Windows 10: Windows 10 upgrade problem

I had window 7 professional on my desktop on one HDD, the second hard drive once Vista was reformatted and blank boot.
I must have made some mistake in the menu choices for the upgrade. All I know is that W10 Pro installed OK but is seeking activation? I'm too scared to activate, as I have no idea if things will get worse.

Secondly even though the BIOS shows a RAID 0 and RAID 1 for the 2 HDD, I am able to boot from either drive. The real problem is that the RAID 0 was the W7 HDD, now W10 but none of the apps work.
So 2 problems 1 W10 needs activation and my apps don't work.

What can I do to recover from this mess? Thanks

:)

 

Windows10 upgrade

 

Missing Operating System after Windows 10 download

Is there anywhere to download replacement OS for Windows 7 Home Premium? Mine crashed on Windows 10 upgrade.

 

Hi there!

Well for now, the fact your apps don't work is currently irrelevant. You need your OS to be activated. If it were me I would do the following:

• Go back to previous Windows 7 via Settings > Update & security > Recovery > Get Started (where it says go back to Win 7)
• Confirm Win7 is working correctly and activated.
• Make an image of the drive or at least back up important files
• Either disable all secondary hard drives (including Vista) or disconnect the cables to the drives so that Win10 upgrade can only detect the one hdd
• Upgrade to Win10 from within Windows
• Check for Win10 activation

 

I agree that that the urgency is activating Windows 10Pro. As far as going back to Win 7 Pro it makes sense. Given that I have 2 HDD's , I assume that I need to go into the BIOS and set the HDD that originally had Win 7 and the left over APPS etc? When I look at the BIOS it does show that one drive is a boot drive and it's not; the one that booted Win 7. Or does it make a difference? Is it fair to assume that the non bootable drive is working as a Raid drive? (Know little about this stuff).

To avoid the mess I got into how do I know which physical HDD to disconnect once I have restored Win 7? I am struggling to know which physical HDD is RAID 0 or RAID 1 as shown in disk management.

Hate to pester you like this. At 70 I have so much to learn and not having computer savvy colleagues like when I worked, has slowed me down. The kids and grand kids think I'm nuts and I should be chilling out! Thanks for your help.

 

Sorry, I think I misunderstood your original post. Probably read it too quickly. I'm now trying to work out your configuration from your two posts. I don't want to give wrong advice and/or poor suggestions. I have edited my previous post as I had made incorrect assumptions. Please accept my apologies.

This is what I understand to be current situation:
You have 2 HDDs in a RAID array.
Could be RAID 0 or RAID 1 (unsure)
You had Vista and Win7 installed on the array as a dual-boot system
Your Win7 license is genuine and Win7 was correctly activated.
You upgraded Win7 to Win10 via Windows Update (ie not with installation media)
Windows 10 failed to activate

Is all of the above correct?
If you are unsure about the RAID situation or how your drives are configured then please can you post screenshots from both Disk Management and Intel Rapid Storage Technology (this displays the exact RAID configuration) so that folks here can see your setup.

 

*************************
You are just about all correct. I think, as I am learning more every hour, that I I used the media option so that I could install it on the blank formatted drive. I was under the impression that the upgrade invitations had to do with the MOB rather than drives. Below is the outcome following my misguided attempt to install the free upgrade.

RAID 0 (Disk C)Primary partition ,system, Boot, Page File, Crash Dump Labelled Windows 10 (This disk was once Vista dual boot, but I reformatted the disk before the Windows 10 upgrade. I was hoping to do use a clean disk, mistaking that it mattered not.
RAID 1 (Disk D) Primary partition. Labelled Windows 7 (This disk was the boot disk with activated Windows 7 Pro 32 bit)

Following your earlier advice, I tried the Activation process. I entered a Product Key extracted, using a utility, but it was not accepted. I then tried to restore and recover to go back to Win 7, as you suggested. Unfortunately it just created an image of Win 10.
I am concluding that all I I have discovered is that the Product Key associated with Windows 7 is lost for the activation. However I know the Win 7 was activated. My daughter in laws brother, a computer science engineer, installed it and arranged the dual boot about 3 years ago. I hated Vista! Unfortunately I have no access to his assistance anymore and I would hate to loose the free upgrade, something a senior can only wish for as a new retail license costs $200 I do not have. I hang onto this PC because it has a TV tuner that allowed me to cut the cord on cable TV. Now Media Center is chargeable with Win 10. I am thinking of using XBMC /KODI as means to moving forward with OTA live TV that Media Center offered. I just need a working computer!

I am not savvy enough to imagine if there is a work around. The only expensive softwares are Win and MS Office 2010 . A waste on a 8 year old Desktop. The others are freeware. My internet download/upload capacity is 125G and I am not a fan of using cloud based anything. I noticed recently that cloud based files were mysteriously back on my Minix Windows 10 mini HTPC. It only has a 30 GB eMMC solid state drive and I was down to 7 GB spare. The drive to surrender our privacy is getting out of hand; probably too late anyway. My wife got a mini Pad from the kids for messaging and Facetime. I am not a fan of it, but then she expects me to do the e- every thing from email, taxes, bills, shopping !!!! Right now she is not a happy camper!

Appreciate your continuing effort to help me out

Dennis

 

From what you describe it looks like you have clean installed windows 10 onto a clean ex vista drive, if this is the case your windows 7 should be still on the D: have you tried setting the D: drive as first boot disk.

A clean install of 10 will not activate, you must upgrade from your 7 first.

 

Similar to what Bazz said. You can only initially install Win10 as an upgrade from within Win7. You cannot perform an upgrade by booting into a Win10 installation disk. The upgrade must be done from inside Win7 while Win7 is running. Please confirm which upgrade method you have used thus far.

It may also prove helpful to everyone if you could please:

• Post a screenshot showing how your HDDs are setup
• Post a screenshot showing how your RAID array(s) are setup

 

post the screenshots so everyone will know what happened

 

Thanks I understand. BTW I unplugged the WIN 10 boot drive. Could not boot the WIN 7 drive. I posted the RAID and HDD info above that I sourced from the BIOS and Disk Management.
I have never done screen shots or posted them . I can try and see if the Disk Management Window will allow me to print to a PDF or save as a jpg (doubt it). Could not see a way to attach a file to a post.

 

Thanks Bazz. Sadly I agree with you. The Win 7 HDD does not boot. I cannot recover or repair it. Together the two drives only boot Win 10. The Win 10 boot drive can work on it's own.
Is there a way to recover the Win 7 product code even if the drive is not boot-able?

 

Right then sir! A couple of TenForums tutorials seem to be in order. *Biggrin

These screenshots are really needed as the info you are giving is confused. We are both using different terminology and if things are done wrong then we could end up giving the wrong advice. Wrong advice can lead to a negative outcome. We want the outcome to be a positive one *Wink

Click on the links below and get those screenshots up please. One screenshot of Disk Management and then use the same method to upload a screenshot of your RAID array. Please use the tutorials as they will guide through the process. *Smile

How to Post a Screenshot of Disk Management at Ten Forums

How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File at Ten Forums

 

Indeed lets all get on the same page and progress from there.

 

I just can't work out how many physical disks, what type of RAID or whether a RAID array is currently functioning.