Installing Windows 10 Pro, finds NO Internet

I didn't see this problem anywhere, but it's got me stuck.

Just built a new system. MSI Z690 Tomahawk WIFI DDR4, I9-12900, etc.

Boots and works fine with the disk from the previous system – Windows 10 Pro. The only thing that DIDN’T work was wireless. No wifi. I can plug in an ethernet cable and get Internet, but no wifi.

Went out to MSI and downloaded several things, and installed them. Nothing.

Finally, I decided to put a CLEAN, NEW copy of Windows 10 Pro on (which I'm going to do anyway), so I put the Windows 10 21H2 ISO onto a flash drive, and installed. Everything went FINE UNTIL the point where it said “Now we need to connect to the Internet”. No Internet. No WIFI, no Ethernet, NOTHING.

So, I called MSI, and by luck, I got a guy that said, “Ah, this is an Intel AX201 wifi, so lets get a driver directly from Intel.

Booted the computer into the existing Windows 10, downloaded the wifi from Intel, installed it, and it works. So the motherboard HAS wifi, and with this driver, the wifi works.

SO BACK to trying to install the clean copy of Windows 10. Same thing. Boots from the flash drive, installs, every’s fine, ‘til it gets to “Now we need to connect to the Internet”….

And there I’m STUCK. I told it “I don’t have Internet”, so now I’ve got some brain-dead version of Windows 10.
HOW do I get Windows 10 to install on here? I’ve got the most recent version of the Windows installation as far as I know, but HOW do I get this to install properly?

In mid-flounder, I just booted into the brain-dead version, then went to the folder on the other drive where the Intel stuff is. I installed the WIFI drivers and the Network stuff from MSI. So, now, in the brain-dead version I HAVE wifi and ethernet, so I RESTARTED an install (maybe), by clicking on setup on the ISO disk I did the install from.

It's sitting here churning for "updates", but is this the RIGHT way to do this? Maybe the only way? Why doesn't windows know about any of this in the Windows 10 install?

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A quick update... It sat there and churned for a long time. Screen resolution changed. Then it MIGHT have done a reboot, but it didn't actually reboot, it just blacked out the screen, all the fans went to full speed, and it sat there. I let it go for about 30 minutes, then, crashed it.
Rebooted, and it APPEARS to be at least sort-of normal, but I have no idea how to tell whether all of Windows 10 is there. Control panel says it's Windows 10 Pro but doesn't tell me if it's active or not.

So, did it work, or not? And if not, how DO I get it installed?

Hi Gracie,

If your adapter is not installed by windows at setup you will need to create a local account to be able to install your network before setting up you MS Account (I believe that is why you would like to have access at setup ?)

It is also possible to integrate the missing drivers in your installation media too. but that is a little more complicated.

The newer MB I saw lately had them directly in Bios And you can install them from there at first boot. (But Windows must be installed and initialized with a local account in case of missing network)

If you have to create a local account and have only a digital license, you can then link your local account to your MS one an then proceed with your windows activation.

As near as I can tell Windows 10 Pro is on here.

And by going through the convoluted process, I seem to be able to get wifi and ethernet.

BUT, OF COURSE, it DIDN'T ACTIVATE. Which has been a MAJOR PITA since day 1 umpteen years ago!

I've got ONE COPY of Windows 10 Pro on an ancient DVD, and the 25 character code is what I entered.

I HAVE the "current" activated Windows 10 setup in the box, and can boot that. HOW do I retrieve whatever is necessary to ACTIVATE this software from that active system disk? So far I've seen one method using a command prompt and one using powershell. I'll try those, but anybody with a method that DEFINITELY works?

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I just got through trying three different methods.

Admin command prompt with "wmic ....". That came back empty.

Then tried powershell

powershell "(Get-WmiObject -query 'select * from SoftwareLicensingService').OA3xOriginalProductKey"

Which is the same line as from the command prompt. Came back empty.

Finally went into registry and down the labyrinth to BackupProductKeyDefault and got EXACTLY the same key I've been trying to use...

I then tried CALLING the authorization phone line, got the robot, who INSISTED I provide some string of numbers that I DON'T have. I have the 25 character thing.

Download ShowKeyPlus utility to find the Windows key. It also has the option to save it in a text file, so you don't have to type it.

I'll give that a try, but I have a feeling it won't help.

I finally reached a live human at Microsoft. Who, once given my product key informed me that it's a "generic" key for upgrading Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro.

AND that it's NOT valid and can't be activated. As far as I know, in the whole time from Windows 7 on, I've NEVER had the Home version of ANY Windows... But, Microsoft is Microsoft.

I suggested that since I have a Windows 8.1 DVD, I PROBABLY upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 8. He had me provide THAT key and informed me that IT'S A PIRATED KEY... It's WRITTEN on the Windows 8.1 DVD with a Sharpie so I wouldn't lose track of it, and I KNOW its NOT a pirated key. But, again, Microsoft is Microsoft.

This has now become more trouble than it's worth... SO, new question. I have an SSD in the new box with my current Windows 10 Pro. It boots and works fine as far as I know. I have an NVME drive in the same box on which I WANT TO COPY THE ENTIRE O/S partition. Same exact Windows 10 Pro, with all the junk, just on the new, faster drive.

HOW do I copy the whole thing over so I don't HAVE TO SCREW WITH TRYING TO ACTIVATE THIS POS? I've got EASEUS TODO backups of the O/S, so do I just restore that onto the new drive, or is there some direct way to do it?

The problem is that Windows 10 activation will not occur just because you copy an activated Windows 10 to a new computer. Windows will detect the change in hardware and deactivate itself.

Yeah, but in the past you could get a human on the phone, and they'd check and get it activated. Now the guy just sits there and says "Nope." Or "Thats a pirated key". I've never owned a pirate key, but for all I know anything that's been upgraded from 7 to 8 to 8.1 then to 10 gets treated that way.

I fired up Outlook on the new system a little while ago and IT IMMEDIATELY THREW A FIT. "Office has detected a change in hardware. You'll have to reactivate Office." Followed the link, and told it to reactivate and it said "We can do that right now."

I'll try again tomorrow... So far the hardware was EASY. Getting anything from Microsoft to work is a total <bleep> show.

I'm trying to find the EASIEST, least painful way to take my current O/S drive and copy the whole thing into a partition on what I WANT to be my O/S drive in the new system. I've got backups and system backup in TODO Backup, but I can't see any way to restore them to a DIFFERENT drive.

This SHOULDN'T BE THIS DIFFICULT...

If you open a command prompt with admin privileges and run:

Code:

slui 4

you can select your country and it will give you the phone number to call and the activation ID numbers that you need to enter to activate.