Windows 10 install, its a long story

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  1. badrobot
    Posts : 5,286
    Win 10 Pro x64
       New #11

    nealzibub said:
    Indeed. I'm contemplating just pulling the plug on drive 1 and doing another fresh install of windows 7 on drive 2. I'll have to reload a few programs but it feels a little safer. One 'last' question; is it really necessary to go in and plug and unplug the hard drives as you describe, or can't I just do that through the bios? They're both Sata drives so I don't think there's any master/slave issues.
    You really have to if you don't wanna go back to this problem again. You wanna make sure that the boot files stick to the right drive. It's easier to pull the plug now than to go back to square one next time.

    I just had that same boot issue 15minutes ago when I transferred a data partition to a separate drive. I was so sure there's no boot files on it but things can always go wrong. But it's no biggie for me because I can get out of it in 15 minutes. I just did an image restoration.
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  3. nealzibub
    Posts : 16
    Windows 7 / 10
    Thread Starter
       New #12

    Well, Hell. I gave it the old college try. EasyBCD wouldn't let me copy the boot files to a 'logical' drive, only primary. So I then downloaded Easeus Partition Master (which, ironically, sort of got me into this mess in the first place) to convert the partition from logical to primary, only it said the trial version wont do this and I have to buy a copy.....sooooooooo....unplugging one drive, and reloading Windows 7 on the original drive...bummer dude. thanks again for all your help! it was a fun project while it lasted!
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  4. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,430
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #13

    MiniTool Partition Wizard free would have converted the logical partition to primary. Also, now that the computer has had one upgrade to Windows 10 on it, you don't have to go back and install Windows 7 on it to upgrade - you can just do a clean install of Windows 10.
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  6. msny
    Posts : 172
    Windows 10 Home
       New #14

    Very informative thread, i will have to do the same thing on another box I have, thanks much!
    Forum rocks!
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  7. Slartybart
    Posts : 3,502
    Win_8.1-Pro, Win_10.1607-Pro, Mint_17.3
       New #15

    nealzibub said:
    Indeed. I'm contemplating just pulling the plug on drive 1 and doing another fresh install of windows 7 on drive 2.
    ...
    nealzibub said:
    ....unplugging one drive, and reloading Windows 7 on the original drive...bummer dude. thanks again for all your help! it was a fun project while it lasted!
    Why not just do a Clean Install of Win10 on Drive 1 (or Drive 2 - not much drive info in the thread - don't know the drive specs)
    See: Windows 10 - Clean Install - Windows 10 Forums

    You have a digital entitlement - you don't need to go through the upgrade again.

    Whichever drive you choose, please DO disconnect the other drive.
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  8. badrobot
    Posts : 5,286
    Win 10 Pro x64
       New #16

    Slartybart said:
    Why not just do a Clean Install of Win10 on Drive 1 (or Drive 2 - not much drive info in the thread - don't know the drive specs)

    See: Windows 10 - Clean Install - Windows 10 Forums



    You have a digital entitlement - you don't need to go through the upgrade again.



    Whichever drive you choose, please DO disconnect the other drive.

    Exactly what I suggested to avoid complicated steps which does not guarantee results. Clean install will solve his problem in one simple step.
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  9. nealzibub
    Posts : 16
    Windows 7 / 10
    Thread Starter
       New #17

    Well, y'all are still with me, so I'll keep amusing you with my increasingly poor choices. Disconnected (new) Windows 7 Drive, plugged in portable DVdrive, and attempted a fresh install of Windows 7 on (old) Windows 10 drive. I got this (apparently well known) error about Windows cannot create or find a partition...soooooo, i thought, ok, I'll re-format that partition, maybe it doesn't like the fact that there's already windows on there or some such thing...

    So i plug windows 7 drive back in, and format the D: partition of the Windows 10 drive, essentially wiping out the Windows 10 install on that drive. Unplug Windows 7 drive, boot back into DVD, same error message. So now I'm really like WTF?!?! I i wish I could attach a diagram or something, here's what I'm left with:

    DISK 1: 328GB Single Partition, Windows 7 loaded and working
    DISK 2: 500GB Partition D: formatted, no OS
    Partition E: media files
    Partition F: random storage
    I'll assume that I won't be able to just re-install Windows 10 onto that partition, especially now that I've formatted it???

    and, while I'm here, is partitioning even really beneificial? I'm under the belief that creating partitions reduces seek times or whatever, but maybe that is an antiquated theory and there is no real benefit? If that is the case, perhaps I'll just upgrade the Windows 7 i have loaded, and move on with life...

    sorry for the long post.
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  10. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,430
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #18

    You got the error because you didn't leave room on the hard drive for the System Reserved or Recovery Partitions. This is what you want to do - connect only the hard drive that you want Windows 10 on. Boot from Windows 10 installation USB flash drive or DVD. You can make a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive or DVD using the Windows 10 media creation tool:
    Windows 10

    When you boot from the Windows 10 installation USB flash drive or DVD, Windows setup will start and it will ask you for a product key. Select the tiny little option that says something like I don't have a product key. Then it will ask you if you want Windows 10 Home or Pro. Pick the correct one that you had before, I am assuming Home. Then I think it is Language and keyboard layout. Then you will come to a screen with two main choices. I think the top one is upgrade installation and the bottom one is custom install. You want the bottom, custom install option.

    You will be presented with a list of partitions on the hard drive connected, and there should only be one drive shown. Delete each partition that is listed on the disk so you are left with one big unallocated space on the drive. Just select the unallocated space and click next. Do not create your own partitions, let Windows setup do that for you. Then Windows setup should go as normal.

    If you get asked for a product key along the way, maybe two or three times, click the tiny option for "Skip" or "do this later". After setup is done, the first time you connect to the internet Windows 10 will send the hardware ID of the computer to Microsoft activation servers which will match that hardware ID to the one save previously and return the digital entitlement which will activate Windows 10 automatically for you.

    Note: the procedure above is basically the same for Windows 7 except you have to enter the Windows 7 product key when asked for it.
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  12. badrobot
    Posts : 5,286
    Win 10 Pro x64
       New #19

    nealzibub said:
    Well, y'all are still with me, so I'll keep amusing you with my increasingly poor choices. Disconnected (new) Windows 7 Drive, plugged in portable DVdrive, and attempted a fresh install of Windows 7 on (old) Windows 10 drive. I got this (apparently well known) error about Windows cannot create or find a partition...soooooo, i thought, ok, I'll re-format that partition, maybe it doesn't like the fact that there's already windows on there or some such thing...

    So i plug windows 7 drive back in, and format the D: partition of the Windows 10 drive, essentially wiping out the Windows 10 install on that drive. Unplug Windows 7 drive, boot back into DVD, same error message. So now I'm really like WTF?!?! I i wish I could attach a diagram or something, here's what I'm left with:

    DISK 1: 328GB Single Partition, Windows 7 loaded and working
    DISK 2: 500GB Partition D: formatted, no OS
    Partition E: media files
    Partition F: random storage
    I'll assume that I won't be able to just re-install Windows 10 onto that partition, especially now that I've formatted it???

    and, while I'm here, is partitioning even really beneificial? I'm under the belief that creating partitions reduces seek times or whatever, but maybe that is an antiquated theory and there is no real benefit? If that is the case, perhaps I'll just upgrade the Windows 7 i have loaded, and move on with life...

    sorry for the long post.
    You already upgraded your 7 on that machine so that may not also work like you think it will. Basically, you already don't have a Windows 7 key after doing an upgrade. You already have a new Windows 10 key which is embedded in your motherboard.
    Check you installer and your drive if they match as GPT or MBR. We don't know much about your PC specs so it's hard to make a suggestion.
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  13. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,430
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #20

    badrobot said:
    Basically, you already don't have a Windows 7 key after doing an upgrade. You already have a new Windows 10 key which is embedded in your motherboard.
    That is completely incorrect information. An upgrade to Windows 10 in no way, shape, or form alters product keys stored in motherboard bios or the Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 product keys the upgrade came from. Run Showkey from this forum and it will prove that:
    Showkey - Windows 10 Forums

    and Windows 7 never stored real product keys in bios....
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