New
#1
Upgrade From Dubious Windows 7 License to Legit Windows 10 Pro
My son recently brought over a dead PC ( fried PSU and fried additional HDD). I was able to get a good Corsair PSU on sale and removed the dead HDD, leaving the boot HDD in the pc. The computer booted into Windows 7 and so I decided to use the creation tool to upgrade it to Windows 10 pro and purchase a key. As Windows 7 was not legit, the tool refused to upgrade to Windows 10. I figured no biggy, I would just use the tool to blow away whatever was on the HDD as all the data was backed up.
I started the computer and selected the USB stick as boot device but instead the computer booted into Windows 7 and now I got the message that Windows 7 needed to be repaired. This was unsuccessful as the license wasn't legit and so I restarted the pc, again I selected the USB drive by pressing f8 and this time the selection screen for windows showed up with the options: "Start Windows 7 Normally" or "Attempt to Repair Windows 7". I really had no desire to attempt a repair which was pointless in any case so I googled for the issue, no joy.
I could have pulled the HDD and put in another but I was determined to use the existing drive. With a wonky Windows 7 install, troubleshooting the drive was not an option. So, what to do?
I installed Linux Mint on the drive, took all of ten minutes and blew away the troublesome Windows 7 install. Once that was done, the pc now booted into the media drive, and I was able to install Windows 10 pro, I purchased a license and all is good. While this was successful, was there anything that might have made this a bit easier? Other than a new drive? I just cannot figure out why the computer kept booting into the Windows drive instead of the USB stick. The computer is an older home made build, with an ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 MB.