My upgrade to Win 10 all appears to be OK, and at onetime it even said that is was ACTIVATED, but later after I went to settings, it reverted back to saying not activated,,, and one of the other places it still says it is activated, but itne systems it say the it is not actived now.
So, my question is: Do you think if I did a "Clean install" that maybe I would be able to get it activated ?
This method will give IMO the best way of updating your system to W10 via an "Almost" clean install.
1) Re-install CLEAN your old legacy OS -- at boot delete all the Windows partitions so there's NOTHING on the HDD (or Windows "C" partition.
2) Ignore / skip the prompt for Windows 10 is available.
3) let the install finish together with any updates the system finds during the install. DO NOT INSTALL ANYTHING ELSE at this stage.
4) VERY IMPORTANT -- ACTIVATE WINDOWS via entering your product key (of the OLD OS). You might need to use control panel and enter Change product key if you are using say your old MSDN / TechNet keys.
5) now go into Windows update via control panel and you'll be offered the Windows 10 upgrade
you are now done and activated -- it's as good as a CLEAN install -- plus you'll have the odd driver working that W10 might not find.
If you want REALLY to do a clean install later then there are many ways via ISO etc to do it -- but your OLD OS must be activated first before any W10 upgrade if you want to have an activated product.
I have a HP desktop with W-7 that the HD is failing. (Almost failed)
I can't do a clone or a system image.
I installed a new HD and booted from my latest USB Upgrade from the Windows Media Creation tool.
I skipped the activation as it installed.
Now when I use the original product key, it fails to activate.
I took part in the free upgrade offer from 7 and used the media creation tool to upgrade (probably should have waited for the upgrade notification but meh), It worked my windows 10 is activated but, I noticed that it wasn't a clean install and I'm not too fond of that so is it possible for me to do a clean install and be able to activate it still?
View 4 RepliesA friend's Asus 8.1 laptop was stuck in an automatic repair loop so I suggested that he upgrade to Windows 10.
Because he was unable to access his system, I opted for a clean install and I created a bootable Win 10 usb on another pc. I used this usb to insall Win 10 on his machine, skipping any requests to activate.
I was under the impression that Win 10 would automatically activate on installation. I'm not sure he ever signed up for the free upgrade offer before Win 8 on his machine decided to implode.
On both my main machines I was running Windows 8.1 and I then removed that and installed the Windows 10 insider program.I kept installing new builds until RTM came along. Once Windows 10 was released I unenrolled from the program and both machines were still activated.
I performed a clean Windows 10 install on one machine and now it is asking for Windows 10 to be activated and I don't have a key - am I basically screwed?
I have a new rig and made a clean install with Win 8.1 Pro.
After that I directly upgraded to Win 10 Pro within running system.
Are there any advantages to do now a clean Windows 10 installation?
My laptop got stucked in boot loop so i decided to do clean install from dvd. I wonder if i can leave D: partition and delete C: and those two of 350MB and 450MB size? Will i still get that unallocated space and be able to do install on it?
View 2 RepliesI'm about to do a clean install of Windows 10 pro 64bit on to a new SSD I just received in the mail and wondering how I will be able to activate it? I originally did an upgrade from Win7 Pro to Win10 pro and then a clean install from there back when Win10 pro first became available. I read that I can use the Windows Key on the back of my laptop but I'm not sure that will work because it's a whole new SSD.
View 6 RepliesAll the info I have found on a clean install has been about the Insider Preview, when the official upgrade is available at the end of July, will I be able to do a clean install?
View 6 RepliesSo I did a clean install of windows 10 because my computer was running slow, but now I would like to downgrade back to windows and I don't have the "windows.old" because of the clean install.
Any way to downgrade to my old windows 7.
I originally followed the path to upgrade my 8.1 Pro to Windows 10. Everything went fine and I created the USB during the process. Activation was OK.
Then after a few days and some unusual problems I reloaded my last Image of 8.1 Pro.
Question is Can I go back and just do a clean install since I have already did the upgrade process?
Second PC with Win 7 Pro 32 bit was a struggle...but succeeded in Brinks clean install and activation of 10...but was a real struggle.
Now...how can I transfer the new 10 install on an HDD to a new Sata SSD in the same box ? So far haven't figured out how to make the SSD with an installed image of the new 10 install from HDD to boot from the Sata at PC startup ?
What am I doing wrong...and how do I get the SSD image of my new 10 clean install to boot from the SSD ?
I think it has to do with partitions and active Windows partition but don't remember what/how to change the boot disk to the new SSD....
I upgraded from Win 7 pro about a month ago hoping that would cure some problems I had with Win 7. It did not and Win 10 is working poorly too. I would like to do a clean install of Win 10 but not sure if I can get the correct Win 10 install file just from my Win 7 pro product key. Is there a download source for that since I have already upgraded to Win 10?
View 9 RepliesI did a clean install on a new SSD that I had previously formatted and neglected to delete the partition ending up without a MSR partition. I've already installed lots of applications so starting over would not be something that I'd want to do. What are possible problems that I could be looking at going forward?
View 6 RepliesI got a legit copy of windows 7 and i did the update to windows 10, but my PC seems slow and it seems like there is a lot of junk and left over files... idk, i want to do a clean install, but i dont want to loose my genuine copy of windows. also, i have about 1tb of games installed on a seperate drive off steam. if i clean install and leave that drive as is, will the games still work or will i have to redownload them all?
View 9 RepliesI'm finally thinking to upgrade from W7 to W10.
Here's the situation at the moment:
1) 256GB System SSD
2) 1TB data HDD
3) 3TB Raid 1 HDD for backup
I want to mount a new 500GB SSD as primary system drive, so I was thinking to use this occasion to put W10 into my machine.
So my question is: Can I update to W10 as it is and then do a clean install changing the primary system drive while keeping the license?
My Wife is a Windows 10 Insider, and would like to clean install the latest Insider build on a new HDD, replacing her current Insider installation. What would be the easiest or best way for her to do so?.
View 2 RepliesI got a HP Notebook yesterday that had Windows 8.1 on it. Today I decided I wanted to reinstall Windows 10 (not upgrade, but clean install) on it and I do have experience in reinstalling operating systems. I reinstalled Windows 10 from a USB stick and when the computer restarted after the installation was done, it would keep booting from the USB stick. I exited the installation screen and then went to the BIOS to change boot priority to "OS Manager", but all I got was an error which I don't remember what it said, and then it just restarted again.
So my question is, how can I get Windows 10 to boot after is has installed and restarted?This is my laptop: HP 15.6 Laptop - Black (Intel Celeron N3050 / 500GB HDD / 4GB RAM / Windows 8.1) : Laptops - Best Buy Canada
I successfully upgraded from Win 8.1 to Win 10 (both Pro 64-bit) in PC's old HDD. Now I want do a clean install on a brand new SSD. I have a few questions before I buy the SSD.
1. First off, is it possible to do a clean install of Win 10 in the new SSD especially after I upgraded from Win 8.1 to Win 10 in the old HDD?
2. If 1 is possible, then at any point do I need to enter the Win 10 license key? I have used a Win 10 license key viewing tool to find out what it is.
3. Should I use the Win 10 Media Creation tool to create the ISO or just download an untouched Win 10 Pro 64 bit ISO, burn it to a DVD and do a straightforward install?
4. What happens to the Win 10 in the old HDD? Does it get deactivated on its own?
My computer has been upgraded to Windows 10 and activated. I have a non-bootable DVD Windows 10 ISO. Is it possible to do a clean install with that non-bootable DVD disk? Any alternative to do a clean install?
Heard imgburn can create a bootable DVD ISO, but after downloading the software then found it is infected, and decided not to install it.
I haven't tried it myself (as I upgraded THEN did a clean install before this article appeared) but assuming it works this can be a big time saver.
View 4 RepliesA year ago I bought a Lenovo Yoga 2 that came with Windows 8.
Unfortunately, I upgraded to Windows 10 several months ago. It has been such a nightmare I want Windows 8 back.
Can I just buy a new copy of Windows 8.1 and clean install it on my laptop? Someone told me once its been upgraded to Windows 10 that I can't do that, but that just doesn't seem right.
I'm not very savvy when it comes to doing a reinstall. I'm not sure what to buy and I want to make sure trying this won't brick my computer. OEM, Full, etc seems like there is so many things to consider when trying to buy just a regular old version of Windows 8.1 ...
I've upgraded from windows 8.1 with uefi bios, so basically now i can do clean install 10 without product key? But the real question is: My pc have 8 partitions, the primary one, 5 of recovery, 1 oem and 1 efi. Can i delete all partitions and create only one?
View 6 RepliesI just upgraded my notebook from 8.1. Win 10 is activated. I did the upgrade by creating an ISO using MCT, expanding the files to a USB hdd, then running Setup. I would now like to do a clean reinstall. Since I do not have bootable external media for the notebook, I'm wondering if the System Reset with the "Keep nothing" option would be equivalentto a "bare-metal" clean install?
View 3 RepliesI upgraded both of my PC's from Windows 8.1 Pro. If I want to do a clean install from a USB drive do I need one from each PC or will one work with both?
View 2 Replies