In July I downloaded the Media Creation tool and created an USB version of the 29th release. I then used it to upgrade 2 pcs successfully. Now, I think I want to do a 'clean install' on a new ssd on another machine. Can I to I clean install with that USB? Seems to me I would have to have a product key or something like that to do an install on the blank ssd. If so where would I get one?
Thank you for any help with this.
windows 10 does not use a product key per say.. It needs to see a prior activation of windows 7/8.1/10 on that PC
Thank you/
I understand. That leaves me wondering how one could install Windows 10 on a new build machine with nothing installed on it?
You would need to purchase a windows 10 license..
or a windows 7/8/8.1 license and then upgrade to 10
It has a current hard drive with Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 on it? Before you connect the new SSD, upgrade the old hard drive to Windows 10 and make sure it is activated. Then I would suggest you remove that hard drive and with the new SSD only installed, do a clean install of Windows 10, which should activate, then you can put the old Hard Drive back in as a secondary storage drive.
When you do the clean install, click the tiny "Skip" text when it asks you for a product key.
I am building a new tower soon, and I will be looking at the same process. The way to go is to install a previous version of Windows, activate it, and then do the upgrade. Once completed and I verify all my hardware is working properly, I'll use my USB drive to do a clean install.
If you absolutely have to purchase a license for this other computer, unless you get a deal on an older version, you might as well just buy Windows 10...again, if you need to purchase one.
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