Recovering Windows after Linux Experiment
-
Recovering Windows after Linux Experiment
Greetings,
I have a Beelink Pentium Mini PC. It's 3 years old and long in the tooth in regards to speed. Recently I rented a movie of iTunes and the PC version of that is memory leak city. Brought the system to a crawl -- but to Windows 10 credit -- did NOT crash Windows. (It was so close though it might have well as been one.) ANYWAY --
-- I'm replacing that Mini PC with a new AMD Ryzen 3000 series which should be a speed bump by a bakers dozen. I want to install Ubuntu Mate directly onto the Mini PC. I've tried dual booting and, well, it's annoying. After all this --
-- my simply question is: if my Beelink shipped with Windows 10, and I erase it and install Ubuntu, and I later change my mind and wish to install Windows back -- does that piece of hardware know I have a licence and they'll be no problems? Or will the license be lost because I erased Windows?
-
-
Simple answer is yes it will pick it up from licence stored on MS servers
-
To add, you may need to do more than a simple erase. Installing Linux usually reformats the drive to ext4 which Windows install can't work with, may need to delete the partition/s on the drive.
-
-
Windows 10 will automatically reactivate, provided your system came in with a digital license, which is stored in the motherboard BIOS table.
-
That's true with Win8.x and Win10 original installs but to add it also works if Win10 was installed as an Upgrade over Win7 that was activated. Once Win10 is activated Microsoft has a record and a reinstall/clean install should activate once connected to the Internet. Been there, done that.
-
The six week experiment has concluded. What looked interesting in Linux proved to be unacceptable. All distros were buggy, some worse than others. I reinstalled Windows 10 back on my 1Ghz Celeron and it's pretty fast again. I guess I should have simply done that in the first place.
-
Linux is excellent for certain things, and not as much for others, Much of the programming apps is volunteer work for free.
Linux could easily be great for end consumers on a desktop PC, but apps is where it is at for a consumer experience, not the OS itself. And the OS is well made and runs much of the internet and servers. Good thing there are no viruses or malware written against it, so it helps keep the internet running smoothly.
Linux Took Over the Web. Now, It'''s Taking Over the World | WIRED.
Everytime you use the web, be thankful linux has your back. And you use linux everyday even though you dont know it as it is embedded on many consumer devices.
-
![]()
... if my Beelink shipped with Windows 10, and I erase it and install Ubuntu, and I later change my mind and wish to install Windows back -- does that piece of hardware know I have a licence and they'll be no problems? Or will the license be lost because I erased Windows?
Windows 10 will automatically reactivate, provided your system came in with a digital license, which is stored in the motherboard BIOS table.
Welcome to Ten Forums sakthivels,
That's not quite right, you're mixing up a digital license with the Windows key.
All PCs that have had Windows 10 installed and activated will have a digital license. This is stored on Microsoft's activation servers and is linked to the unique hardware ID of the PC. You can wipe the drive and do a clean install of the same edition (Home or Pro) skipping entering a key if asked, and it will activate automatically from the existing digital license.
Separately, any PC built for Windows 8 or later and supplied with Windows pre-installed by the OEM will have a Windows key embeded in the bios firmware. This takes the place of the key on a CoA sticker that was supplied with Windows 7. A clean install of Windows 10 will read this key from the bios and use it to choose the edition to install and to activate it. Only if there is no key in the bios (eg. a PC built for Windows 7 or earlier) will it as for a key, and if you skip entering one then ask which edition to install.
The six week experiment has concluded. ... I reinstalled Windows 10....
So did it find a key in the bios, or ask you for one?
-
-
So did it find a key in the bios, or ask you for It?
It found it and was awesome. The problem was it booted to GRUB. I had a 'feeling' to boot to bios and play with boot order. I found Windows Boot Manager and tried it. All set.
-
So did it find a key in the bios, or ask you for It?
It found it and was awesome. The problem was it booted to GRUB. I had a 'feeling' to boot to bios and play with boot order. I found Windows Boot Manager and tried it. All set.
I think I have done the same, as long as windows is on one separate drive and linux on another drive, you can set boot order in bios, and boot either one without need of a grub boot manager, (I think.) I know you can also disconnect the windows drive(unplug), install linux on separate drive and do that because I have done this before. The bios setting then determines which OS boots, and maybe you can hit a key and select which drive to boot from when the PC is just starting up too.
Quote