Windows 10: Windows 10 install, its a long story

Very informative thread, i will have to do the same thing on another box I have, thanks much!
Forum rocks!

 

Why not just do a Clean Install of Win10 on Drive 1 (or Drive 2 - not much drive info in the thread - don't know the drive specs)
See: Windows 10 - Clean Install - Windows 10 Forums

You have a digital entitlement - you don't need to go through the upgrade again.

Whichever drive you choose, please DO disconnect the other drive.

 

Exactly what I suggested to avoid complicated steps which does not guarantee results. Clean install will solve his problem in one simple step.

 

Well, y'all are still with me, so I'll keep amusing you with my increasingly poor choices. Disconnected (new) Windows 7 Drive, plugged in portable DVdrive, and attempted a fresh install of Windows 7 on (old) Windows 10 drive. I got this (apparently well known) error about Windows cannot create or find a partition...soooooo, i thought, ok, I'll re-format that partition, maybe it doesn't like the fact that there's already windows on there or some such thing...

So i plug windows 7 drive back in, and format the D: partition of the Windows 10 drive, essentially wiping out the Windows 10 install on that drive. Unplug Windows 7 drive, boot back into DVD, same error message. So now I'm really like WTF?!?! I i wish I could attach a diagram or something, here's what I'm left with:

DISK 1: 328GB Single Partition, Windows 7 loaded and working
DISK 2: 500GB Partition D: formatted, no OS
Partition E: media files
Partition F: random storage
I'll assume that I won't be able to just re-install Windows 10 onto that partition, especially now that I've formatted it???

and, while I'm here, is partitioning even really beneificial? I'm under the belief that creating partitions reduces seek times or whatever, but maybe that is an antiquated theory and there is no real benefit? If that is the case, perhaps I'll just upgrade the Windows 7 i have loaded, and move on with life...

sorry for the long post.

 

You got the error because you didn't leave room on the hard drive for the System Reserved or Recovery Partitions. This is what you want to do - connect only the hard drive that you want Windows 10 on. Boot from Windows 10 installation USB flash drive or DVD. You can make a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive or DVD using the Windows 10 media creation tool:
Windows 10

When you boot from the Windows 10 installation USB flash drive or DVD, Windows setup will start and it will ask you for a product key. Select the tiny little option that says something like I don't have a product key. Then it will ask you if you want Windows 10 Home or Pro. Pick the correct one that you had before, I am assuming Home. Then I think it is Language and keyboard layout. Then you will come to a screen with two main choices. I think the top one is upgrade installation and the bottom one is custom install. You want the bottom, custom install option.

You will be presented with a list of partitions on the hard drive connected, and there should only be one drive shown. Delete each partition that is listed on the disk so you are left with one big unallocated space on the drive. Just select the unallocated space and click next. Do not create your own partitions, let Windows setup do that for you. Then Windows setup should go as normal.

If you get asked for a product key along the way, maybe two or three times, click the tiny option for "Skip" or "do this later". After setup is done, the first time you connect to the internet Windows 10 will send the hardware ID of the computer to Microsoft activation servers which will match that hardware ID to the one save previously and return the digital entitlement which will activate Windows 10 automatically for you.

Note: the procedure above is basically the same for Windows 7 except you have to enter the Windows 7 product key when asked for it.

 

You already upgraded your 7 on that machine so that may not also work like you think it will. Basically, you already don't have a Windows 7 key after doing an upgrade. You already have a new Windows 10 key which is embedded in your motherboard.
Check you installer and your drive if they match as GPT or MBR. We don't know much about your PC specs so it's hard to make a suggestion.

 

That is completely incorrect information. An upgrade to Windows 10 in no way, shape, or form alters product keys stored in motherboard bios or the Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 product keys the upgrade came from. Run Showkey from this forum and it will prove that:
Showkey - Windows 10 Forums

and Windows 7 never stored real product keys in bios....

 

AFAIK, you only have one month to try Windows 10 after an upgrade to be able to go back to 7. The OP said he's been on 10 for a few weeks. Not sure though if "few" weeks means 4 or more weeks. After a month, you are locked in to 10(?). Which means, you can't clean install 7 back because your Win 7 key is already locked in to Windows 10 license certificate which Microsoft calls "digital entitlement". I've never proven this myself because I never upgraded my old OS but that's my understanding of this whole upgrade circus. An upgrade does not alter your original key but rather uses your original key just to verify that you have a genuine OS which determines your eligibility for FREE upgrade. Then you will be issued a Windows 10 digital entitlement by registering a unique ID associated with your PC’s hardware on Microsoft’s Windows activation servers.
I never said Windows 7 stores product key in BIOS. *Smile
When I said "embedded in motherboard", that's my short way of saying that once you upgrade to Windows 10, the Windows activation server generates a Windows 10 license certificate which associates the Windows 10 License with your specific hardware, making a product key unnecessary.

 

holy hell you guys are getting way over my head now. I might just have to roof test this machine. *Smile
I'll let you know what happens this weekend.......

 

That would be incorrect . You can go back and forth between Windows 7 and Windows 10 as many times as you want, as long as you want. The Windows 7 product key never gets "converted" to Windows 10 use only. Plenty of us here have tested it many times since July last year.

 

So, this isn't true then:






Maybe it will change after July 2016. Who knows. Otherwise, those Windows 10 upgrade nags that Windows 7 users are getting are useless if everyone can go back and forth.

 

The 30 day limit only applies to reverting back to Windows 7 using the windows.old folder. Neither the 30 day limit, nor July 29th has any affect on reinstalling Windows 7 from a DVD or USB flash drive. Once an upgrade is completed, the digital entitlement for Windows 10 is stored on Microsoft activation servers using the hardware ID of the computer - not any product key and the hardware ID is what is used to retrieve it for Windows 10 activation.

 

I guess I just have to take your word for it. I don't have to do this upgrade on my own because I have free licenses for all Windows versions right now. *Wink

 

nealzibub,

The way to get a nice clean installation of Windows 10 is in post #18.

 

Well, I'm back in business, but it did not go anywhere close to according to plan...Briefly;

I tried making a Windows 10 USB stick, and when I went to run it, it gave me some error message about a file that was missing...sooo...
I figured, OK, I'll just go ahead and update this Windows 7 to Windows 10...until Windows 10 told me that my Windows 7 needed to be activated. OK, no problem...until Windows told me that that particular key was blocked and wouldn't let me activate it. At this point I'm getting close to tears...
My final attempt...I completely wiped out the other drive (whichever # it was, 1, 2, who cares) then yanked out the other physical drive. and started from scratch. Windows 7 install, activate, Windows 10 update. A few hours later and I'm back where I was a week ago...

Thank you to Navy LCDR and Badrobot for all your help. And if you're a newbie, like me, and you're still reading this, here's the take aways:

1) If you ever update Windows, and you put it on a different physical drive, know that YOUR BOOT FILES ARE STILL ON THE FIRST DRIVE!
2) Windows activation (at least on my particular machine) is tied to your hard drive! so once you activate it on hard drive #1, if you screw something up, you MAY NOT be able to activate it on another hard drive, even on the same MOBO.
3) When you are going to partition/format/wipe a hard drive, and the software says, 'this drive has system files on it and you may not be able to boot up after you do this' STOP. walk away. call a friend. or visit tenforums. *Smile