Fresh Copy of Windows to SSD?

[20076120]

Ok, so I dont have a USB stick handy.
But I got a copy of windows 10 (online) and i have the .iso downloaded.
But, currently my OS is on my HDD and nothing is on my SSD.
How can I install that fresh copy of windows to my SSD and remove the copy of windows 7 I have on my HDD?
Can I mount the .iso to a partition of my HDD then format the rest? Then boot from that?
I dont know.. im lost.
Or can I mount the iso to the SSD? lol.

 

[King_V]

I wouldn't suggest doing what you suggest. I guess it could work, but I wouldn't bet on it - and the Windows installer might try to look at your existing install on the HDD, make assumptions about what you want to keep, and put some of those assumptions on the SSD.

It is really best to get the Windows installation tool onto a USB stick (beg, borrow, buy, whatever), disconnect the HDD entirely, connect the SSD, and boot from the USB stick to do the installation.

Once it's complete, let it reboot, do the updates, etc, then after all that, shut down, and reconnect the HDD

 

[SchizTech]

First I just have to check that when you downloaded Windows 10, you purchased a proper license key.

As to the question here, I'd have to say just shell out a few bucks for an 8GB thumb drive. Windows isn't meant to be transferred from drive to drive like that; software can extract the .iso (third party software is needed by 7 but 10 can do it natively) but that's only within an already running OS. The BIOS won't boot to an .iso file.

 

[SchizTech]

Yes, I'd also suggest to leave only the SSD connected and re-connect the HDD later. What I'd specifically worry about is that when the installer sees an existing System Reserved partition on the HDD it'll re-use that. Windows 10 itself would live on the SSD but since 7, the boot files live in a separate, small partition (System Reserved). I've seen this situation where the bootloader ends up on a different drive from the active Windows installation before.

 

[scout_03]

you could buy a cheap usb pen drive to load iso boothable files on it and dont forget you need a genuine valid serial number to have it work so you need to buy one from microsoft .

 

[King_V]

While I wouldn't absolutely bet on it, it's POSSIBLE that when the OP installs Windows 10, if skipping the license key part, it may automatically convert the Windows 7 license to a Windows 10 digital license. Assuming the Windows 7 license is tied the motherboard.

Otherwise, it'll just be an non-Activated Windows 10 install, which will work, but will limit some of the things you can do.