Windows 10: How to reinstall Windows 10 on a laptop that was originally Windows 7

About 2 years ago, I bought a Windows 7 laptop from Costco and when Windows 10b came out, the laptop had the required specifications to upgrade to Windows 10 for free which I did.

Last night, the laptop had a virus and so I used the restore to default settings to bring the laptop back to the Windows 10 base settings, but 75% of the way through the process, it failed and the laptop now gets "no operating system found".

What I'm wondering is:

1. Is there any way for me to install Windows 10 on this laptop by downloading a trial version of the OS from Microsoft and then registering it. I never had a serial number for WIndows 10. When I bought my PC from Costco, it came with a legitimate Win 7 license and then I was prompted for a free upgrade to Windows 10.

2. Option 1 is preferred, but if it is unavailable, is it possible for me to get the install disks from Costco to reinstall Windows 7 on the PC and then somehow upgrade it back to Windows 10?

Thank you for your time.

:)

 

How to Reinstall Windows 10 on laptop that was upgraded from Win7 during the Free Period?

When you upgraded from a previous version of Windows, what happened is the hardware (your PC) will get a digital entitlement, where a unique signature of the computer will be stored on Microsoft Activation Servers. The Windows 7 or Windows 8 genuine license
you were previously running will be exchanged for a diagnostics key.

Anytime you need to reinstall Windows 10 on that machine, just proceed to reinstall Windows 10. It will automatically reactivate.

So, there is no need to know or get a product key, if you need to reinstall Windows 10, you can use your Windows 7 or Windows 8 product key or use the reset function in Windows 10.

If you are prompted to enter a product key, click 'I don't have a key' and 'Do this later'

Download the Media Creation Tool Now

Right click the MediaCreationTool.exe file then click
Run as administrator.





Note: How
to verify if you downloaded or installed the Windows 10 Anniversary Update

Select the option Upgrade this PC now if you want to upgrade right away, of if you want to download a ISO image or create a bootable copy on a USB thumb drive, choose
Create installation media for another PC then click Next



A new option has been added to the setup screen for users reinstalling Windows 10 on a previously installed and activated system. If your system has a Digital License attached to it, Windows 10 will automatically upgraded:

 

How to Reinstall Windows 10 on laptop that was upgraded from Win7 during the Free Period?

Special circumstance: Dell laptop with a bad virus & Windows 7 Pro was upgraded to Windows 10 Pro during the last couple hours of the Free Period, performed in Win7 Safe Mode with Networking. Both product keys & info were recorded. Laptop was then low-level
formatted 2x to nuke the virus. ALL [physical] HARDWARE is EXACTLY SAME; Dell Service tag is same. Windows 7 Pro reinstalled using same Key Code (which also appears on COA Sticker). Same Computer Name & Registered Owner entered & accepted--same EVERYTHING
(as per Key Finder reports).

Now, using [Windows 10] MediaCreationTool will NOT accept the Windows 10 Pro Key Code to revert back to Win10.

How can I re-upgrade to Windows 10 Pro using the Key Code that should work on this [Dell Latitude D830] laptop? Thanks!

 

Once you installed 10 it's registered to the PC and you so you can use media creation tool on the web to download win10 boot from the DVD delete all partitions and do a clean install it won't need a serial

 

Would you by chance have a link to a page that has step by step instructions that details what you suggested above?

Thank you

 

USB Flash Drive - Create to Install Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Windows 10 ISO Download - Windows 10 Forums

 

Why didn`t you just remove the virus ? What was it ?

Be more careful of what you download.

 

Do as Sumuria and NavyLCDR said. It will work with fewer issues and less hassle than ordering the discs.

PS, To answer your question #2: If you decide you want the discs anyway? You could call Costco if you needed to, sure - but you'd be getting the discs from the computer's OEM, not Costco. Or more accurately Costco's technical support, aka 'Costco Concierge Services' @ 1-866-861-0450. You'd need the Costco Membership number that was used to purchase the computer, as well as the serial numbers for it. (I should know, as I work for them.)

 

Do exactly as stated in replies #2 and #4 , clean install Windows 10.

There is no such thing as a trial version, you just install Windows 10, when it asks for a key just click skip, Windows 10 will self activate once you connect to the internet.

Have more questions, just ask *Smile

 

Thank you everyone, I will give this a try when I get home tonight.

To answer @AddRAM question, the reason I didn't remove the virus was because I wasn't exactly sure what got installed on the laptop. The laptop belongs to my son and he uses a user account. However, when I looked in the router logs, I noticed that someone was remotely logging into his laptop regularly. Not knowing whether it was a virus or spyware, I thought it was just safe to do a clean install but I guess I just created a bit more work for myself, which is ok. I did run Windows Defender, but it didn't find anything.

I did have one question.

According to the link provided, it says to download the Media Creation Tool. My own laptop runs Ubuntu Linux. Would anyone know if the USB Startup Disk Creator would serve the same function if all we need to do is burn the iso onto a USB stick to boot from?

If it won't work, I'll try it on my daughter's PC.

Thank you

 

You can use whatever you want, Rufus etc

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Maybe ask him why he`s letting someone remotely log in too. *Huh

Make sure this does not get changed.

 

Thank you, I managed to reinstall Windows 10 on my son's laptop.

It turns out that you can't burn the Win 10 iso on an Ubuntu PC. I tried multiple times but when I took the USB stick to boot my son's laptop, it wouldn't work. The only way I could make a bootable Win 10 stick was by creating it on another Windows PC.

In terms of him letting someone remote into his PC, this isn't something he was doing. When I checked the logs, the last time someone remoted into his PC, we were all out, so there was a backdoor of some sort on there.