I am upgrading one of my computer at home from Win7 Pro to Win10 Pro.
In the future, if I want to reinstall Windows 10 on the same computer. Do I need to install Windows 7 first and then upgrade it to Windows 10?
Let's say I reformatted the hard disk or got a bigger (2TB) drive and I want to install Windows 10 on it. What is the procedure to install Windows 10 on a clean hard drive with previous activation already?
Neo
Hello Neo, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)
When you upgrade to the free Windows 10 offer from your activated Windows 7/8.1 PC, the Windows 10 activation is registered on Microsoft activation servers for you PC.
You will then be able to clean install Windows 10 on your PC at anytime afterwards and have it be activated. Just be sure to "Skip" entering a product key during Windows Setup.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1...n-install.html
As long as you don't change the motherboard, the activation for the PC on MS servers will be valid. Changing a motherboard is considered a new PC. If you do, you will have to contact MS support to activate by phone.
Hi Brink is the number one man here! What I do is use a 3rd party imaging program like Macrium Reflect. You create a image of your OS on a external. Then you can use that image to restore to a brand new HDD and be back up and running just like you were the day you created the image.
You can also do a W10 -Clean Install like Shawn suggested.
Hope I'm not stepping on toes! If inappropriate, please delete and advise.
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