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Fig 1.  Greenhouse Temperatures showing issue with Greenhouse1 Temperature (green line) even before it finally stopped working at 2025-10-27 18:10

During at least last 3 days the Greenhouse Temperature sensor 1 has intermittently being giving values of -100. The zigbee network finally lost connection to the sensor at 2025-10-27 18:11 when battery levels had fallen to 8% or less.

Introduction

The AllSky/Weather Computer (a Toshiba Dynabook Satellite Pro C50-E-102, Windows 10) has been operating since 2025-10-23, when it was purchased and setup to replace an earlier computer that had failed (see Replacement AllSky Computer (2020-08-23) . 

The computer is still running Windows 10 as of 2025-10-27, but this is no longer supported by Microsoft as of 2025-10-14. It is planned to upgrade the computer to Windows 11 to maintain security protection etc.  A PC Health Check already confirms that the computer meets Windows 11 requirements.

The upgrade to Windows 11 will be performed using Windows Update, and as an in-place upgrade:
- data files in C/Data folder and applications/data files in C:/More Programs should be preserved.
- applications and windows settings should be preserved provided that the  "keep personal files and apps" option is chosen during the in-place upgrade process.
  (in the event Windows Update automatically assumes that personal files and apps are to be kept and the option to do otherwise is not given)
- as always it is recommended to back up your data before starting the update/upgrade. 
- programs, settings and communications with Observatory Computer, Remote Computers &Observatory Website will need thorough checking post-upgrade.

Windows 11 has been used on the current Development/Analysis Computer since Feb 2023 (see New Development Computer, 2023) where ExplorerPatcher is used to give a traditional styled task bar & start menu position and will need to be installed on the AllSky/Weather Computer after the Windows upgrade. AllSky/Weather Observatory Software has been confirmed to run ok on Development Computer (though not necessarily within live environment) .

The whole process should be done within a day if there are no issues, but if there are issues then 3-4 days of work may be needed to reinstall software & drivers, and perform more extensive testing.  Any lessons will be passed onto upgrade of Observatory Computer to Windows 11.

Applications

Windows
- Admin and User Account
- View
- Desktop Picture, Desktop DPI, Icons Sizes
- Taskbar Toolbars:  Astro, Comp, Apps
- Control Panel
- Device Manager
- Microsoft Edge,  Google Search Provider.

Core Software
- Kaspersky Internet Security (Firewall & AntiVirus)
- UltraVNC  (for Remote Control)
- Dimension 4 (for Time Sync)
- WinSCP (for ftp file upload to website)
- ExplorerPatcher (windows GUI)

General Software
- TextPad 4   (for File Editing)
- ACDSee Classic (for Image Viewing)
- PaintShopPro 5 (for Screen Capture / Image editing)
- Visual Studio 2022

Observatory Software
- CCDSoft5
- TheSky6
- Aurora Cloud Sensor III  (3.2)
- CumulusMX
- iSpy64

- ASCOM 7.2
- MeadeGeneric Driver
- Starlight Xpress SXV Plug In.dll  (to CCDSoft Version 5 / Camera Plug-Ins)
- ffmpeg-win32-static
- ffmpeg-win64-static

- AstroLaunch
- AstroAllSky
- AstroWeather
- AstroObsCam
- AstroNorthCam

- Alternate Observatory Role Software
- AstroMain
- AstroPlan
- AstroShpCap
- FV (5.3)
- OptecTCF-Lynx Installer
- Pegasus Unity
- Pegasus Unity Ascom Drivers (Switch, Focuser, Observing Conditions)
- PHD2  (autoguiding)
- SharpCap 3.2

Steps towards upgrading computer

2025-10-27 and 2025-10-28 (am)  
- Capture Settings (screenshots etc)
- Backup of key files

Upgrade
Upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 on the AllSky/Weather Computer was successfully made on 2025-10-28 with just a single teething issue.

Issues

• Unable to start CCDSoft after upgrading AllSky/Weather Computer (2025-10-28).  After updating AllSky/Weather Computer to Windows 11 trying to start CCDSoft produced a number of system error dialogs related to missing DLL files with messages like "The code execution cannot proceed because CFWAPI.dll was not found. Resintalling the program may fix this problem".  Errors referred to the following dll files:
     APOGEE32.dll, CFWAPI.dll,  DSS_DLL.dll,  ipl.dll
  This is frequently seen issue with CCDSoft after upgrading / rebuilding computers and is fixable.   The same thing happened previously on the Development Computer when it was upgraded from Windows 10 1803 to 1903 (see Windows 10 upgrade (1903) & CCDSoft DLLs (2019-08-03)  ) and to an old AllSky/Weather Computer following the April 2018 update to Windows 10 (see AllSky Laptop - CCDSoft, TheSky & CCDApp2_AllSky Installation (2018-06-11) ) and an old Observatory Computer in 2016 when an attempt was made to update Windows 7 to Windows 10.   
  The referenced files are one that are missing from 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\System'
  Issue fixed 2025-10-28. As 2018-2020 cases the solution was to copy the required DLL files into the Common Files\System folder from the Common\System folder of another computer on the home network with CCDSoft5 is installed or more simply from a special folder containing a collection of required .DLL files that has already been set aside  ("C:\Data\Computer\Home Computers\Missing CCDSoft DLLs (from Laptop7)" ) for exactly this circumstance. 
  Fixed 2025-10-28 (AllSky/Weather Computer, CCDSoft, Windows Upgrade) 

Follow-Up 2025-11-01
Reviewing System.Information the WIndows 11 version that was installed on the Observatory Computer on 2025-10-28 was 10.0.22631. Checking online showed that this is Windows 11 23H2 (which was earlier second major update to Windows 11). 

It is unclear why the Observatory Computer the following day was instead updated to the latest 10.0.26200 version instead, which is the Windows 11 25H2 version.

Since Windows Update is now offering update to Windows 11 25H2 it has been decided to download and install the option, to keep up with the version used by the Observatory Computer.

Update to Windows 11 25H2 (2025-11-01)
AllSky/Weather Computer was updated to 25H2 on 2025-11-01

Rather than shutdown all applications whilst waiting for the downloading and pre-installing to occur, it was decided to keep AllSky/Weather/Observatory services running and wait until Windows Update presented the 'Restart Computer' now button, before closing the services down.

As anticipated the CCDSoft dll's again went missing during the update, and had to be re-copied into the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\System" folder from  "C:\Data\Computer\Home Computers\Missing CCDSoft DLLs (from Laptop7)" .

The Development Computer is also noted to be on Window 11 23H2 (from time of its original purchase in Feb 2023) and likewise should be updated to Window 11 25H2 version (see Development/Analysis Computer - Windows 11 Update (25H2 Version) ).

Issues

• Cloud Sensor III crashed and wouldn't connect to sensor head when restarted.  See notes.
  Fixed in-session 2025-11-01 (CloudSensor III)