Recently I updated my SGP installed in my Eagle 2 and that led me down a bit of a rabbit hole and thought the solution would be of interest to others.
Overview:
Updating SGP to version 3.1.x requires a .NET version of 4.7 onwards.
As the Eagle 2/3 has a fixed OS with Windows 10 LTSB 2015 installed on the Eagle 2 and LTSB 2016 installed in the Eagle 3 means that SGP 3.1 and other apps requiring .NET 4.7 onwards will fail.
You are unable to install the latest .NET versions as this will fail with an error about incompatible OS - even trying to install the LTSB version of .NET also fails.
After some reading you can install Windows 10 LTSC but this was not straight forward and there was conflicting information as to whether it would do an in place upgrade retaining data and apps (like the important AP-Host mode setups and Eagle Manager etc) plus all your hard work config’ing SGP / PHD2 etc etc!
I read a couple articles how to downgrade (sic!) to Windows 10 Pro as an option to get round LTSB upgrade issues.
And so I set about working out how to do this and found a couple articles on this.
Since writing this I also heard from Primaluce who acknowledge the issue and offered a not so helpful answer to do what I have done here or return it and get them to upgrade it at a cost of post and LTSC licence … 85 USD … not helpful given it was meant to be an IOT device…
So I suggest the following…
Solution:
Firstly - you do this at your own risk OK! I am not responsible for any issues or data loss you encounter!
I have done this on both my Eagle 2 and 3 so I know it works but if you mess it up … you make the mess !
It does require changes to the Registry so be aware you know what you are messing with!!!
What you need:
The registry edits can be found on this video: https://youtu.be/r5GnFru0zas
You also need a copy of the Windows 10 ISO: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
- Download it and use the tool to create an ISO file - you can install this temp on the Eagle C drive for now - you can mount this as a drive in the Eagle when you come to do the upgrade by double clicking the ISO file
You will need a licence key for Windows 10 Pro - I bought mine off Ebay from many of the the resellers - they are quite cheap - you only need the licence key - keep it close by when starting the upgrade process
Steps:
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Remote desktop into the Eagle - you can reconnect once the upgrade process is done - took mine about an hour.
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Use Regedit from the command line and make the changes to the registry in the places shown in the video - make sure you spell it exactly as shown and in the right places!
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Double click the ISO and mount it
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use file explorer and find the setup.exe - double click it and it will launch the Windows 10 installer.
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Follow the installer - I used US English as the language - You want to keep files and apps - very important
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Enter the windows key you purchased above
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Continue though the install and the installer will install the Windows 10 files needed
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At some point the install will kill the RDP session and you will loose remote access - be patient - go have dinner or watch a movie then come back in an hour or so and the install should be done. Watch the activity light on the Eagle and once its done the activity light should be much quieter! (if you have a spare monitor you could plug that in but I didn’t bother and both installs went fine apart from the hour or so wait)
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Reconnect to the Eagle via remote desktop and you should be able to log in using the same log in and password on Windows Remote Desktop. All accounts and apps remain in place if you followed the instructions!
SGP will now upgrade to 3.1 successfully as W10 Pro has the latest .NET versions installed
Finally…
Downside is you now have a full version of WE10 Pro on the eagle and that means updates - I disable updates if I am imaging - be warned!
So this gets round the LTSB to LTSC upgrade worries
I suspect a lot cheaper too then sending it to Primalucelab.
I also suspect that as more software uses the latest features of .NET this will become more problematic so liable to have the same issue for Eagle 3’s !
Hope this helps avoid the long reading sessions I did to try avoid this path … oh well!
Cheers
Simon