Windows 10: Upgrading Toshiba Win7 laptop to Win 10 via clean install on new SSD

I went through quite a few upgrades when Windows 10 arrived but have taken a break and don't feel up to speed on what has changed regarding upgrading with a "clean install". I am familiar with the Media Creation tool but used that for upgrades, and have a question on the product key and activation.

So I have a Toshiba laptop C655-S5312 as-shipped with a mechanical drive running Windows 7. I would like to replace the mechanical hard drive with an SSD and clean install windows 10. I know in the past you had to upgrade the original OS and hard drive first to 10 and then put in the new drive.

Am I correct that now I no longer need to do that? And if so, what is the correct process? If I grab the product key for Windows 7 as-shipped and then install windows 10 (will the media creation tool work or will I need a full windows 10 image?) can I then just input the windows 7 key?

I have seen some conflicting info on this (probably because things have changed since the release) although I believe it is better than when I went through this a few times right at the launch.

Any help appreciated.
Thanks,


:)

 

Windows 10 upgrade and clean install in new SSD

I can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for in similar threads.

I have a laptop with a Windows 8.1 installed in a HDD. I have not yet upgraded to Win10 but I have reserved already.

I want to do a clean install of Win10 on a new SSD I'm buying and I'm worried that if I upgrade to Win10 on my current drive then do a clean install on the SSD, because of the hardware change (HDD to SSD) the Win10 product key will become invalid.

What should I do?

- Upgrade to Win 10 on my current HDD then swap the SSD and do a clean install

- Clone my current hard drive do the SSD then do the upgrade

Note: The OS (Win7) installation came with the laptop

Note 2: I don't need to keep my files

 

Fresh SSD

I have Win7 Pro and am looking to upgrade to win 10 pro via the free update client. however I have a 1TB SSD that I intend to install it on. How do I relocate the free win 10 pro license to the ssd for a fresh install?

 

You're best bet to guarantee that the new install will activate would be simply to capture the genuineticket.xml file from the Windows 7 installation:

Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums

 

I am reading between the lines here, are you saying that you have had Windows 10 on this machine already, as an upgrade - is that correct? Was it activated at that time? If so, it will have digital entitlement, and should activate OK.

If Windows 10 is already running on the hard disk, clone to SSD, install the SSD, make sure all works well, and make sure it is fully updated and go to *

If not, have you had confirmation that Windows 10 will run on your Satellite C655-S5312, as in the following Toshiba forum thread? :

Solved: Windows 10 "Check your PC" - TOSHIBA FORUMS

It is likely your processor which has integrated Intel HD graphics, will not be fully supported with drivers from Intel, and may experience problems with clean installation.

I would recommend that you clone your Windows 7 installation to the SSD, put aside the old hard drive safely, and once Windows 7 is updated and working well from the SSD, image it again, and then attempt an upgrade to Windows 10.

Working with the SSD, rather than the HD ensures that all the following steps will proceed with the best speed possible.

If the upgrade succeeds, gaining digital entitlement for the laptop, test it out for a while, * and if confident, back it up, and back up the drivers separately, and only then try the clean install, which may fail due to driver problems, or hopefully will run just fine, or will run on Windows generic drivers but require the driver backup you made.

 

Sorry for the confusion....my earlier Windows 10 upgrades were with other systems. I just took a "tech break". I was hoping to get this basic laptop on Windows 10 just for very basic work. However there is a lot of junk on there so I wanted to do a clean install. I know the old drill of upgrading to 10 on the old hard drive first. Was just hoping I would not have to go that route.

I will have to do a more deep dive on compatibility. I had upgraded other i3 machines with integrated graphics so had not given it a second thought. Don't care if all the to shiva software runs...but yeah, need the video drivers.

 

Tnx for clarification, best of luck!

 

Here's the way I see it. You capture the genuineticket.xml file from the old HDD. You replace the old HDD with the new SSD. You do a clean install of Windows 10 to the SSD and use the genuineticket.xml file to activate it.

If you find drivers for everything and it all works you're good to go, right?

If it fails miserably, then what have you lost? Nothing but time. You pop the old HDD back in and move on to Plan B.

 

Navylcdr,
Thanks, that makes perfect sense! Will read up on that genuine ticket method. The link implied I could also use the Windows 7 key to validate Windows 10?

 

You should be able to activate Windows 10 with the Windows 7 product key - but capturing the genuineticket.xml file takes less than 2 minutes and is very good insurance in case the Windows 7 product key does not work.

Remove the HDD and install the SSD between steps 6 and 7:
Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums