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Pbryanw
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Will I be able to reserve a copy of Windows 10 using my Windows 8.1 VM?

Hi,

I've managed to get the Windows 10 reservation app to run in my Windows 8.1 VM.

Currently it says Windows 10 can't be installed on this PC because it doesn't have enough RAM (I've assigned the VM 4GB) and also because of the VMware SVGA 3D graphics adapter.

I know that Windows 10 will be freely available upon launch, but will reserving be fixed with a later update or is it best just to wait until Windows 10 gets officially released and then wait for the ensuing Windows 10 compatibility release from VMware?

Thanks, Paul

Message was edited by: Pbryanw

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dariusd
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We have reported the issue to Microsoft.  Regrettably, I don't have any more information to share at this stage.

Thanks,

--

Darius

David_K2
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Darius,

I tried uninstalling VMware Tools and rebooting on a Macbook Pro with Retina display running OX X 10.10.3.  The display was low resolution which made me hope that the failure to make a reservation, which was based on an incompatible video driver, might be fixed.  However, it unfortunately still fails with error: VMware SVGA 3D Your display won't work.

Is there more than uninstalling VMware tools that we have to do to uninstall the VMware video driver?

David

gevola
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Hello Darios,

a vmware company should have a direct support with Microsoft.

So I can't believe that, understand which are the reasons of the problem can require so much time.

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wila
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Hi,

Maybe not what you want to hear, the only reason I'm mentioning it is to make sure there is no confusion.

I really would like to reserve my copy before the window closes.

Microsoft has said that the window for upgrading for free from Windows 7 .. Windows 8.1 closes 1 year after initial release.

See also: Windows 10 FAQ & Tips - Microsoft "Is the upgrade really free" question.

So the window is open until July 29, 2016.

Reserving a free copy is only making it download in the background.

--

Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
Pbryanw
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@David_K - Might be worth re-running the compatibility check after uninstalling Tools?

To do so, open an elevated command prompt and type

schtasks.exe /Run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser"

Then you have to wait 15 or so minutes for it to run.

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David_K2
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Pbryanw

I realized that the failed compatibility test had been run more than a week ago, but didn't know how to force a recheck until your posting.  Unfortunately, the retest never ran, even though I received a "SUCCESS" message when I scheduled the task.  I figured the issue might be that there has to be a period of inactivity for the compatibility test to run, so I made sure that neither OS X or Windows would sleep and left it alone for an hour.  When that didn't work, I rebooted Windows 8.1, rescheduled the task as you suggested and again left it alone for an hour.  Still it didn't run.

Since I need the VMware tools for a higher resolution display and to share files with OS X, I had to reinstall them.  So if the compatibility test does run, it will again see the VMware video driver that prevents upgrading.  From what I read on the Microsoft website, it appears that the compatibility test will be run again even if there's a successful upgrade reservation for Windows 10.  Therefore, while this test is interesting, it won't likely allow the upgrade.

We are all counting on VMware resolving this with Microsoft.

David

Pbryanw
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Hi, I've also uninstalled VMware Tools, and ran the compatibility appraiser using the command I posted earlier. Like you, I received a success message even though it didn't update the result in the Windows 10 reservation app (and I also left it to run like you did).

Unfortunately, this is the only way I found to update the result of the compatibility check, other than to let it run automatically.

So, to summarise, I'm in the same boat as you and have confirmed your results. I also need Windows 8.1 to run at my native desktop resolution, so will be reinstalling VMware tools, and hope too that VMware can resolve this problem with Microsoft.

Of course, as wila pointed out, Windows 10 will be available to download even without a reservation, but it would be nice if we were able to take advantage of this offer.

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jer3000
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I agree with that last sentiment by David. I feel it is VMWare's responsibility to work with Microsoft to ensure that VMWare's video driver is compatible with Windows 10. That is a textbook reason why we pay VMWare for virtualization.

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dariusd
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While I agree with your sentiment, jer3000, the practical situation is a little bit different...  Our video driver is compatible with Windows 10 (it meets the Windows 10 System Requirements, and it successfully installs and operates on the latest previews of Windows 10), and we are not aware of any reason that this error message is appearing.  We have opened a line of communication with Microsoft, but have not yet received any explanation of why this problem is occurring or what we can do to correct it.

I should also mention that Parallels Desktop has the exact same issue, and VirtualBox does too, and -- for all of these hypervisor vendors -- there seems to be a handful of users who report success in reserving Windows 10, while the majority are told that their video driver is incompatible.  I'm not aware of any reports of Hyper-V being affected by this issue...  :smileyconfused:

It's worth re-stating the point made several times elsewhere in this thread: Even if you cannot reserve a copy of Windows 10, it should still be possible to download a standalone installer (i.e. an .iso file) for Windows 10 once it is released.

Thanks for your patience, everyone!  I'll let you know when we have more news to share.

Cheers,

--

Darius

MikhailDV
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Not sure if this will ultimately work out, but I signed up for the Windows 10 Technical preview and then upgraded my Windows Pro 8.1 VM to Windows 10 preview.  Even though I couldn't make my reservation in 8.1 (because of the SVGA issue), Windows 10 preview installed via Windows update with no issue, whatsoever.  I did a little Google researching and it seems like MS will allow W10 preview users to upgrade to non-preview when W10 releases.  So, I'm gambling that this is actually true and won't be blocked by the SVGA compatibility check (as preview W10 is already running).

Note, however, that I'm running ESXi 5.5, not Fusion.

Mik

Pbryanw
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@MikhailDV - Hi I did a bit of searching too and found this Gabe Aul blog post: http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/06/19/upcoming-changes-to-windows-10-insider-preview-b...


It seems to contain an official answer to the question of whether you can upgrade from a Genuine 7/8.1 Installation to Windows 10 Preview, then onto Windows 10 RTM and then exit the Insider program.

I imagine that because you were able to upgrade 8.1 to Windows 10 preview without encountering the SVGA problem, that it should be straightforward to upgrade to the RTM when it's released.

However, I'd like some official confirmation, for those who want to try and get an early upgrade to Windows 10 for their existing 7/8.1 VMs.

(As for me, I think I'm going to wait until Windows 10 gets officially released).

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MikhailDV
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Pbryanw - Thanks for the link, although now I need to figure out how to ensure I have the W10 RTM and exit the Insider program (after the 29th), as I'm just a member so that I can hedge my bets.

By the way, it seems that someone nervous about doing this could always backup their VM disk files prior to the insider preview upgrade.  If things didn't work out for whatever reason, just copy the backups back.

Mik

Pbryanw
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Thanks for your reply. I think I might do as you suggested - backup my VM then upgrade to the Windows 10 preview. Like you say, if things don't work out, I can always restore the backup.


My experience of the Windows 10 preview, in a separate VM, with a clean install suggests it's stable enough and close enough to the finished version now. So, again, thanks for the tip.


(Edit: Windows 10 isn't showing up in Windows update after running the Preview exe on 8.1. Might be something to do with Microsoft suspending Windows Insider builds as it gets ready for Windows 10 launch‌?)

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jer3000
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I would think that reserving a free upgrade is preregistering for a license as much as it is downloading the upgrade in the background.

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ozarkcanoer
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I was able to get a reservation for Windows 10 from within my Windows 8.1 virtual machine (running on OS X 10.10.4).  It's when I run the compatibility checker for upgrading that I get the "SVGA 3D driver" message as everyone has reported. 

I got a reply from VMWare about this that they have communicated the problem to Microsoft and are waiting to hear back from them.

All this seems to confirm what @dariusd has written.

Not urgent for me to install Win 10, so I'll watch out for what gets done to resolve this issue, either by Microsoft or by VMWare/Fusion.

Larry

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unfrostedpoptar
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Can someone from VMWare please give an update on this?  I just tried from Windows-7 running in updated Fusion in updated 10.10.4.   Hope it gets fixed in the next couple of weeks before Win-10 is released.

Thanks,

David

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jbm2015
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If all people are interested in is to reserve the Windows 10 upgrade from within Windows 7, all you need to do is to delete the contents (only the files) within C:\Windows\AppCompat\Appraiser. That deletes the compatibility check results, and then the Windows 10 reservation tool allows you to enter your email address to reserve a Windows 10 copy. These files are not deleted when you uninstall the updates which form the Win10 upgrade tools, which is why uninstalling/reinstalling them does not fix the vmware vga driver issue. Maybe copy the files away instead of deleting them, and then copy them back again after reserving your Win10 copy, since I do not know what other effects removing the files might have. Alternatively, if all which was problematic on the original compatibility check was the vmware vga driver which we KNOW actually works in Windows 10, copy the files from a machine which passed the check. Note: you might have to take ownership of the folders to delete the files. Disclaimer: try this workaround at your own risk.

David_K2
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I followed jbm2015's advice, deleting 100% of the files but leaving the directories and was able to make a reservation for an upgrade to upgrade from 8.1 (versus 7).  It will be interesting to see if the compatibility checker gets run between now and the upgrade to Windows 10 and in the process disqualifies the VM's upgrade.

Pbryanw
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Thank you for confirming jbm2015's advice David_K. Hopefully this will let VM Fusion users reserve a copy if they want to, while the SVGA problem is sorted out. In the end, I made a Windows 10 USB drive using an iso and Rufus‌ then upgraded my 8.1 VM using the flash drive. As the VM is not work critical and doesn't hold any important documents I felt I could go ahead (making a copy of the VM just in case) without any concerns. The upgrade went fine, and afterwards I removed the Install from the Insider Preview program - I'm hoping 10240 will be the RTM version.

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BartP
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From the official FAQ that came out yesterday (Windows 10 FAQ & Tips - Microsoft), it states that you need to make a separate reservation for each system that you want to upgrade.  Still not sure how we will upgrade existing VM's if we can't make the reservation.

The link seems to be acting flaky, the site might be overloaded.

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