Windows 10: Best to Upgrade Win 7 or a new installation of Win 10 Pro?

I did pass on the free upgrade to Win 10 last year or so. But now feel it might be best to upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10. At this point in time I would like to do 3 computers. And 2 others after the first of the year. Each has Win 7 Pro (64 bit). Also after reading a lot of the thread, many people are having problems with both ways of going to Win 10. My thought is to purchase 1 Win 10 DVD and then purchase additional keys as needed. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

:)

 

WINDOWS NOT ACTIVATED AFTER FRESH INSTALL

Your current choices are to either re-install win 7 and upgrade, or purchasing a win 10 key. If you previously upgraded from win 7 to win 10 and it was activated you should not have this problem

BTW new motherboard/new computer means you need a new license. Either win 7 and upgrade or a purchased win 10 key.

Win 10 is only a free UPGRADE.

 

Windows 10 upgrade to new motherboard

Here is the situation that I am faced with. I was running Win 7 Ultimate Signature Series on my computer and had not upgraded to Win 10 yet. The motherboard died the other day. I decided to upgrade the motherboard, processor, memory etc. The HD that the
Win 7 install was on is intact.

What I would like to do is install the upgrade after I hook up the new components. How does everyone think this will be best accomplished? I have the original DVD install disc and license key available.

Will I be able to upgrade in place or end up having to reinstall Win 7 and all the updates to a new drive and then upgrade to Win 10?

 

Hi cficare. Welcome to the Tenforums @cficare

I would head to the Windows media creation tool, download the tool, execute the tool. Answer do not upgrade this PC rather create a USB Key. (Need 8GB key).

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/soft...load/windows10

Create a backup of your Win 7 environment using a tool like Macrium Reflect.

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect

I would even ensure I had a clean backup of data, I like to be sure.

With backup done insert USB key. Navigate to key to double click setup.

You should not have to enter key, it should activate based on win 7 product key.

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

Once installed and confirmed working if you want to clean install use same USB key but this time boot from key.

Here is the Clean install tutorial

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect


Ken

 

And I would do all the computers before December 31. There are statements from Microsoft floating around out there that they may stop the free upgrades from Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10 on December 31.

 

some what confusing...........

• Using the tool to upgrade this PC to Windows 10 (click to show more or less information)
• Using the tool to create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) to install Windows 10 on a different PC (click to show more or less information)
• Using the media creation tool to re-install Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
• More download options

​I would assume it might be the second choice.

 

All those links seem to take me to same place.

First you download the tool. Once downloaded you double click on the file you downloaded. It starts, you click on Create installation media .... , you confirm it is the right bitness (32 or 64), then language, then click on USB. Need 8GB key. Once it is done you navigate to key and double click Setup.

Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10

 

I bought a copy of windows 10 home from Microsoft a couple of weeks ago. I paid them with Paypal.
Microsoft sent me an email with a License number, and a link to click on.
I clicked the link, it took me to Microsofts download tool, before I downloaded it asked me if I wanted to burn win 10 to a disk or usb.
I chose disk. Then download the tool, it downloaded everything to a folder it created on my computer. Then it went thru a check over of the fresh download and OK'd it. That took about 20-30 minutes.
Then it asked me if I wanted to burn it to a disk and clicked yes. It burned it. Thats it, it burns a boot up tool and the OS to the disk, everything is taken care of.

I then put a brand new blank hard drive into my computer along with the disk. Restarted the computer and the dvd player took over and the install was very easy. I have the latest copy of win 10 on a new speedy drive.

I also used that disk to install it on my other older win 7 machines, but I wiped those drives clean so no win 7 files/errors were left.

 

Excellent success story there, so simple to do, wish more people reported results like yours *Smile

 

My Windows 10 installed so quick I didn't have time to go to the kitchen and get more coffee.
I also used a DVD.

Jack

 

Hi there
If you currently have W7 do the upgrade so you will get a digital Licence -- then depending on your hardware do a CLEAN install --licence is preserved even if you totally wipe and re-format the HDD/SSD.

BACKUP W7 first though with Macrium or similar.

In some cases it might be worth just doing the upgrade --if you have types of hardware where W10 drivers are non existent the devices might continue to work after the upgrade.

Otherwise a clean install can remove any bloatware etc.
Cheers
jimbo

 

I just tried to upgrade on my Windows 7 Pro 32bit through the Windows 10 upgrade using the "assistive technologies" and it did not work for some reason. It said it failed after about 45min of downloading and starting the install. I've done this before with another computer and it worked fine.

I also read here that I could do a Clean Install and use my Windows 7 Pro Product Key and it would Activate it after the Clean Install, is this true?

The laptop is also not updating. The updates were broken when I got it and have not fixed it because I was going to install Windows 7 Pro again, but in 64bit. But now I'm thinking it may be better to have Windows 10. I foget how far back the Updates stopped working, would this matter?

Any suggestions, and should I go ahead and start my own thread?

Thanks,

 

In my minimal experience, it sounds like your laptop does not me the requirements to upgrade to Win 10. Just saying. I upgraded my Gamer yesterday and all went fine. Today I am going to try another but this one has MS 2010 Office Pro. Can't wait to see if all goes fine with the Office Pro.

 

Office 2010 installs and works perfectly fine. I use it.

Office 97 also works but earlier versions have (not insurmountable) issues I believe.

 

I would use the Media Creation Tool to create a USB, which you may already have, and then run setup from key.

It has been a while since I did a clean install and then entered key. It was one on the processes that was originally used. I imagine it is still working.

If you devices have secure boot and or fast boot in BIOS please disable them until Win 10 is install.

For information, I've installed Win 10 on a 10 year old laptop as well as lots of other old gear.