Lenovo Companion

[Billaboard]

I'm testing Windows 10 on an X201 (64-bit) and an X60T (32-bit).

On both machines a thing called Lenovo Companion has appeared without any action on my part.

On the X201, I had to mess around for ages, installing and restarting to get something called the Lenovo System Interface Driver to "take".
On the X60T, it has now downloaded and "installed" this driver every time I have started the Companion, but still it asks for the driver again.

I am not too impressed with the way the companion works on the X201, as it seems to have to install older utilities.

Am I doing something wrong? I have reverted the only main machine back to Windows 7 while I sort out the phone-homes in W10, and I don't want Lenovo or anyone to take over and dump stuff on my machines.

Have I posted in the right place? I've never graced this area with my presence before!

[Dekks]

Are they Home editions?

[Billaboard]

No, they are both Pro Editions, installed under the Insider scheme because these two machines came with no HD and Linux, and had unreadable COA's.

[erik]

I am not too impressed with the way the companion works on the X201, as it seems to have to install older utilities.

it's because win 10 isn't officially supported by lenovo on the X201 and the TVSU component of lenovo companion is installing whatever it can find that's reasonably applicable to your system.   that's not to say you can't get win 10 working, just that the TVSU standalone application or lenovo companion app probably won't find the best drivers for your situation.   instead, install drivers manually as needed.

[Billaboard]

I am not too impressed with the way the companion works on the X201, as it seems to have to install older utilities.

it's because win 10 isn't officially supported by lenovo on the X201 and the TVSU component of lenovo companion is installing whatever it can find that's reasonably applicable to your system.   that's not to say you can't get win 10 working, just that the TVSU standalone application or lenovo companion app probably won't find the best drivers for your situation.   instead, install drivers manually as needed.

Yes, and that was one of my, probably very unclear, original points.

Lenovo Companion was "pushed" without my knowledge onto both W10 machines. On the X201 it partly works but seems to need manual installs of older files, and on the X60T it arrived and doesn't work at all. However good the software is, I need to approve its installation on a working machine. Pushing it onto machine where it doesn't work is sloppy and unacceptable.

Incidentally, should not an X201 be officially supported? The Microsoft promotion of W10 to a machine should indicate that it is a valid OS for that machine.

[erik]

Incidentally, should not an X201 be officially supported? The Microsoft promotion of W10 to a machine should indicate that it is a valid OS for that machine.

here's the official upgrade compatibility matrix from lenovo: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/ht103535

"official" lenovo support starts with the X230.   you're on your own for anything older, although microsoft seems to be picking up most of the slack on drivers.   support is based on the sum of the components.   there's no way for manufacturers to make a system today and know with any certainty that it will be fully supported by an OS released 3~4 years from now.

i can't speak to the lenovo companion app or why it was pushed to your system.   microsoft might have pushed it to all lenovo systems regardless of lenovo's own support matrix.

[Billaboard]

Well, I understand even less now. The X60T seems to now have a partly working Lenovo Companion, where it wouldn't attempt to start 2 days ago.
As far as I can tell, the only update in between has been a Microsoft Cumulative Windows 10 update KB3081438.

But I still don't know who or what pushed these programs (or apps - not sure of the precise difference) onto these machines in the first place.

[i2000s]

I guess it's Micorsoft... Many of my programs were automatically updated after upgrading on my X200T. I did not find a way to turn off Windows' update.