ZincTrumpet

karhide
I have Windows 10 with BitDefender installed and I do not have an issue with the BandLab Assistant.  I didn't have to add BA to any safe list it has just worked. Do you have a firewall that it blocking the application? 
 

That is odd - are you on the same version as me BitDefender Total Security 2018? The only firewall I am using is the one with BitDefender. BandLab Assistant (3.0.6) seems to be running fine by the way and even autostarts in Win 10. The issue was when I tried to install CbB from BA. BitDefender blocked it and also powershell which seems to be invoked by the installation. 

 
I have BitDefender Plus 2018 and do not use the firewall.  Maybe try checking the options in the Firewall to allow BA to run.
 
Have you added BA to the Safe Files - Application Access list? 
 
 

Thanks karhide, yes BA is in the Firewall rules and set to "Allow". 
 
Just tried recovering Win 7 using Neosmart WinRE which didn't work :( Still getting file error for winload.exe.
 
I had the Windows 10 SSD completely disconnected while doing this.
 
When I reconnected it and booted up it gave a disk error and Windows 10 wouldn't start!
After completely powering down and unplugging the mains for a few minutes I tried again and Win 10 booted but ran auto repair which fixed some disk errors and eventually booted (phew).
 
I'm going to call it a day with Windows 7 - extract any stuff I need to from the disk then remove all the windows partitions, wipe it and use it as a fast audio sample disk.
 

Ya gotta pick your battles, man. Heck, I eventually had to surrender to the likes of Native Instruments and just let them install Kontakt wherever they damn well like. I'm sure not going to take on Microsoft!
 
In your shoes, I'd be inclined to go with the flow and abandon W7. Stay positive; at least you got another SSD out of the deal.
 
BTW, using Defender here under W10 with no problems. But also no dual-boot. And I had to cripple it for non-musical reasons so it's only examining inbound data. All issues I've had involved network functions within my own LAN, e.g. being able to access SQL Server on my desktop from my laptop. It hasn't yet interfered with any software installs.

Yeah you're right cheers bit :)
 
I was getting kinda fed up trying to keep two builds updated anyway, not to mention the disk space duplication.
 
However, I do now have a few software update issues to sort out in Win 10.... 
 
- Steinberg activations from Win 7 don't work in Win 10 and I can't see any way to get new ones from My Steinberg account. Raised a support ticket with them.
 
- I had a few Kontakt libraries on my Win 7 SSD which my Win 10 install of Kontakt was pointing to and are now showing up as broken. Got to work out how to safely remove them and re-install them.
 
- I had a few Sampletank libs most of which are fine as the Win 7 & 10 systems both pointed to a common sample folder elsewhere. However, I notice that Syntronik Pro-V is shown as locked which makes me think it probably installed the samples somewhere else.
 
At least SPlat seems to be fine in Win 10; just had to install a few recent purchases (e.g. Soundtoys & Waves) and all seems OK for now. CbB will need sorting but at least SPlat is working for now.

I managed to get CbB working by uninstalling the demo mode version then re-installing from within BA (worked fine this time with BA allowed in the Firewall rules). SPlat still seems OK after doing that fingers crossed.
 
Just need to sort out:
 
Kontakt - it is unable to find the libraries that were on my Win 7 SSD which I need to re-install elsewhere and Native Access is out of step with what I do have installed. Probably just need to re-install the latter in NA on Win 10.
 
Steinberg - Cubase Elements 9.5, Halion Sonic 3 and Halion Symphonic Orchestra aren't showing in my Soft Elicenser and it is showing as deprecated on MySteinberg website. The Steinberg support ticket has now been unanswered for 2 days. 

ZincTrumpet
I managed to get CbB working by uninstalling the demo mode version then re-installing from within BA (worked fine this time with BA allowed in the Firewall rules). SPlat still seems OK after doing that fingers crossed.
 
Just need to sort out:
 
Kontakt - it is unable to find the libraries that were on my Win 7 SSD which I need to re-install elsewhere and Native Access is out of step with what I do have installed. Probably just need to re-install the latter in NA on Win 10.
 
Steinberg - Cubase Elements 9.5, Halion Sonic 3 and Halion Symphonic Orchestra aren't showing in my Soft Elicenser and it is showing as deprecated on MySteinberg website. The Steinberg support ticket has now been unanswered for 2 days. 

 
Glad you sorted out the CbB install and sounds like a reinstall of the others might sort it out. 

Thanks karhide, yes I'm hopefully getting there :)