Windows 10: Windows 10 drive died now back to 7 and want to reinstall 10

My old C drive is dead to the world. I made a new Recovery USB on a 32G USB key after each 'new' version of Windows 10 was released. I have an unused 256G SSD that I've formatted and primed (formatted GPT) for a new WIN10 installation but when I boot the USB key and click RESTORE (there is no INSTALL option) it tells me that the target drive is too small which is odd because, wow, that's some heavy duty compression going on if it's true.

Searching online tells me I have to INSTALL the OS (not restore it) and that my problem stems from the fact that I don't have Windows on the SSD drive already. So then, where do I get a Windows 10 install .iso and better yet, how do I register it? Will Microsoft recognize my old Windows 7 product number as my upgrade path to Windows 10 (yes I freely upgraded from 7 to 10 as soon it was released)? Should I install Windows 7 on the SSD and then boot from the USB key? Are there other options for me or am I out of luck? Thanks.

:)

 

How to reinstall Windows 10 if my computers used the free upgrade from 7 and 8?

Will windows 10 still accept the license keys from 7 and 8 now if I reinstall my computer?

Does Microsoft keep a list of users who upgraded to Win 10 using their 7 and 8 keys so that when users need to reinstall windows 10 the old keys would work?

Do I need to call in Microsoft to ask them to activate my Windows 10 when I give them my win 7 keys?

Both computers are laptops. The windows 7 machine had the serial printed on the back, and I needed to enter that when I upgraded to 10. The windows 8 machine had the serial built in inside its boot system so I didn't need to enter the key when I upgraded to 10, but I did manage to write down the keys using a fetcher program.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

How to reinstall Windows 10 if my computers used the free upgrade from 7 and 8?

Yes, still work, no need to call, just be sure to have internet access when you start to install 10, I work at pc shop and did this few days ago, used a key of 7 to put clean 10(wasn't used for upgrade).