New machine, reinstallation and reactivation

Hi

I posted about this subject generally quite some time ago and received excellent replies confirming that I can move this licence to a new machine. Now, I am just about, finally, ready to go ahead and transfer Win10 to new machine. Just checking I have this right before I do it.

I bought a Win7 Pro standalone (retail) licence many moons ago.
This has since upgraded to a digital Win 10 licence against a local account on my current machine.
I think I now need to:

• Create a new user account on my current machine that is logged into my Microsoft Account?
• Do I need to uninstall/deactivate on the old machine?
• Using a new Win10 ISO on DVD, if the USB flash drive won't boot, I presume I then install on Windows on the new machine.
• What happens from here, do I log into my Microsoft Account on the new machine and/or run the activation troubleshooter? Or can I just wait to be prompted?

Thanks in advance

For legal license agreement you should uninstall Win 10 on the old machine.

On the new computer
Reset BIOS or load defaults.
Set Disk mode to AHCI, not RAID
Select OS mode = UEFI or Select OS mode = other + UEFI (depends on BIOS).
Disable fast boot and secure boot (you can turn it on after installation)

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a new MB, you should install as UEFI-GPT
Detach any other drives (SATA or Power cable) from the MB.

During POST, press F12(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name).
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the SSD till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.
When asked for the Win 10 key, insert the Win 7 retail key

kevvyb said:

I bought a Win7 Pro standalone (retail) licence many moons ago.

Do you still have the Windows 7 Product Key? If yes, you can use that product key to activate Windows 10 on the new computer.

kevvyb said:

Create a new user account on my current machine that is logged into my Microsoft Account?

Yes, you will need to log into the old computer with a Microsoft Account:
Switch to Microsoft Account in Windows 10

kevvyb said:

Do I need to uninstall/deactivate on the old machine?

Not at first. Wait until have Windows 10 activated on the new computer. Then, in order to comply with the End User License Agreement (EULA), you will need to remove Windows from the old computer.

kevvyb said:

Using a new Win10 ISO on DVD, if the USB flash drive won't boot, I presume I then install on Windows on the new machine.

Yes, but a properly created USB flash drive should boot.

kevvyb said:

What happens from here, do I log into my Microsoft Account on the new machine and/or run the activation troubleshooter? Or can I just wait to be prompted?

If you have the Windows 7 product key, then you go to the activation page under settings and change product key to your Windows 7 Product Key. If not, then you will need to be logged into your Microsoft Account and run the activation troubleshooter.

Megahertz said:

For legal license agreement you should uninstall Win 10 on the old machine.

On the new computer
Reset BIOS or load defaults.
Set Disk mode to AHCI, not RAID
Select OS mode = UEFI or Select OS mode = other + UEFI (depends on BIOS).
Disable fast boot and secure boot (you can turn it on after installation)

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a new MB, you should install as UEFI-GPT
Detach any other drives (SATA or Power cable) from the MB.

During POST, press F12(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name).
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the SSD till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.
When asked for the Win 10 key, insert the Win 7 retail key

Thank you for this very authoritative and succint guidance. Very helpful. One question though. My new machine has three storage drives, 2 x M2 on the mobo and one standard SSD via SATA cable. Woould like to know the reasoning for disconnecting drives during installation as I think in the past I have reinstalled with all drives connected but maybe I have forgotten.

kevvyb said:

Thank you for this very authoritative and succint guidance. Very helpful. One question though. My new machine has three storage drives, 2 x M2 on the mobo and one standard SSD via SATA cable. Woould like to know the reasoning for disconnecting drives during installation as I think in the past I have reinstalled with all drives connected but maybe I have forgotten.

Very common issue is to install Win 10 in one drive and find out that the boot manager is on another drive. This is very common if you have or had another drive with Windows.
If all drives are clean (no formatted partitions) you don't need to remove or disconnect the other drives.
You can also delete all partitions on the other drives during installation and then choose one drive to install on and then proceed. Once Windows is installed and running, open Disk Manager (C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc) and initialize and format the other drives assigning a disk letter for them.

NavyLCDR said:

Do you still have the Windows 7 Product Key? If yes, you can use that product key to activate Windows 10 on the new computer.

Thanks for your replies. I do still have the Win7 retail key so will do it that way but using a local account rather than a MS account as I did before.



Yes, you will need to log into the old computer with a Microsoft Account:
Switch to Microsoft Account in Windows 10



Not at first. Wait until have Windows 10 activated on the new computer. Then, in order to comply with the End User License Agreement (EULA), you will need to remove Windows from the old computer.



Yes, but a properly created USB flash drive should boot.



If you have the Windows 7 product key, then you go to the activation page under settings and change product key to your Windows 7 Product Key. If not, then you will need to be logged into your Microsoft Account and run the activation troubleshooter.[/QUOTE]

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Megahertz said:

Very common issue is to install Win 10 in one drive and find out that the boot manager is on another drive. This is very common if you have or had another drive with Windows.
If all drives are clean (no formatted partitions) you don't need to remove or disconnect the other drives.
You can also delete all partitions on the other drives during installation and then choose one drive to install on and then proceed. Once Windows is installed and running, open Disk Manager (C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc) and initialize and format the other drives assigning a disk letter for them.

Thanks for this. All drives are clean as is new PC. I have ended up with boot manager and Windows on drive