Reinstalling Windows 10 on new SSD

[kelly9073]

Hello good people,

 

Picked up 2 new SSDs on black Friday (480GB + 960GB) and my current one will be moved to a different PC that is coming Soon^TM

 

The new 480GB is going to be my new daily OS driver on my main PC and I want to do a clean install (I have the boot USB all ready to go). I was just wondering what would happen with the licence key as I remember people has lots of trouble when Windows 10 came out.

 

I used ProduKey so I know my Windows 10 key but I think Microsoft keeps a record of your hardware and will only let that hardware activate it.

 

Just wondering what the best course of action is.

 

Current Notes:

Windows 8.1 upgraded to Windows 10

Want clean install (not an upgrade)

 

Thanks for the help (hopefully  ) - PS. I hadn't signed up to the forums before because I'm incredibly lazy

[APasz]

With windows 10, your CD key is tied to your motherboard. In the past, you could say the key was tied to your HDD but it wasn't really.

On a side note there is no way to get your actual CD Key unless you have a OEM type key.

[scottyseng]

Hello good people,

 

Picked up 2 new SSDs on black Friday (480GB + 960GB) and my current one will be moved to a different PC that is coming Soon^TM

 

The new 480GB is going to be my new daily OS driver on my main PC and I want to do a clean install (I have the boot USB all ready to go). I was just wondering what would happen with the licence key as I remember people has lots of trouble when Windows 10 came out.

 

I used ProduKey so I know my Windows 10 key but I think Microsoft keeps a record of your hardware and will only let that hardware activate it.

 

Just wondering what the best course of action is.

 

Current Notes:

Windows 8.1 upgraded to Windows 10

Want clean install (not an upgrade)

 

Thanks for the help (hopefully  ) - PS. I hadn't signed up to the forums before because I'm incredibly lazy

 

You should be able to just clean install it as normal to the SSD and it'll activate on its own when you get online (skip the activation on the installation wizard). The key is tied to your motherboard.

 

That's how I installed it on my PC / laptop after the upgrade (I did the clean install because on my PC the upgrade corrupted itself and on the laptop just to be on the safe side).

 

If you get an error during the installation, you might have gotten a corrupt ISO file from the Windows 10 upgrade downloader (It happened to me...I had to redownload it using my laptop).

[kelly9073]

Thanks guys.

[Nishizumi]

I may be incorrect but it seems that only OEM versions of Windows are hardware locked.

[APasz]

I may be incorrect but it seems that only OEM versions of Windows are hardware locked.

Retail and Pre-installed key are also tied to the motherboard but some re-sellers have special deals with Microsoft.

[kelly9073]

I honestly just used the key that ProduKey said I was using and everything authenticated.