A couple of questions about Win 7 pro...

you probably don't want to hear it, but I'd go win10 pro instead of doing some manual update to some 2nd hand win7 license.
 
win10 works fine. if you are worried about being spied on, just pull the plug ...

OlPal,
 
Much as I hate to eat crow, win 10, even after the dreaded major update works fine.
 
It was however days of pure hell getting the upgrade freebie path from win 7. To do over, I'd go with a clean install, but that's just me and the local system. I had major problems with win 8, but 10 is solid and improving.
 
The only function I've lost is with Adobe Audition. Can't record anything in it. Tried on 3 systems. It does open files and works otherwise. Then the ilock curse failing to automatically start. Otherwise, all software and drivers I use, new and old that worked in 7 are solid in win 10, and actually more stable.
 
John

^^^ what he said

What if my Win 7 isnt totally up to date...will the Win 10 update take care of all that?  Or do I need to do some prep work?
 

I'm still on Win 8.1.  It is rock-solid -- way more than Win 7 was.  The sheer hate people have for Win 8.1 is always about its Metro look, and I just don't get it because the free utility Classic Shell solves that problem. 
 
I've had version 8.1 for a couple years now, and only had to look at Metro for about 2 minutes.  That's how long it took me to download and install Classic Shell.  I accepted the default Windows 7 look, and haven't had to touch it since.
 
The "front end" looks and acts like Win 7.  There isn't a trace of Metro; I don't even remember what Metro looks like.  Like I said... I don't get the hate.

That's what I was afraid of.  I've tried, over the course of owning this fabulous DAW to update it 3 or 4 times using the Windows updater and everytime it has hung during updating and crashed the system.  Luckily each time I had set a restore point.  I just tried again this morning and the same thing happened.  It's kind of funny...in the dialog of the Win updater there's a little box that says "last update:  Never".  
 
So, I guess for me it's Win 10 pro full install.  Pooky scared, Daddy!
 

Can I upgrade even though my 7 hasn't been updated?
 

Jim knows his stuff.....
 
Sorry if I mislead you Olpal....(when I tried to upgrade to Win 10, I remember it asking me to update to the latest version of 8.1 first).

yorolpal
If I backup the entire DAW using Acronis on to my 4 TB drive will that do it? Or do I need to just do the C:Drive onto a separate drive?  Is there a difference between an Acronis backup and an image file?

 
When you say "C:Drive onto a separate drive", you do mean using Acronis to do so, correct?  Backing out the upgrade might be quite difficult otherwise, I would expect.

Ol Pal,
 
As long as there's enough space to write the backup image file (of your boot drive), you're good-to-go.
You can write the backup image file to any drive other than the drive you're backing up.
You can then move the backup image file where ever you desire (or leave it on an internal drive).

System drive backed up.  Win 10 upgrade downloaded and installing.  Currently at 92%...1 1/2 hours and counting.  Sheesh.  Fingers still crossed.
 

Looks like my luck is still running as per usual as I appear to be one of a "subset" of users to experience exceedingly slow install which also includes having the install seemingly stuck at 99% (for over an hour now).  So far it's been 6 hours total.  Microsoft says to just let it run so if it doesn't click over soon I'll just let it run overnight and hope for the best.  Dern.
 

I had to revert back to Windows 7 on an old laptop. Because I am so used to Windows 10 Windows 7 looks old and the start menu is from my view point irritating. I find it far quicker to use the tiles setup the way I want in logical groups to some ancient windows 7 list that in the end requires more mouse clicks. Plus if you have a touch screen windows 7 is a difficult thing to get a program to start.
 
I really don't understand the ugly comments attached to Windows 10 AU. I find it very pleasant to look at indeed.  

I'm pretty sure my download went fine...and didn't take long at all...it was the install that started bogging down at about 70%...all the way to 99%...where, unfortunately, it still is this morning after running all night.  Do I just cancel out of the 99% box and go look for an install "exe" file to run??
 

Hi Ol Pal,
 
Not sure if you're getting my Email (a couple have bounced back).
 
I'd stop the process.  There's no way it takes that long.
If necessary, reload the backup image file of Win7.
Download the install media for Win10.
Install Win10 offline.
Make sure to choose upgrade without keeping or migrating anything.