Noob is back again.

[Maddog66]

Hi everyone. 
I have an old computer that I’m trying to setup for my kids to use. I’m really struggling with the software side of PC.
What I want to do is wipe the drive and start fresh. It has windows 10 on it at the moment and I found a bunch of videos that showed how to reset the computer using windows 10. I tried this many times and it just comes up saying that it didn’t work and doesn’t give a reason why. There was some other videos saying that the drive can be erased and windows can be loaded from a USB (which I have already setup) but they mention the windows key. This computer is 10 years old and I hav no idea what the key is. 
I don’t know what to do and am really confused. I’m sure this is not that hard for someone knowledgeable to do but that’s not me. What can I do?

[Prodigy_Smit]

Ok simple. Download the media creation tool from microsoft and install it on a working computer and use it to create a bootable USB.

PS: You do not need a key to install windows.

After that use it to install onto your hard drive.

This is a good tutorial.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-10-usb-boot-drive/

[Convictions]

2 minutes ago, Prodigy_Smit said:

Ok simple. Download the media creation tool from microsoft and install it on a working computer and use it to create a bootable USB.

PS: You do not need a key to install windows.

After that use it to install onto your hard drive.

This is a good tutorial.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-10-usb-boot-drive/

You don't need a key to install windows, but you won't be able to change the wallpaper and will have a watermark, along with (I think?) some other feature limitations. However, if you link your win 10 install to your microsoft account before uninstalling, then that should allow you to activate with your microsoft account instead of a key.

[Mark Kaine]

12 minutes ago, Convictions said:

However, if you link your win 10 install to your microsoft account before uninstalling,

The win 10 key is stored in the motherboard, unless the motherboard somehow doesn't have that feature but I think if it runs win 10 (tho does it really, we don't know) it should. 

 

Anyway yeah, a Microsoft account isn't needed unless you change motherboards in which case it *may*. 

[Convictions]

7 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

The win 10 key is stored in the motherboard, unless the motherboard somehow doesn't have that feature but I think if it runs win 10 (tho does it really, we don't know) it should. 

 

Anyway yeah, a Microsoft account isn't needed unless you change motherboards in which case it *may*. 

I had forgotten about this feature. Is it actually stored on the mobo somewhere? I thought windows just took a snapshot of your system components and got mad if you changed what it deemed to be too many of them.

But yeah either way it should in theory work fine as long as you're using the same PC parts. That said, it's still a good idea to link your win10 install you a microsoft account in case your mobo dies down the road or something.

[Mark Kaine]

7 minutes ago, Convictions said:

I had forgotten about this feature. Is it actually stored on the mobo somewhere? I thought windows just took a snapshot of your system components and got mad if you changed what it deemed to be too many of them.

But yeah either way it should in theory work fine as long as you're using the same PC parts. That said, it's still a good idea to link your win10 install you a microsoft account in case your mobo dies down the road or something.

yup... it's stored on the mobo... 

 

that's also why laptops etc don't come with s sticker anymore. 

 

I mean if you already have a ms account that's maybe a good idea, in my case I always just buy a 1.99 pro license which is one time use only, when I change my mobo, so that would be kinda useless in my case. 

 

Also no ms account and didn't plan to.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

[Stahlmann]

Like the others said, create a bootable USB drive and wipe your drives during the windows installation. You can install without a key and activate it later to unlock the full feature set. Most of the locked stuff in the free version is personalization or stuff you wouldn't want your kids to play around with anyway.

[Maddog66]

I have already made the USB using my new computer. I have read the link and found this

 

“Power up the computer you're installing Windows 10 on and wait for it to detect the USB drive. If this doesn't happen, reboot, this time pressing the key to access the UEFI/BIOS or boot menu. Ensure the USB device is detected, then select it as the main boot device.“

 

That’s all good but it doesn’t tell me how to select the USB as the boot drive. Noob here.