Windows 8 to 10 via Upgrade Assistant - Stuck on boot

Here's what I did
- Reset (wiped) a windows 8 laptop
- Downloaded the upgrade assistant
- Upgrade assistant downloaded, checked and 'installed' Windows 10. The laptop automatically restarted to finish doing so.
- It was installing, it was saying it was 'installing' or updating. It restarted once it was done.
- Now it's stuck on the boot screen / splash with the ASUS logo. NO text saying what it's doing, no spinning circle.
- Recovery options don't do anything, I can't "reset" the installation either.

I'm doing this for a friend, no offense but I'm not a fan of Windows 10 ;3; I'd really appreciate some assistance... please help I'm clueless, this is dark magic to me

As you're doing a clean install, I suggest doing it from a bootable USB drive. See the tutorials:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1...n-install.html

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

There is probably a lot more detail there than you need to know. My preferred short version: use the Media Creation Tool to download an .iso for the version of Win 10 that you want. Use the "Rufus" application to produce a bootable USB drive. (I use DiskPart, a command line tool, but it's a little dangerous: you could erase a partition other than the one you want to.) Boot from the USB drive, and run the install from there.

This doesn't identify your problem, but I think that local installs are more reliable than doing it online.

Hello and thank you for your reply!

That is what I would usually do, but I was told that I will need to perform an upgrade first via the Upgrade Assistant and only then I would be allowed to install Windows 10 on this machine without it prompting for a license key which I do not have, since it's an upgrade.

I'm not sure how I feel about wiping the original partitions with everything. My main concern is Windows 10 asking me for a key when I do a fresh install via USB, is that a valid concern?

TheDeerDude said:

Hello and thank you for your reply!

That is what I would usually do, but I was told that I will need to perform an upgrade first via the Upgrade Assistant and only then I would be allowed to install Windows 10 on this machine without it prompting for a license key which I do not have, since it's an upgrade.

I'm not sure how I feel about wiping the original partitions with everything. My main concern is Windows 10 asking me for a key when I do a fresh install via USB, is that a valid concern?

The free upgrade offer has officially ended, although it may still be available in some ways.

The original path was to install 10 as an upgrade over an installed and activated qualifying OS (7, 8, 8.1). The November 2015 version offered the direct use of a license key from the old OS to do a clean install of 10. (I never did that myself.) I don't recall the details, but that upgrade path may have continued past the 29 July deadline. Once Windows 10 was activated, all subsequent re-installs on the same hardware are supposed to activate automatically online on the same hardware through a "digital entitlement" that is stored on MS's activation servers. (The hardware is defined by the motherboard, supposedly.)

If you have a Windows 8.x license embedded in your PC's BIOS, a clean Win 10 install may activate. Or not. I hope that someone more knowledgeable chimes in.

Hello and thank you for your reply.

I like knowing how things work, and Windows 10 doesn't like for people to know how it works. The activation is... simple, yet extremely confusing. Simple - because you don't have to do anything, confusing because.. it's hard to understand how it works.

I managed to, thanks to you, create a USB with Windows 10 and do a fresh install. Works like a charm and doesn't ask for an activation key.

Thank you very much for your help