and to build up a base of fanyboys before it launches. After about 60 days I had already seen enough and stop participating in the preview. RTM flavors of Windows are often slightly different than beta/preview versions. If the release candidates had all of Micro$lop's Gestapo crap in place, it would be more difficult to build the pre-release fanboy support.

They made it more difficult to disable DSE in Windows 8.X.X than Windows 7. Sooner or later they are probably going to cut us off completely and only let us install drivers they approve of, for hardware approved by the OEM. This is how the Nazis do things, and yes... they are definitely tech Nazis.

Also bear in mind, Nokia phone, XBOX and Surface, and jokebooks and tablets made by their competitors OEM partners are all they really give a rat about any more. Gamers and performance enthusiasts are not even included at the bottom on their list of important things to think about. In fact, if you're a gamer I bet their plan for your future is for you to do that on an XBOX, exclusively, and they won't provide any support for those that do not obey their edicts. After all, that might be too "unsafe" to allow it, so we won't be authorized. Or, newly released games will need to be whitelisted after the developers pay a ransom to the Redmond Mafia or they won't be approved for use with Windows. But take heart! It's because they love us so much and want us to be safe, LOL.

Some will say this will never happen to PC gaming because AMD and NVIDA will pitch too big of a fit. AMD doesn't seem to care about PC performance now that they have a monopoly with consoles, and don't kid yourself about Micr$haft caring about their OEM partners. If they can exalt themselves to permanent god-mode they will use NVIDIA as a stepping stone without batting an eye. They only value the extortion money collected from OEM Partners for digital signatures and WHQL ransoms.