Since buying my laptop in March 2014, must have re-installed Windows 5 times now. Most of this centered around upgrading to Windows 10. Most recent reinstallation wiped the drive out completely, then reinstalled everything from my restore USB stick, before re-upgrading to Windows 10.
Now I asked about part of this before, I'll have to search back on the replies on where to find the key to a preinstalled version of Windows, vs a clean install from an iso so I have it handy once I get some help with this post question.
I tried going to MS's Windows 10 upgrade page to get the iso and the creation tool to make it, but it only gives the option to upgrade now, or for another computer. Wasn't there just a quicker way to get the iso and burn it off? I need to get this done, I think the free upgrade is what the end of June or July and things just keep coming up and I don't wanna forget, and be stuck without it.
Option 1 here:
Windows 10 ISO Download - Windows 10 blog
In regards to a product key: once you upgrade a computer from Windows 7/8/8.1, a digital entitlement for Windows 10 gets stored on Microsoft activation servers. After the initial upgrade, go to settings, updates and security, and the activation tab in the column on the left. You will see a result that says this computer is activated with a digital entitlement.
After you have the digital entitlement, to clean install the same version of Windows 10 on the same computer, if you are asked for a product key during installation click on "I don't have a product key", "skip", or "do this later". After Windows 10 is installed, when it connects to the internet it will retrieve the previously stored digital entitlement from Microsoft activation servers based on the unique hardware ID of that computer and activate itself.
Probably be handy to have a backup/image set up on a separate HDD SSD to restore from instead of reinstalling the OS, the built in windows backup/restore works fine for me, mine is set to take a backup/image every Sunday at 7:00pm.
A bootable USB W10 iso is also good to have around to do a repair install if needed.
There are several 3rd party backup/restore programs that work good and may be more user friendly than the built in windows backup/restore application.
Thanks for such a quick reply NavyLCDR! I had actually gone as far as were it asked if it was for a USB or for another computer, and I wasn't so sure what to do. Now that've read the instructions, other then figuring out where the serial # is for my OEM Windows 8.1 is buried in my system, I need to store that with the ISO I'm about to create.
Run showkey plus from this forum:Tother then figuring out where the serial # is for my OEM Windows 8.1 is buried in my system
Showkey - Windows 10 blog
The more I read about the keys, now that I've a digital number from MS after registration, should I still be concerned? For future reference intend to install a ssd instead of an hd. That'd make for a "major" change in system, no?
Only the motherboard is considered a major change in the system.
You can get your Windows key with this one, it works perfectly and stores it in a TXT file:
KeyFinder | Magical Jelly Bean
I for myself have made an install medium with a USB drive (8GB) where I stored both architectures on it. I also was able to save the latest cumulative updates on this drive so I always have everything at hand and hardly need to download any updates. The next cumulative update however will not fit anymore on this drive so I gotta wait until Redstone is out....
FYI, it may have been mentioned, but the option to upgrade another computer would have done what you wanted. It creates either an .iso file or a USB flash drive (my preference).
You do not need to add multiple cumulative updates to the USB flash drive. The word cumulative means that the update includes all the previous updates, so instead of adding a new cumulative update to the USB flash drive, you would replace the old one that was there with the new one.I for myself have made an install medium with a USB drive (8GB) where I stored both architectures on it. I also was able to save the latest cumulative updates on this drive so I always have everything at hand and hardly need to download any updates. The next cumulative update however will not fit anymore on this drive so I gotta wait until Redstone is out....
