Looks like the time to upgrade to Win10 is fast approaching.

[Wiley]

Oh I grabbed the entire folder.  I was mildly surprised when my stick settings didn't work.  I believe most likely the issue is it was looking for controller 0 on the previous OS and it's controller 1 on this one, or vice versa.  Likely the pedals and joystick were in a different order in the device list.  Not that big of a deal.  Remapping will likely take less time than whatever I might have to do to change that around.

Wiley.

[Bizman]

@Wiley, did you try the Realtek driver site: https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/pc-audio-codecs-high-definition-audio-codecs-software? They ask for your e-mail, but knowing that is the "real" source I wouldn't worry about them sending you spam.

@Easyscor, I suppose many players feel no need to adjust the default head positions of the current version. Can't remember who it was but he did a very good job there.

[Wiley]

@Wiley, did you try the Realtek driver site: https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/pc-audio-codecs-high-definition-audio-codecs-software? They ask for your e-mail, but knowing that is the "real" source I wouldn't worry about them sending you spam.

@Easyscor, I suppose many players feel no need to adjust the default head positions of the current version. Can't remember who it was but he did a very good job there.

Possibly dumb question- what exactly is that?  I always thought codecs were for playing different kinds of media, like in the backwhen you'd need to install the codec to be able to play different flavors of video or audio files.  As far as I can tell my audio works fine, the only thing I kind of miss is the ability I had on Win7 I *think* it was stuff from Realtek that let me independently control the audio from different running windows to mute them if I'd alt-tabbed out for some reason, and control what my speaker setup was manually.

The reason I'm asking is I want to keep this install as clean as possible, only getting the stuff I actually want.  My win7 got quite bloated over time, some of which was my fault.

Wiley.

[Bizman]

That's the Realtek HD audio driver. Don't know why they call it codec, maybe because that includes several sound systems. While installing it, I saw names like MAXX and Yamaha which led me think about MIDI and other music related things.

After having uninstalled the previous drivers and rebooted, Windows7 installed a generic HD audio driver from 2010. The downloaded one changed the name to Realtek HD Audio and is from 2017. The Realtek Control Manager is in the Program Files\Realtek\Audio folder but I can't get it to open. Sounds work, though, and the Windows tools even let you set the amount the channels, test them and even add the environment effects (sewer, bathroom and other echoing places).

[Wiley]

Thanks.  Will check it out.

Wiley.

[Kenne]

so when yall say I should do a 'clean' install you want me to buy
a new drive, have a bootable USB, have my win7 key, and DL win 10. but what happens to my win7
drive, the one im using right now to talk and play on?

is it required during the clean install?

[Shuffler]

so when yall say I should do a 'clean' install you want me to buy
a new drive, have a bootable USB, have my win7 key, and DL win 10. but what happens to my win7
drive, the one im using right now to talk and play on?

is it required during the clean install?

A clean install can be done on your old drive. In doing so you format/delete everything that is on that drive now and install windows like it was new.

If you want to keep files, pictures, and anything else.... you need to back them up to some other device. Everything on the drive will be cleared.

Once you have windows installed, you will have to reinstall all your programs and then move your files back onto the drive.

[Easyscor]

so when yall say I should do a 'clean' install you want me to buy
a new drive, have a bootable USB, have my win7 key, and DL win 10. but what happens to my win7
drive, the one im using right now to talk and play on?

is it required during the clean install?

I did as you suggested and kept my Win7 harddrive because I didn't want to risk losing anything. I'm a chicken that way. I did dual boot using the bios shortcut key for awhile, because I wanted to become familiar with Win10 and put all my modifications in place before cutting the string with Win7.  Also I kept Win7 for such things as email, firefox ect., until I had the programs running in Win10 with all the necessary settings and data files in place. You don't want to lose your bookmarks, address book or old emails.

I disconnected the Win7 drive for a couple of week but I'm about to reformat it now.

[Bizman]

so when yall say I should do a 'clean' install you want me to buy
a new drive, have a bootable USB, have my win7 key, and DL win 10. but what happens to my win7
drive, the one im using right now to talk and play on?

is it required during the clean install?

Shuffler and Easyscor pretty much nailed it. A clean install will wipe the hard disk so if you don't have another disk in your computer for storage or a large enough external one to keep your valuables, saving the Windows 7 disk is a valid option. Adding to that, hard disks don't last forever, in average we're talking about a few years according to statistics. So if your HDD already has some years behind it, the countdown has started. It may take years to fail, or it can fail tomorrow. It can well be used for duplicating your precious files for as long as it works, though. In any case I'd run the manufacturer's long test for it after everything has been double checked before putting it back to use.

Another thing to remember when doing a clean install in case you have another disk for storage: Disconnect all hard disks except the one you're going to install on! Windows installation makes a couple of system partitions and it's best to have them all on the same physical drive. I can tell by experience that having the system partition on another disk is a main PITA in case you need to do any maintenance!

[Easyscor]

Good catch Bizman. I'd forgotten to mention that.

[Kenne]

ok, wasn't sure if using my win7 key to install win10 meant I needed the win7 drive connected during install.

I should have all win10 drivers handy for install.
im pretty sure my gtx1070 is compatible.
my asus P8Z77-V PRO is 7 yrs old tho
ethernet driver.
MB sound card driver.

any other drivers I need?

does the i5 cpu need a driver?

[Bizman]

No, you don't need a CPU driver.

Motherboard drivers are what you need to install first, starting from the chipset driver. Download them on a stick so you don't have to worry about potentially losing your connection to the Internet! Your motherboard fortunately supports Windows 10. Drivers here: https://www.asus.com/me-en/Motherboards/P8Z77V_PRO/HelpDesk_Download/. I suppose the Wi-Fi_Go utility isn't needed, leave that out.

At some point install the video card driver as well. Can't remember if you have an Nvidia card but if you do, do a custom install and opt out the HD audio and the 3D stuff. You basically need only the video driver.

[Kenne]

I don't need that VGA driver do I?

yea NVidia card.

[Bizman]

I don't need that VGA driver do I?

No, most likely the Nvidia card in the PCI-e slot will disable it so Windows won't see it all.

[Snork]

I decided to go bareback. I used the link in the OP and just followed the instructions to upgrade. No attempt to charge me, settings saved, all progs work fine. I had originally used the free upgrade early on but reverted to 7 when I ran into problems. Evidently that left me eligible to do it free now. As I had hoped, enough bugs were worked out in the years since to make it seamless. Fact is, my programs are faster and graphics clearer than they were with 7. I suspect the associated programs had been geared to 10 and it left them weak in 7.