Windows 10: I Need to ReInstall Windows 10 but it was an upgrade, Help?

Need to ReInstall Windows 10 home 64-bit, Please help methods?

I have Windows 10 Home 64bit and need to reinstall it, not clean install, and I no disc or product or license for it. I upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 back when doing so was 100% free, so I do have a legit version Windows 7 siting here.

What method, or methods, are safe and easy to do a repair install of windows 10 home 64bit under my situation?*Sad

thanks

:)

 

Need to reinstall Windows 10 but ran into an issue

My desktop PC, originally updated to Win 10 from Win 7 (still have the installation disk and license), has suffered a mishap. It functions properly except for Cortana, the Start Menu and Mail. I've run SFC and DISM, but no issues were found. The Microsoft
tech recommended a Windows refresh. That is the path I'm following.

I want to be able to fall-back in the event of a failure. So, here is what I've done:

• Made an image backup using 3rd party software
• Obtained a second SSD to be my replacement C: drive
• Restored the image to the new SSD
• The feature to refresh Windows did not work because of missing software. (Apparently the image somehow did not pickup critical files or a critical partition.)
• Attempted to re-install using the Microsoft Windows Download
• Got stuck in an endless loop at the first question screen. The screen kept reappearing, and the process would not go forward.
  
• Powered down
• Turned the PC back on

What happened is the following:

• Would not boot. BIOS complained.
• Viewed the SSD. There is what appears to be an installation of Windows 10
• There is a folder also called Old Windows.

What I would like to do is keep the original SSD in tact with whatever is installed on it in the event I need to fall-back. After I get a clean Windows installation and I'm sure that all of the files I need have been accounted for, I'll reformat the SSD.

(Note: Critical, useful files are on the D: Drive, not the C: Drive)

Can you recommend the steps I should be taking to either re-install/refresh Windows 10 on the new SSD or make the new SSD bootable (with the system that Microsoft at least partially installed)? I don't have any idea what the 25 character product key is of
the Windows 10 system as required by this
Microsoft page for creating installation media.

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

 

Need to reinstall Windows 10 but ran into an issue

Andre,

Thank you for the very helpful reply. Your write-up was the core of our success. (I also got help from my son who is an IT professional.) Still, the re-installation of Windows 10 was not quick, simple, or straight-forward. You might enjoy the saga. I'll
try to be brief.

• All of this was done on a new SSD because I wanted to maintain fall-back to my partially working system. (Note. Here's an odd one: The inoperative Start Menu became "unstuck" when we enabled Windows Defender, but the Microsoft Apps" still didn't work. Hence,
  we did a total re-installation.)
• Needed to disable secure boot on my Asus Z97-A/USB3.1 motherboard. A search on "how to disable secure boot asus motherboard" yielded a number of articles,
  
  this one being the most helpful. Also, we disabled Fast Boot because we were in and out of the UEFI BIOS system many, many times. (Note: it is a good thing we checked for the presence of the copied keys on another PC because due to hardware limitations
  and incompatibility with USB 3.0, the keys didn't copy the first time.)
• Apparently, when I migrated from Windows 7 to Windows 10, Microsoft figured out a way to install Windows 10 with MBR partition style rather than GPT. Bottom line, we had to convert to GPT, and the article referenced above had the solution. However, that
  erased the backup. We used the fall-back Windows system, and we restored the image to the new SSD using options in the 3rd-party backup software to (1) align sectors for SSD operation, and (2) transfer from MBR to GBT style partitioning.
  
• After that it was pretty much downhill from there. Windows installed flawlessly, and then we followed the directions to restore Secure Boot by re-installing a deleted key and by selecting Optimization before the final Save and Exit.
• We checked to see if the Windows system re-installation was activated, and it was.

Thank you again, Andre. Your articles were really valuable.

Vic

 

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

and here is where to get the Windows 10 ISO file:
Windows 10 ISO Download

 

If your talking about reinstalling windows, you could try Resetting your PC

 

Why don`t you want to do a clean install ?

What exactly is the issue that you have to run a repair install ?

 

Upgrading is still enabled if you have a valid Win 7 key, so that's always one option (supposedly, it's for people who use assistive technology - but MS are a bit woolly about the fine detail, it seems). Anyway - a sequence that still works is:

• get hold of a copy of the Win 10 install (e.g. the ISO file linked to in another post in this thread)
• do a basic install of WIn 7
• activate your Win 7 key
• run the Win 10 install over the top, and select the option to upgrade your OS when the choice comes up

I had to go round that loop myself only a few days ago. I found that a few of the Win 10 device drivers needed updating once it came up, but apart from that it was pretty painless, and seems to have worked fine.

 

Why install Windows 10 a second time? That has never been necessary.

 

Sorry, yes, OP said a reinstall. The sequence I mentioned works to do a full, clean install of Win 10 using a Win 7 key. There may well be be other, easier options even for that; I'm no expert.

 

I was speaking about your sequence to do a full, clean install of Windows 10 using a Windows 7 product key to activate. There is an easier option. Leave out the last step of reinstalling Windows 10 a second time it isn't necessary.

 

You can actually skip the activation screen and it should auto activate if the machine had a running version of Win 10

 

He wants to do a repair install, not a clean install, and he has been given the instructions in the 1st reply.

 

I recently had my hard drive replaced, I finally got my replacement recovery media from ACER for my Gateway NV75S02u... So even though I had Windows 10, I am back to Windows 7 Home Pro. I believe that I have read options to get back to Windows 10, that will work as the install (unsure if upgrade, clean install, etc.) that will either use my windows 7 product key, or during the process will detect that this computer(motherboard) has already been upgraded to Windows 10. So I am trying to verify my next step to get back to windows 10, after which I will try to learn how to use it, I believe starting by getting rid of the promo junk, then learn how to make the most of what I have to work with.

 

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

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...ws10startfresh