Windows 10: Reinstall Windows 10 on previous W7/8.1 machine.

I have a Thinkpad now running Windows 10 which a Lenovo tech says needs a fresh install. After checking the BIOS OS note he says it shows Windows 8 as the original OS so to do a fresh install he will send me Win 8.1 recovery disks which I must first install after which I should upgrade the machine to W10 otherwise the W10 upgrade won't recognise the W8 activation key. Is this right? It's rather long winded. If just make a W10 installation DVD is there a way to activate it directly from my W8 key?

:)

 

how do i upgrade from windows 10 to windows 7 ?

Putting aside your rant and my thoughts on the logic of your comments, to downgrade to windows 7 there are a couple of options:

If you took the free upgrade to Windows 10 from a Windows 7 licence then you should be able to use that W7 licence key and the W7 installation media to reinstall W7.

If you bought this machine with W10 preinstalled, there is no W7 licence. You can go online and try to buy one but you might struggle to buy a legitimate licence now.

 

Can a 32 bit W7 install be downloaded to my 64 bit machine and copied to a CD for my 32 bit machine?

I downloaded W 10 as an upgrade to Windows 7 and installed it last night. After installing it asked for my user password and proceeded to the windows desktop screen and went into an immediate loop: i.e. the desktop is shown and then blanks out and is shown
again, and again, and again. The mouse was functional but no keyboard commands worked except for cntl alt del. I read what I could on the forum but nothing worked. Finally, to get out of the loop I powered down. Thereafter, W10 would not completely boot
- it would get to the point of asking for the user id and then hang. Finally, after about 8 hours of trying I gave up and told it to reinstall the previous Windows version, W7. It got partially through that process, stopped, rebooted, ran for a while, stopped,
rebooted et., etc. It is now in a permanent loop trying to reinstall W7. I have also tried to load my W7 system image to no avail

I have another computer (64 bit) running W10 that is operational. Unfortunately, it's not my primary machine which I have to have up and running daily. At this point I'm ready to start from scratch. Can a 32 bit W7 install be downloaded to my 64 bit machine
and copied to a CD for my 32 bit machine?

Original Title:

 

No.

If you have an OEM computer with UEFI firmware embedded Windows 8/8.1 product key, the Windows 10 installer should automatically detect product key from UEFI firmware and you will be taken straight to the License Agreement screen. When installation is finished, Windows 10 will be activated automatically.

 

Just install Windows 10, no need to go back to Windows 8 first. Windows 10 should read the Windows 8 product key in bios and not even ask you for a product key or which version you want to install.

You might want to export your drivers first if you have hardware that Microsoft does not have drivers for directly from Windows 10 or Windows update. Create a folder on a USB flash drive (it can be the Windows 10 USB flash drive if you make a flash drive), or any USB flash drive. For example if you create a folder with the name Drivers, from a Command Prompt (Admin) [Right click start icon], enter:

dism /online /export-driver /destination:E:\Driver

The path in red will be drive letter and folder on USB flash drive that you create.

 

Windows 10 reads and uses the Windows 8.0 OEM embedded key in my laptop. As mentioned, no need to install 8 or 8.1 and upgrade.

 

Thank you all for the information. Just before I head off on this adventure can I ask:

1. How can I check that there is an embedded key in the laptop. It's a Thinkpad 540p?

2. Are there instructions on here to guide me making the W10 installation DVD? I have found pointers on the web but I trust this forum more!

 

This utility will show if there is an embedded key and what version its for, https://www.tenforums.com/software-ap...7-showkey.html

 

The Media Creation Tool will create install media for you, https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/soft...load/windows10 Use the Download Tool Now option.

 

Installation Tutorials are here, https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/?...%20and%20Setup

 

Wow. Thank you all so much.

 

Just before I begin is it possible to try a 'Repair' of W10 instead of a total reinstall so that I don't have to reinstall all my programmes and data?

 

I would think its doable. May or may not fix it though?
Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade