Installation and Upgrading

In this chapter, you'll learn the concepts and best practices of the new deployment options introduced with Windows 10. We will look into the traditional wipe and load method and the complementing new options of in-place upgrade and provisioning and provide some context to the difference these deployment options can make. Finally, we will look at the improvements made with the Windows 10 Redstone Branch 1607/1703/1709, also known as Anniversary Update, Creators Update, and Fall Creators Update, and learn some tips and tricks for a smooth in-place upgrade.

We will cover the following topics:

• Differences between Current Branch, Current Branch for Business, and Long-Term Servicing Branch
• Risks and support life cycles of these branches
• New deployment methods: in-place upgrade and provisioning
• Limitations and blocker of in-place upgrade
• Problems of traditional wipe and load
• Improvements in deployment since Windows 10 1511
• Tips and tricks for a smooth in-place upgrade from 7, 8.1, or 10 to 10
• Selecting the correct deployment tool