Windows 10: Can I do a system reset and have Window 10 install on a different HD

Somehow by installing the benchmark program Unigine Heaven I severely corrupted my Windows 10 OS. I have done a lot of reading in the last few days and tried the least invasive methods of correcting the problem to no avail. I have come to the conclusion that a refresh or reset may be the only way to repair this.

Prior to this issue I had been thinking of installing an SSD drive for my operating system. Figured the install wouldn't be too bad since there is already a 16gb SSD in my laptop and a larger one should slip right in.

My question is this. Can I install the new, larger, SSD and then do a system reset and have Window 10 install on the new SSD rather than on the conventional hard drive that the current OS is on?

:)

 

Can I install Windows 10 on a different computer using the upgrade that I get on another computer?

Hi,

No, As per my research this is not possible. For more information keep yourself updated by following the links.

Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10130 for PCs - Windows Experience Blog

Hope this helps.

 

Can I install Windows 10 on a different computer using the upgrade that I get on another computer?

I want to build a computer and I am wondering if I can use the upgrade to Windows 10 on that computer instead of installing it on my current computer?

 

You could not do a system reset, but you could do a clean install of Windows 10 onto the SSD. Or you could clone your existing Windows 10 installation to the SSD and then do the system reset.

 

@NavyLCDR Thank you for your reply. I assume, what you are saying is, that a reset will only allow me to install on the current drive that the OS resides on, correct?

Concerning cloning, I have read a little about it but have never done it, wouldn't a clone copy my entire current hard drive? If so it would not all fit on the new SSD drive. Or can I selectively clone only the OS?

Maybe a clean install of the OS onto the new SSD would be the simplest, most straightforward thing to do. When doing the clean install will I have an option to select which drive to install to, do I need to reassign drive letters first so that the SSD is now the C drive or should I disconnect the current hard drive so that the new SSD is the only drive available?

I will do some additional reading on clean installs of Windows 10. Oh, I don't know if this makes any difference or not but, I got my current Windows 10 through the free upgrade program.

 

The built-in Windows reset will only re-install Windows to the same partition it was on before.

When you clone, the program will clone the entire hard drive, but it will resize the OS partition so that it fits on a smaller SSD - or expand it to fill a larger SSD.

If you decide to do the clean install it is very, very highly recommended that you have only the SSD you are going to install to connected. After Windows 10 is installed, booting and running from the SSD, then reconnect the HDD as a secondary storage drive. This prevents Windows 10 from detecting the boot files on the old HDD and updating them for the SSD install instead of creating the boot files on the SSD like it should.

Coming from an upgrade does not matter. If the Windows 10 clean install asks for a product key - make sure you are installing the same version/edition of Windows 10 you had before and just click whatever option is presented to skip entering the product key. After it is installed, Windows 10 will activate itself by retrieving the digital entitlement/license that was stored on Microsoft activation servers when you did the first upgrade.