My Thinkpad T410 has been stuck on version 10240 of Win 10 Pro 64-bit since I upgraded it from Win7 when it first came out. Windows updates have always been turned on.
Yesterday I decided to try "refreshing" it following a suggestion I found which was to upgrade it in-place by installing the current version of Win10 over it. Please note, this T410 has literally dozens of applications installed including a number which are copy-protected by being tied to a particular local account on it called "MA".
So, starting with an exact clone (made using Acronis TrueImage) of the hdisk, this is what I did:
1. I downloaded the current (as of yesterday) version of Win10 and used the media creation tool to burn it onto a DVD.
2. I attempted to use the "Trouble-shooting" boot-up option to "repair" my Windows set-up.
3. When given the option, I managed to do the "install" using the MA local account.
4. When the PC finally brought up the Desktop I found that although the desktop retained all the shortcuts to all the apps which werenot installed under C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86), all the apps whichwere originally installed in those two folders, including MS Office and MS Sql Server 2014 had completely vanished. I assume that this is because the install process has completely replaced those directories. Presumably I must have taken a wrong turning from the "Troubleshooting" Win10 boot menu which I used to start the process.
So, my question is, how exactly do I upgrade from version 10240 to the current Win10 version without losing all my apps in C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86), starting with a new clone of my hdisk?
I hope this q is clear enough to answer.