Windows 8.1 Users Planning to Switch to Windows 7 Due to..

Windows 8.1 Update was officially launched on April 8 as a mandatory update for everyone running Windows 8.1 on their PCs, laptops, or tablets, but a number of users experienced issues that blocked them from installing the new OS version.

Even though Microsoft rolled out some workarounds to address these errors, the bugs persisted and users are still having problems with what was supposed to be an update that makes the Windows 8 operating system a bit more appropriate for traditional PCs.

Now some of the users affected by these problems said on Microsoft's Community forums that going back to Windows 7 seems to be their only option, at least until the software giant resolves the issues and allows them to install 8.1 Update flawlessly.

The rest of the story

 

[HOODY]

well I didn't want to go back to W7 home premium, I posted the only way I was able to get the thing installed was to find and D/L the ISO from "one of those sites" smirks....

But it worked out well for me that way.

I just would like to see MS go ahead and post the damned ISO with update for all users to D/L, It can't be "activated" anyway, only used as a reinstall using a "public" install key, only than can you "activate the thing using a paid for retail key, so what's the big deal MS???

 

[Rickkins]

Well, frankly, yesterday I was contemplating going back to 7, but I did manage to solve my issue with 8.1, so I'm staying...

 

[alphanumeric]

well I didn't want to go back to W7 home premium, I posted the only way I was able to get the thing installed was to find and D/L the ISO from "one of those sites" smirks....

But it worked out well for me that way.

I just would like to see MS go ahead and post the damned ISO with update for all users to D/L, It can't be "activated" anyway, only used as a reinstall using a "public" install key, only than can you "activate the thing using a paid for retail key, so what's the big deal MS???

You still need a valid product code to activate with. I don't get why they are so stingy with the ISO's? They always get leaked anyway. Unfortunately some of the leaked ISO are tampered with in a bad way.

 

[JohnBurns]

Well, frankly, yesterday I was contemplating going back to 7, but I did manage to solve my issue with 8.1, so I'm staying...

Just curious. What was your issues with 8.1 and how did you solve it?

 

[Rickkins]

Well, frankly, yesterday I was contemplating going back to 7, but I did manage to solve my issue with 8.1, so I'm staying...

Just curious. What was your issues with 8.1 and how did you sole it?

http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/46198-how-can-i-revert-back-pre-update-1-a.html

 

[Baidukun]

out off all PCs at work and home that was updated to 8.1 update 1 I had 3 problematic PCs. There were errors while installing update on one home laptop and two work PCs. what is strange that there was other PCs with same specs and installed from same image that had no problems.
Tried various fixes including MS automatic tool and DISM.exe commands, nothing helped.
After some time found solution that worked for me. it was System restore, I had many bad experiences with system restore it failing or don't solving problem, but this time it solved update 1 problem.
After getting error while installing update 1, I did system restore to set computer to point before it installed prerequisite updates (that were available from that same patch Tuesday). then reinstalled those updates again and this time it went ok.

 

[Xyberbat]

I am fortunate that I had no problems with the update.
That being said, I went from XP Pro to 8.1 (new hardware), skipping Vista/Win 7.
Yesterday I had to "clean & repair" the Win 7 pc of a friend.
Now I am very glad that I don't need Win 7!

 

[jimbo45]

Well, frankly, yesterday I was contemplating going back to 7, but I did manage to solve my issue with 8.1, so I'm staying...

Just curious. What was your issues with 8.1 and how did you sole it?

http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/46198-how-can-i-revert-back-pre-update-1-a.html

Hi there

Surprised an experienced / seasoned campaigner like you *might* have a problem with reverting to an earlier period. !!!!!

I'd assume that before doing any upgrades take a BACKUP IMAGE - then simply restore to the period you want.

If you don't like COMPLETE backups then just say take a FULL backup once a week / once a fortnight and do daily Incremental backups. Then you've got your system image for as many days as you need.

(To restore to a specific date - restore the last FULL backup and then on top of that restore the incremental backups to the date you need.)

Some of the Free backup solutions now offer incremental backups - for most people this would mean running a job every night that wouldn't take more than a few minutes after the initial Full backup. Probably TWO full backups a month would be sufficient if you did daily incrementals.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Rickkins]

Yea, I know I should, but I don't really do backups.
I suffer from terminal slackness...

 

[schmety]

This was my first issue with update file KB2919355

"I have found little issue, that when i run Windows Explorer and browse folders,
it takes very long time to open folder content, about 10 sec.
That's just when i power on computer or restart, after first loading-opening folders, then works fine.
And I have figure out that this behaviour was caused by update KB2919355 !I have clean install of Windows 8.1 and all updates installed.After i installed KB2919355 update, there was this issue in Windows Explorer.So, i un-installed this updated, Windows Explorer works fine again.
I hope there will be some fix soon ...."

I fixed that with creating new user account, copying data from old user account to new, and Windows Explorer works fine again with update installed,
but then i found some software issues, while using some *.sys file for my music software environment. I have Windows 8.1 installed on my Music Workstation computer.
I was getting freezes, blue screens and so on...
So i un-installed KB2919355 update and everything works back to normal.
I really can't use that update right now, cause i have more troubles than before !

Best,
Matej

 

[Clintlgm]

Yea, I know I should, but I don't really do backups.
I suffer from terminal slackness...

All you go to do is set up a schedule LOL

 

[Lee]

Yea, I know I should, but I don't really do backups.
I suffer from terminal slackness...

Hell I been looking for a reason to really like you, and now I know what it is. . .slackness. . .would have never thought of that. . .

 

[shakennstirred]

everything was fine n dandy here after the update

 

[furrykitten]

You fellows are lucky. Unfortunately, for a large group of workstation users, including HP Z820 users like me, Microsoft introduced a nasty bug in Update 1 that causes the LSI SAS driver to fail. Microsoft has a workaround published involving a reduction of system RAM and a rollback. Pretty ridiculous. I have since reverted to Windows 7. The Microsoft troubleshooter article is here: A Windows 8.1-based or Windows Server 2012 R2-based computer does not restart after update rollup 2919355 is installed

 

[Nemix]

I expect most of these bugs and problems with Windows 8.1 Update 1 to be fixed by June 12, 2014 to August 12 , 2014 at latest, those are the dates Windows 8.1 users have until they are pretty much forced to upgrade to Update 1 to get future security patches and bug fixes; with August being the last date for business's using Windows 8.1 to upgrade.

Microsoft is most likely also prepping to update the Microsoft Windows site and change the current Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant to include Update 1 integrated after June 12, 2014 for new users who wants to upgrade to Windows 8.1 via digital purchase and download.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there.

Unless there is some very strange hardware around I'm really surprised with the amount of problems that have been seen with the W8.1 update.

However since Ms don't supply the ISO's any more (except TechNet / MSDN) I can probably understand it since people aren't able to use Vanilla systems any more. Ms not providing ISO's is a REALLY STOOOOOOOOOOPID IDEA. !!!!!
All my systems have worked perfectly -- but I'm lucky enough to have the ISO.

By not starting from say the ISO every system could be HORRIBLY different -- especially if people have downloaded all sorts of stuff from the Internet. At least from an ISO you are starting from a known point.

While this isn't solving the OP's problem it should show that NOT providing the ISO's will cause a HUGE amount of problems that could easily have been avoided.

BTW although I used to like W7 - it looks really OLD fashioned now when I boot it up !!!. I only use it now for accessing some Work applications otherwise I don't use it any more. I still though have several applications on XP (access via a VM) so my XP systems will outlast the W7 one's !!!

Cheers
jimbo

 

[alphanumeric]

I had issues on my laptop when I did the Store upgrade to 8.1. My WIFI cut in and out like somebody was flipping a light switch on and off. That was with the factory OEM install. I obtained an ISO and did a clean install of 8.1 and had no issues. My wife's Acer laptop with its factory OEM 8.0 install wouldn't update to 8.1 though the Store. I tried 3 times and it failed each time. I did a clean install of 8.1 with Update 1 yesterday and had no problems. On the other side of the coin. On my desktop PC, I had installed the leaked update 1. When the official version came out it was patched automatically though Windows update and I have had no issues. Same deal with my laptop, I had installed the leaked version and Windows update patched it to the official version. For me, Store Update = Fail, Windows update = Pass.
I should also mention that I wasn't running any third party utilities to bring back the old Start Menu or running any custom theme's etc. I didn't disable UAC. I also didn't do any modifications to kill Metro etc. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that any one of the above would cause issues with upgrading to 8.1, or even update 1.

 

[alphanumeric]

I expect most of these bugs and problems with Windows 8.1 Update 1 to be fixed by June 12, 2014 to August 12 , 2014 at latest, those are the dates Windows 8.1 users have until they are pretty much forced to upgrade to Update 1 to get future security patches and bug fixes; with August being the last date for business's using Windows 8.1 to upgrade.

Microsoft is most likely also prepping to update the Microsoft Windows site and change the current Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant to include Update 1 integrated after June 12, 2014 for new users who wants to upgrade to Windows 8.1 via digital purchase and download.

They pulled all the old ISO's off of TechNet and MSDN. Everything listed now includes update 1. The Microsoft download in this thread, http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/18309-windows-8-windows-8-1-iso-download-create.html?filter, now includes update 1.

 

[jimbo45]

I had issues on my laptop when I did the Store upgrade to 8.1. My WIFI cut in and out like somebody was flipping a light switch on and off. That was with the factory OEM install. I obtained an ISO and did a clean install of 8.1 and had no issues. My wife's Acer laptop with its factory OEM 8.0 install wouldn't update to 8.1 though the Store. I tried 3 times and it failed each time. I did a clean install of 8.1 with Update 1 yesterday and had no problems. On the other side of the coin. On my desktop PC, I had installed the leaked update 1. When the official version came out it was patched automatically though Windows update and I have had no issues. Same deal with my laptop, I had installed the leaked version and Windows update patched it to the official version. For me, Store Update = Fail, Windows update = Pass.
I should also mention that I wasn't running any third party utilities to bring back the old Start Menu or running any custom theme's etc. I didn't disable UAC. I also didn't do any modifications to kill Metro etc. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that any one of the above would cause issues with upgrading to 8.1, or even update 1.

Hi there
I think that amply makes the case for having the "Vanilla" Isos available again -- who knows what modifications some people have made to their systems so the poor old update has to try and take care of these !! - A 100% impossible task.

After a while it's always a good idea to re-install from Scratch again - especially say going from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 update 1.

Cheers
jimbo