Windows 10: Reinstall Windows 10 and replace primary hard drive

Hi folks,


I've been running Windows 10 on this PC for a couple of years now. Upgraded online from Windows 7 during the free upgrade period. So I have no product key for Windows 10, I have a digital license tied to my Microsoft account.


I want to reinstall Windows 10 now and replace the primary SSD hard drive to a larger one as I was running low on disk space.


I have tried the "Reset this PC" process which successfully reinstalled Windows 10 fine, but didn't let me change the hard drive as this process works in situ.


I have tried the tool to create separate installation media for another PC, and using that after swapping in the new hard drive and rebooting from the CD, but despite everything I have seen, there is NO option to bypass the entering of a product key. I believe I am supposed to be able to skip this Product Key step and then after installation link the new install to my existing Microsoft account and the activiation will work, but there is no way I can see to bypass the product key entry bit. I tried entering my legitimate Windows 7 product key at that point, but not surprisingly, that didn't work.


I have also tried the "Create recovery disk" option from Control Panel to create a bootable USB key, but the PC did not boot from the USB drive, despite me setting the only boot device in the BIOS as a USB HDD. But, my mobo is still an older BIOS one and not a new UEFI one so USB booting may not be as successful as it should be, but the BIOS definitely seems to support it.


Any tips !!


Thanks and regards,


Andrew

:)

 

W7 Hard drive partition issue

to get rid of that 100 meg windows partition that setup creates for you on a new install on a blank hdd:

- press shift+f10 when on the partition management screen in setup <-- this opens a command prompt
- diskpart <-- start the windows command line partition management tool
- list disk <--- list the installed hdds in this computer for the next step
- select disk 0 <- might have to replace 0 with the number of the correct disk
- clean <-- this will erase all data on the disk you selected one step up- dont use the wrong disk!
- create partition primary <- creates a primary partition taking up all space on the drive, adjust the command if necessary
- exit, exit to exit diskpart and the command prompt
- click refresh in partition manager and select your newly created partition and install to that

 

Reinstall Windows 10 to new hard drive

Hi Rodolpho,

We want to know about the issue you're having with your recovery drive. Please answer the questions below:

• Are you trying to reinstall Windows 8 or Windows 10?
• If you already upgraded to Windows 10, were you able to create a new copy of the recovery drive?

We suggest creating a new copy of the recovery drive and then follow the steps provided by Andre Da Costa above this thread.

Update us with the outcome so we can assist you further.

 

Primary Hard Drive Replacement

I have to replace a failed hard drive on a Lenovo Laptop. When I bought the laptop, it came with Windows 8.1 pre-installed on it. I did not receive any Windows media (CD, etc). with the laptop. I upgraded to Windows 10. After I put the new Hard Drive
in the laptop, how do I install Windows 10 on it?