Re-Installation Question - Free Upgade from Win7 - No Media

Nyarlathotep · 13 Feb 2020

So I have Windows 10 Pro Ver. 1909

It was a free upgrade from Microsoft over my previous Windows 7 Ultimate.

I have no physical copy of Windows 10, nor any installation media other then some "upgrade" files that were downloaded from Microsoft to my USB Stick.

So.. I have no actual Windows 10 activation key.. other then the original Key that came with my physical copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.

Anyway.

My current rig is an i5-4690K with 32GB DDR3-1600 and an AMD Radeon RX 580 video card.

I am considering upgrading to a Ryzen 7 - 3700X w/ 32GB DDR4-3600... and keeping the RX 580 for now.

I think wiping my main SSD and doing a fresh clean install of Windows would obviously be best for this upgrade...

But I'm not sure how I would go about doing this as I don't actually have any physical copy of Windows 10... other then the "upgrade" files that are still on my USB Stick...

Would I have to first reinstall my original Win7 Ultimate, and then RE-Upgrade that to 10 Pro?

Or will/does Microsoft offer some way to auto-detect that I have a legit copy of 10 from them, and thus provide some way to download a full fresh copy to download to my USB stick and reinstall clean to a wiped SSD?

oscer1 · 13 Feb 2020

you can get win 10 from here. your key is already on their servers so you will not need to provide it. it should activate without a problem. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

Nyarlathotep · 13 Feb 2020

Thanks for the reply!

I just wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing with Win10, and that I would be doing it right.... before I actually bought the new parts!

zbook · 14 Feb 2020

Changing CPU, GPU, drive, and RAM are not considered by Microsoft as a major hardware change.
Changing a motherboard is considered a major change.

Once there is a digital license by upgrading windows 7 to 10 you can replace the drive.

If you were to replace the motherboard there are additional steps in this link:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...ardware-change

dalchina · 14 Feb 2020

The primary way to get Win 10 for manual installation is to use the MS media creation tool (Google) to download a current iso file or create a bootable medium.

This link gives various ways to obtain iso files or,
Can not find link for OS downloads - windows 10

If you want older builds, the
Heidoc iso downloader (Google) is useful.

Note that at present build 1909 has a frustrating problem with file explorer search as MS meddled and changed it (widely reported). Build 1903 is the 'best' in general.

You can
a. attempt an upgrade from Win 7 by running setup.exe from a mounted iso or bootable medium
or
b. clean install (if Win 10 previously activated, should be automatically activated- registration is held on MS servers)
Clean Install Windows 10
or
c. clean install and use your existing valid Win 7 licence if Win 10 not already activated.
Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First

Note that having a bootable medium to install Win 10 can be useful, as you can use it to boot your PC and via 'Repair your computer' boot to advanced startup options such as command prompt, system restore etc.

Further note that an iso file of your current build of Win 10 can be used for a valuable repair procedure - an 'in-place upgrade repair install'

Nyarlathotep · 14 Feb 2020

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Yes, obviously switching from an older Intel CPU to a much newer AMD one, will require a completely new motherboard.

Thus why I'm looking at just wiping the main SSD and doing a full fresh clean install.

Oh and yes, my Win10 says its been "activated" so looks like that will simplify this for me.

AddRAM · 14 Feb 2020

You are building a new system, so you will need a new key.

You can try using your W7 Ultimate key again, but that may not work. If your W7 Ultimate is a retail key and you retire the Intel system, then that key can be used to activate W10 on the AMD system. If it is a OEM key than no, it can not be used again. Not legally anyway.

Others may suggest a different method of activating windows.

Why don`t you create a W10 usb stick installer with the stick you have ?

Just go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10 and it will walk you right through it, just read the instructions, slowly.

You will then have a usb stick installer that can be used on any PC to install W10

Once you`re done with it, you can than go about using it again for what ever you want, you can always use it in the future to create another installer.

Boom, done

NavyLCDR · 14 Feb 2020

@AddRAM is correct. Activation will not be automatic nor as easy as others have stated.

Ztruker · 14 Feb 2020

The last 2 Win 7 to Win 10 upgrades I did via Clean Installs I had to use Phone Activation.

NavyLCDR · 14 Feb 2020

Ztruker said:

The last 2 Win 7 to Win 10 upgrades I did via Clean Installs I had to use Phone Activation.

If the Windows 7 product key has been blocked from online activation, then, in my experience, it is required to install Windows 7 first, activate it via phone activation, then upgrade that to Windows 10 to get a digital license for Windows 10 on that computer.