Windows 10: Clean install of preinstalled Windows 10 Home after replacing motherboard in my laptop?

My laptop was having some issues a while back so I took it to a repair shop to get diagnosed. When I got it back, I noticed I had windows 10 pro installed but not activated (I’d had Win 10 Home before). I later went on to replace the motherboard and GPU, but never got around to reinstalling windows. To my understanding my original windows product key was linked to the old motherboard, so is there a way to reset my laptop to factory settings and reinstall windows 10 home using my old product key?

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:)

 

Is it time for Windows 10 already?

Here's a good step by step guide on doing a fresh install.

How to clean install Windows 10 from a USB drive - Software - Feature - HEXUS.net

 

Clean Install Workaround for Vista

You may remember this news story on techPowerUp! a couple of days ago relating to the lack of clean installs when using the Upgrade Editions of Vista, which required an old OS to be installed. However, Paul Thurrott has managed to find a workaround for this issue, which ironically lets users do a clean install Vista without any previous version of Windows, albeit a little tedious. Here are the steps:

• Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD as normal
• When prompted for a product code, leave this blank
• Select the version of Vista you have purchased and let Vista install
• When you boot to your desktop for the first time, run the Vista setup from Windows
• This time enter your product key
• When asked whether you want to do an Upgrade of Custom install, select custom and choose a clean install
• Windows will now install for a second time and you should be able to activate it

Remember, these steps are only advised for use in order to achieve a clean install of Vista, it is only legal to use the upgrade editions if you have previously purchased the appropriate version of Windows.

Source: DailyTech

 

Clean install of Windows 10 on laptop with preinstalled Windows.

Hello,

Few months ago I bought new Dell laptop (came with preinstalled Windows 8.1). I upgraded the system to Windows 10, but at some point my configuration was broken and since then it's not working as expected. I did 'factory defaults' and even this left some
data on the hard drive (for example, I have my wallpapers different than original, I believe that should have been restored to defaults as the option suggests).

Now, I'm a bit tired of looking for a solution to fix one problem after another. I'd like to reinstall Windows 10 (or 8.1 if that makes any difference), but keep the key of preinstalled version (don't want to buy new key, sorry Microsoft). Is there a way
to do that? Clearly, factory defaults do not restore default configuration, and to be honest, default configuration on this laptop was full of crapware anyway.

That being said, is there a way to make clean install of Windows 8.1/Windows 10, but use preinstalled license key? I read that starting at Windows 8, some kind of BIOS-key authentication is being used? Is that correct? Can I plug pendrive with Windows and
install it without specifying new key? And where can I download Windows image from (if any)?

Thank you in advance,

Artur