Since we can upgrade windows 8.1 to Windows 10 for free (but there might be some catch in it) and Lenovo MIIX 3-1030 comes with Windows 8.1... then why not?
After upgrading it I tried to do a clean install. There is an issue though - the clean install is not that simple as it might seem.
First of all I suggest to make a picture of the "windows information" and its serial number. Just in case.
Windows authentication
Microsoft didn't provided serial numbers of Windows 10 to consumers... yet. Device authentication is based on some magic. Probably the serial number of your processor or motherboard.
Conclusion: No serial number is needed.
By the way - you will be probably restricted in the number of activations allowed - so don't reinstall the system too frequently or use an already-authenticated backup for that.
Media for clean install
You need to download media creation tool from Microsoft. Then choose option to install on another PC. I recommend creation of USB media. Preferably two of such just in case.
And you can use 32-bit version of windows as the device has only 2GB of RAM and there would be little benefit for you from 64-bits (as an assembler-experienced developer I can say that there is a benefit but it is barely used). I am not even sure whether it would authenticate with 64-but version.
You might also wish to decrypt your drive if it I encrypted with microsoft's encryption bitlocker (which is already cracked anyway and NSA knows how to bypass that).
Connecting your bootable media
You need to connect the USB pen-drive (or card reader or whatever media) to your computer. For me putting memory card into memory slot was not enough - BIOS was not seeing this during booting process. But it worked fine to put the pendrive into keyboard's USB port.
Booting up
You need to enter the "bios" settings. This is a touch-screen thing and you need to power-off your device, then power it on keeping "volume up" pressed (probably volume down would work too, I haven't tested).
Ensure that you have secure boot disabled... we don't need this crap.
Remember to keep your device plugged-in a it might drain your battery during installation.
I have chosen correct boot source (the second option) and it worked well. Still it would be nice if booting from SD worked - but it is not.
Installation
Tricky part. Touch screen is not working by default (at least for me) so I had to use the keyboard and touch-click plate. But I have connected a mouse - as there are 2 USB ports available on our keyboard.
Installation for me included option "advanced", then format of the large drive (which was 28GB in my case)... then waiting for a long time.
Configuration
After restart we are asked for the user account. You don't need Microsoft account - but the button is well hidden (seems as normal text with tiny font on the bottom... it is gray-or-blue on gray background).
I suggest disabling all the options for data sharing with Microsoft. At first I had nothing against... until I realized what amount of data they receive and how they are using the access to control my computer more than I can.
Drivers
After bootup windows wouldn't have touch-screen working, nor the battery icon shown. Screen would work at maximum brightness only.
The trick is to intall intel's driver 4rm101af.exe
It does handle all the things.
I have first installed the acpidriver.exe and it wasn't enough to see the battery status. After intel driver was installed I had:
- touch screen working
- display brightness working
- battery interface (and battery icon) working
Next steps are to update everything and go through all the configuration you need.
And we end with a cleanly installed windows 10 without Lenovo's bloatware.
Known issues (section added on 2016-04-16):
The memory card is un-mounting after waking up from sleep.
This is an issue within the Windows itself. Memory card itself is still mounted and visible within the system but the volume (let's say "the drive letter") is not there. Solution is to disconnect and reconnect the card. I believe that it has something to do with timing as for some users on the internet it worked to change the card, clean it up or do similar magic.
Good luck and let me know if it worked for you.
10 comments:
Where to find 4rm101.exe driver? can't find it online.
I found a driver 4rm001.exe driver. Will that do the trick?
Try it and write a comment saying if it works. If not, let me know and I can share it with you :) Unfortunately their naming convention is not telling much :(
what can be i have installed my windows 10 but now my battery is doing some magic sometimes its charging sometimes its gone i tried to reinstall acpi but there is no good in that what can you offer to do ?
Hi Maciej,
Can you share with me 4rm101.exe driver ?
Licensing is an issue here... and I cannot find the file on my current PC. However searching google for 4rm101af.exe seems to do the trick (or maybe Intel has a new driver?). I'll provide checksumonce I can find mine
The two drivers you referenced were Godsends. I spent two days trying to get the sound and touch screen capability to work on my MIIX 3-1030 after I did a Win10 upgrade (from existing Win10) I did the Win10-to-Win10 upgrade because my tablet was having frequent BSODs after installing and reverting back from the Creator's update. I also spent a good 3 days on the BSOD issue before doing the upgrade.
The issue with the upgrade was the same that I experienced with the Creator's update: no sound or touch screen. I'm guessing these two drivers would have resolved the issue back then. But, it's good to get a fresh start on the tablet.
Thanks for the guidance.
Hi, how did you manage to boot USB on your lenovo miix 3? Already disabled secure boot, created image on usb using rufus and uefi partition but still no luck and only windows boot manager appears on boot menu option. Can you help me?
Shayne...I am stuck with same issue. It doesnt show any boot option other than windows boot manager and my windows is corrupt so it wont boot.
Did you happen to find any solution yet?
Therein lies 4rm101.exe
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