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Reinstalling Windows. Need advice.

Vectraat
By Vectraat
in Windows
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Currently I'm using Windows 10 Home which I upgraded to from Windows 7 Home Premium (I have a key).
But I need to reinstall Windows. I can see under "activation" that I have a "digital license".
At the moment I'm only using a local account. I have a Microsoft Account, but It's not tied to this PC and I'd prefer to keep it that way. However, it seems that I may need to sign in with a Microsoft account on this
PC to connect it to this digital license before reinstalling or is that only IF I make hardware upgrades?
 
Because I *may* add a few new pieces of hardware. Possibly a few hard drives and maybe a new graphics card. I'm aware that Windows can be a bit finicky about hardware upgrades. I'm definitely not replacing the motherboard though. 

What's my process of reinstalling to avoid any potential drama? 
-Do I install Windows 7 first --> activate using my key --> upgrade to 10 somehow?
-Do I download Windows 10 from somewhere then use my Windows 7 key to activate?
A dummy step-by-step how-to-guide would be great.

Different people have different ways of dealing with this situation and many of the guides I've read are old and I don't know if the same rules still apply. 

Thanks
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you can download the media creation tool and burn to an ISO or copy to a usb key

 

activation "should" be simple and you should be able to use your w7 key if needed call for activation help if needed and they will activate

 

using a MS account is always a less painful way as they copy the key to your account, you can unlink it after signing in to verify the account as I did

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6 minutes ago, BubblyCharizard said:

you can download the media creation tool and burn to an ISO or copy to a usb key

 

activation "should" be simple and you should be able to use your w7 key if needed call for activation help if needed and they will activate

 

using a MS account is always a less painful way as they copy the key to your account, you can unlink it after signing in to verify the account as I did

Using this tool? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

So I download that tool and use my Windows 7 key for Windows 10 activation? By "burn to an ISO" you're talking about burning this media creation tool to a disc? Or copying it to a USB device? Can I have other files on the USB device along with the media creation tool? Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're getting at, I'm half asleep.

Yeah, I wanted to avoid using the Microsoft Account as I set up another PC with one a few months ago by accident. Once I realized the error of my ways I got rid of it, but Microsoft kept pestering me to use it and It took me like 5 days on and off to figure out how to get Windows to stop bugging me to use it. 

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If you go into the new settings ui under recovery there is a "reset this pc" option. This will reinstall windows in place. it should also let you specify which files you would like to keep untouched during the reinstall. i think by using this method there is no need to reactivate as it will just reuse what it has during the installation.

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No, you must put media creation tool on your harddrive and follow instructions.

 

Finally you'll get USB or ISO prepared for boot and after installation - you will have the same system as now. :)

Consider one thing - do you really must reinstall Windows? Why? It's not needed for anything and gives no improvement at all.

 

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On 7/8/2018 at 6:25 AM, Vectraat said:
Currently I'm using Windows 10 Home which I upgraded to from Windows 7 Home Premium (I have a key).
But I need to reinstall Windows. I can see under "activation" that I have a "digital license".
At the moment I'm only using a local account. I have a Microsoft Account, but It's not tied to this PC and I'd prefer to keep it that way. However, it seems that I may need to sign in with a Microsoft account on this
PC to connect it to this digital license before reinstalling or is that only IF I make hardware upgrades?

it is not a requirement, your key is stored on MS servers with a generated key that is based on your hardware specifications. Once Windows 10 is re-install it will auto-activate itself. The problem is that if you don't link with your MS account, then it MAY BE (depending on system specs and year), be very picky to detect a hardware match to get back your key. A small hardware change or lack of drivers between now and you re-installing Windows 10, will not auto-activate. I have been experimenting on this, and on some system, it is flexible, others, the simple fact it missed a driver for Bluetooth card, the OS would just not activate. I had to install the drivers, restart and NOW it would activate.

 

Keep in mind that, the above is ONLY for auto-keyless-activation of Windows 10. You can always activate Windows 10 by entering Windows 7 product under Start > Settings > Update & Security > Activation.

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2 hours ago, Vectraat said:

Thanks, so I have to put this "media creation tool" on a blank USB drive and install from there? 

Media Creation Tool, is a program from Microsoft that does 2 thing based on the option you pick:

 

If you pick you want to install/update Windows 10 on another PC (this is the option you want as you'll be clean install Windows 10):

  1. Downloads Windows 10 setup
  2. Checks that your USB flash drive is compatible
  3. Format your USB flash drive (all content on it will be lost, be sure you are not using one with important files in there)
  4. Extract the downloaded Windows 10 setup files to the USB flash drive
  5. Make it bootable

All you need to do, is restart your system and make it boot to the USB flash drive, and follow the instructions. Please note that during the setup stage, Windows 10 setup will ask you for a product key, pick "I don't have one", as ONLY Windows 10 product keys will work inside. Windows 10 is not installed to go online or do anything really at this stage.

 

If you pick "For this PC"

Then Media Creation Tool will UPDATE Windows 10 to the latest version of Windows 10 that is available. That is NOT what you want.

 

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4 hours ago, Vectraat said:

Thanks, so I have to put this "media creation tool" on a blank USB drive and install from there? 

No, it's software for making bootable USB. You can do it other ways too, but this is easiest.

^^^^ That's my post ^^^^
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On 7/9/2018 at 3:01 AM, homeap5 said:

No, you must put media creation tool on your harddrive and follow instructions.

 

Finally you'll get USB or ISO prepared for boot and after installation - you will have the same system as now. :)

Consider one thing - do you really must reinstall Windows? Why? It's not needed for anything and gives no improvement at all.

 

Possible OS corruption.

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