Will I be able to install Win10 upgrade on a new SSD?

My Win7.1-64 system is very old and I need to do a clean install of Win10.

My current Win7 is installed on an old SSD so I decided to get a new one, which I now have. My plan was to create a Win10 ISO flash drive, replace my current SSD boot drive with the new one, and do a clean install of Win10 on the new SSD.

Will I be able to do this? My fear is that the Win10 installer will look for an existing Win7 install, but won't find it because that drive will not be in the system.

I don't believe that MS has provided this level of clarification yet on their free "upgrades". They have said that an existing license for Win7/8/8.1 is going to be required to activate the upgrade, but they haven't said how that license information is going to be obtained. They may provide a way of entering the "old" license key, and if that is the case, the installer won't need access to the old Windows version.

Thanks. hopefully I'll be able to just enter my Win7 registration key and go.

My Win7.1-64 system is very old and I need to do a clean install of Win10.

My current Win7 is installed on an old SSD so I decided to get a new one, which I now have. My plan was to create a Win10 ISO flash drive, replace my current SSD boot drive with the new one, and do a clean install of Win10 on the new SSD.

Will I be able to do this? My fear is that the Win10 installer will look for an existing Win7 install, but won't find it because that drive will not be in the system.

Unless you remain an insider, you must upgrade first to Win10.

Now you have 2 choices:

1. You can create a system image of Win7 as it now is, and re-image it to the new SSD, then upgrade to Win10

or

2. You can upgrade using the SSD you have now(make a image of Win7 for "Just in Case") to Win10, then when the ISO's eventually come out, switch disk's and clean install to the new one(better choice).

Yes.

Upgrade your older SSD with Win7 on it.

Download the ISO
Swap the drives - leave the older one out of the machine.
Install Windows 10 on your new SSD.

The details on the ISO download aren't clear yet, but it's been stated that once you've updated a system to Win10, you can get the ISO for a clean install. Only a motherboard change would make it a new device, so there should not be any issue with a drive swap.

It might require phone activation, but then MS is going to get a lot of calls

This is exactly what Cliff S said ... I should read posts instead of scan them - I'd give a +rep to Cliff S ... but no, I have to spread +reps around a bit before I can.

Hey that's ok, first of all it gives me confirmation that my advice was on the right track, and the OP can see it is advice and not my opinion.

Doing a clean install of 7 to the new SSD and then upgrade to 10 is the simplest way to do it.

Doing a clean install of 7 to the new SSD and then upgrade to 10 is the simplest way to do it.

Not really, remember how many thousands of updates will have to be downloaded and installed?

Not really, remember how many thousands of updates will have to be downloaded and installed?

Updates for Windows 7? There may be a way to skip and just get GWX. All those Windows 7 updates will be useless anyway. You just need the license for it.

To upgrade from 7 to 10 he needs to use windows update the first time, and windows update has been updated itself many times since the last Win7 ISO with sp1 came out. He may not need GWX, but it must be fully updated to be able to upgrade(that's why even using setup.exe it looks for updates first.

My Win 7 image/installation is from 2011, I heave re-image in between but not reinstalled, and it runs just fine. No BSODs since 20112 when I was testing different All-In-One optimizers(just testing really), but the install is from 2011 and after multiple Win10 upgrade testing it work well every time(after turning RAPID MODE off).