Windows 10 - reinstall on new hard drive

gman

gman

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Graham
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I'm going to be upgrading my primary M.2 drive that holds the OS, however, when I reinstall my digital copy of Windows 10 will is ask me for a key? I have bought quite a few copies of Windows 10 for various other computers (still in use) through my Microsoft account, so I don't know which one is for which computer.

Something rings a bell about it not needing a key anymore as it will know how many copies can be active from my account when I log in to Windows using my Hotmail email because the hard drive I'm replacing will never call for a authentication check because it will be disposed of. Is this correct or is this going to be a protracted chat to Microsoft customer services to get them to authorise it?

Thanks
 
Can recommend UUPdump.net to create your media (you can create a latest edition W10 with many of the updates baked in ready) - it downloads the components from MS (as you could do yourself manually) and outputs an ISO file that you can use Rufus (or similar) to write to a USB to install from
 
hunnymonster said:
Can recommend UUPdump.net to create your media (you can create a latest edition W10 with many of the updates baked in ready) - it downloads the components from MS (as you could do yourself manually) and outputs an ISO file that you can use Rufus (or similar) to write to a USB to install from
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Thanks. Is the Microsoft USB media creater thingy no good? It's always worked good for me.
 
i do this a lot
download the ISO from MS and use RUFUS to create a bootable USB drive
 
gman said:
Thanks. Is the Microsoft USB media creater thingy no good? It's always worked good for me.
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I've never had a problem with it but it's limited to the current major release. The tool Jason is recommending seems to include update released after that so you might spend less time watching Windows update itself.
 
Cool, I'll get onto it once I decide what new M.2 to buy. Thanks for the advice all.
 
The WD Blue SN570 is a good choice in whatever capacity you want.
 
gman said:
Thanks. Is the Microsoft USB media creater thingy no good? It's always worked good for me.
Click to expand...
I'm just used to using Rufus - a general purpose tool. Don't even think about the MS media creator tool (which I presume can only do official MS ISOs - and in my work there's a whole lot more than MS out there)
 
Cheers all. I don't want to clone etc, a fresh install preferred and just in case I run into any activation issues I'm wondering if the MS creation tool would make things easier with customer support? (where the webchat always seems to last at least an hour no matter how basic the issue! lol)
 
If you're re-installing on the same hardware then you really shouldn't have any problems with re-activation. I've done it several times and it just happens. There's no problem sticking with the official MS media creation tool; Jason uses UUPdump.net and Rufus because he's using it professionally and has more to add to the image.
 
Snapsh0t said:
If you're re-installing on the same hardware then you really shouldn't have any problems with re-activation. I've done it several times and it just happens. There's no problem sticking with the official MS media creation tool; Jason uses UUPdump.net and Rufus because he's using it professionally and has more to add to the image.
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Isn't the registration stored in the BIOS/CMOS now?
It cab be quite a mission to remove it.
 
Snapsh0t said:
Please explain why that might be a problem in this case.
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Didn't say it was a problem, just explaining the "just happens" and commenting that if you want to remove it it can be tricky.
 
Snapsh0t said:
The WD Blue SN570 is a good choice in whatever capacity you want.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I ended up grabbing the WD Black SN850 1TB at a rather tasty £118. It's the version with the heatsink and is Gen4, although I doubt I'll really notice it. Apparently it is noticeable with PCVR, but I think It's really my graphics card holding things back here. The 1660 Super is doing well even with open areas in HL:Alyx but it is running at its limits.
 
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