- Apr 11, 2004
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As we all know, to have reserved your copy of Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you had to have all the updates installed for those OS's. Then before you can attempt to do a clean install of Windows 10, you have to do the upgrade so your hardware ID hash and Product Key for your old Windows OS are logged with the Windows 10 activation server. And as we all know once this upgrade has been completed and activated successfully, we can then perform a clean install without any Product Key on the same hardware as many times as we like.
Now what happens if something goes wrong and you can't get back to your original OS? Or you mess up and try to go straight to a clean install from a USB key bypassing the upgrade? Well you are screwed, now you have to install your old OS with that Product Key (hope you have it) to perform the upgrade. Maybe you'll be lucky and you'll be able to roll back in the case of a failed upgrade. However if you can't roll back, or you screwed up and missed the upgrade altogether and went for the clean install, you have to install your old OS from scratch. If it's an OEM system you may have the option of a factory restore. If not you've got to dig out your DVD and install that way.
Now I have some good news here and I discovered this by helping out a friend who botched her laptop doing the upgrade. After the upgrade completed successfully, I believe that it didn't activate. For whatever reason, at this point there is no way of knowing. She used the laptop for a little while, she left it on overnight and came back and it wouldn't boot. I was able to sort it out, but not able to get her old install to work. At this point I wasn't aware that the Windows 10 install hadn't activated after the upgrade. I did a clean install and when I attempted to activate it, it came up as blocked. Some quick research found that the problem is symptomatic of what I explained above. Since the upgrade never activated, the activation servers didn't have her old Product Key and hardware ID hash on record for the upgrade, so it wouldn't activate a clean install. It was like getting kicked in the balls. I thought, great now I have to install Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and then update it until it gives me the option to upgrade. Now let me be clear at this point I had Windows 10 Home 64 bit on my USB key created via the Media Creation Tool. This is how I've performed all the upgrades and clean installs I've done thus far. Then I got to thinking, why should I have to install all the updates just to get the invite from Windows to upgrade, I already have the USB key. So after installing Windows 7, I made sure it activated and then I performed the upgrade, bypassing what would have been many hours updating Windows 7 with all the security updates and Service Pack 1, etc, just so I could upgrade to Windows 10.
Really this make sense since the upgrade just renames the old OS install Windows.old and installs Windows 10 into the folder Windows, it doesn't really care about how up to date the old OS is. However MicroSoft isn't usually known for doing things that make sense or are necessarily end user friendly. Come to think of it, it would have been nice if MicroSoft had given us the option of a clean install right from the get go. Start the install, get a window asking us what OS we were upgrading from, ask for the Product Key for that OS and bang it reads the hardware ID hash and done, no need for a upgrade saving us a couple hours in the process. I assume most intermediate and advanced users prefer a clean install of their OS rather than an upgrade. However that's neither here nor there since MicroSoft didn't give us that option, wishful thinking if you will.
So the long and short of it is, if you find yourself in this boat and you've no way back other than doing a factory reset (on OEM machines) or installing your old OS again, just do the install of your old OS, forego the updates for that OS. Make sure the old OS activates first, then perform the upgrade from a USB key. At this point it's up to you if you want to do a clean install afterwards. If your plan is to follow the upgrade with a clean install, make sure Windows 10 activates after the upgrade before proceeding with the clean install. Otherwise you'll be back in the same boat.
Hope this helps someone out there a few hours of distress.
Now what happens if something goes wrong and you can't get back to your original OS? Or you mess up and try to go straight to a clean install from a USB key bypassing the upgrade? Well you are screwed, now you have to install your old OS with that Product Key (hope you have it) to perform the upgrade. Maybe you'll be lucky and you'll be able to roll back in the case of a failed upgrade. However if you can't roll back, or you screwed up and missed the upgrade altogether and went for the clean install, you have to install your old OS from scratch. If it's an OEM system you may have the option of a factory restore. If not you've got to dig out your DVD and install that way.
Now I have some good news here and I discovered this by helping out a friend who botched her laptop doing the upgrade. After the upgrade completed successfully, I believe that it didn't activate. For whatever reason, at this point there is no way of knowing. She used the laptop for a little while, she left it on overnight and came back and it wouldn't boot. I was able to sort it out, but not able to get her old install to work. At this point I wasn't aware that the Windows 10 install hadn't activated after the upgrade. I did a clean install and when I attempted to activate it, it came up as blocked. Some quick research found that the problem is symptomatic of what I explained above. Since the upgrade never activated, the activation servers didn't have her old Product Key and hardware ID hash on record for the upgrade, so it wouldn't activate a clean install. It was like getting kicked in the balls. I thought, great now I have to install Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and then update it until it gives me the option to upgrade. Now let me be clear at this point I had Windows 10 Home 64 bit on my USB key created via the Media Creation Tool. This is how I've performed all the upgrades and clean installs I've done thus far. Then I got to thinking, why should I have to install all the updates just to get the invite from Windows to upgrade, I already have the USB key. So after installing Windows 7, I made sure it activated and then I performed the upgrade, bypassing what would have been many hours updating Windows 7 with all the security updates and Service Pack 1, etc, just so I could upgrade to Windows 10.
Really this make sense since the upgrade just renames the old OS install Windows.old and installs Windows 10 into the folder Windows, it doesn't really care about how up to date the old OS is. However MicroSoft isn't usually known for doing things that make sense or are necessarily end user friendly. Come to think of it, it would have been nice if MicroSoft had given us the option of a clean install right from the get go. Start the install, get a window asking us what OS we were upgrading from, ask for the Product Key for that OS and bang it reads the hardware ID hash and done, no need for a upgrade saving us a couple hours in the process. I assume most intermediate and advanced users prefer a clean install of their OS rather than an upgrade. However that's neither here nor there since MicroSoft didn't give us that option, wishful thinking if you will.
So the long and short of it is, if you find yourself in this boat and you've no way back other than doing a factory reset (on OEM machines) or installing your old OS again, just do the install of your old OS, forego the updates for that OS. Make sure the old OS activates first, then perform the upgrade from a USB key. At this point it's up to you if you want to do a clean install afterwards. If your plan is to follow the upgrade with a clean install, make sure Windows 10 activates after the upgrade before proceeding with the clean install. Otherwise you'll be back in the same boat.
Hope this helps someone out there a few hours of distress.
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