[SOLVED] New everything except hard drive.

[Jason Reszka]

Hello- My son and I started a project to upgrade his computer. We purchased everything new except the video card and his current hard drive. After several hours/ days of Father and son bonding completed the project. When we turned on the system everything booted up and we were fist pumping cheering. Then came the problem.

At start up his normal windows log in screen came up- he tried to log in, but says bad pin/password. We then tried to reset the password- he spin for 30 seconds then a blue screen comes up that says " you must be connected to the internet for this step" . We double checked the connetions and I logged into my Xfinity account to double check- Xfinity shows we are connected, the BIOS shows the ethernet cable is connected. everything seems good.

I read that I may need to update the drivers for the motherboard- I put in the CD that came with the kit- but because I am stuck on the log in screen I cant run the CD.

I then read that I may need to reinstall windows 10- I grabbed a flash drive , followed the instructions " boot from USB" I went to set up and selected Boot from scan disk USB- no luck.

Please help

Installed items:
1- Corsair Vengeance RGB pro 32GB ( 2x16).

1. MSI MPG z390 Gaming Edge AC LGA1151
2. Intel i9-9900KF 8 cores, Turbo unlocked, lGA 1151 300 series 95W.
3. Old hard drive from pervious computer- Dell XPS 8900.

 

[alexoiu]

Try the Microsoft media creator tool to create a bootable USB drive.

 

[Jason Reszka]

Try the Microsoft media creator tool to create a bootable USB drive.

I was thinking- What if I took the hard drive out and plugged into our other computer- get it to boot, change password save it. then install back into new computer

 

[alexoiu]

I don't think that it's password related. If no needed files on the HDD, I would format it and reinstall Windows.

 

[King_V]

I was thinking- What if I took the hard drive out and plugged into our other computer- get it to boot, change password save it. then install back into new computer

Am I correct in assuming that you took the hard drive out of the Dell, and installed it as-is in the new computer? ie: did not wipe it and reinstall?

That will cause a lot of problems: all the drivers, etc., for everything are part of the existing Windows install, and expecting the old hardware.

If you need to keep any files/data from the old drive, hopefully just sticking it in the old computer, booting, then copying all those files/information (to a USB stick, to a cloud service, whatever) can be done, then you can create the Windows Media Creator bootable USB (on the old machine) as @alexoiu suggested, install the HDD back into the new PC, then boot off the USB stick, and do a clean install of Windows.

Given that the Dell (most likely) has an OEM Windows install, it's most likely the case that you need a new Windows license for the new PC.

 

[britechguy]

Echoing @King_V's observations, which I presume are correct, you will need to acquire a new license for Windows 10 anyway, unless the old license was for a retail Windows 10 installation and it's linked to your Microsoft Account.

But, in any case, you will definitely have to do a completely clean reinstall, as you appear to be in "Situation 1," below:

---------------------------------

On Transferring a System Drive with Windows 10 to a Completely Different Machine

Yes, you can do this, but you will get one of three results:

1. The machine will not boot, period. In which case you will simply have to do a completely clean install of Windows 10 anyway. If the hardware is really different this is the most likely outcome.

2. The machine will boot and run, even relatively well, and you can reactivate Windows, but because the hardware is completely different you will spend weeks to months chasing one issue after another because virtually nothing from the old hardware matches the new and that would make any OS crazy. It’s expecting things that just aren’t there anymore.

3. The machine will boot and run flawlessly, though Windows will not be activated. This happens, but is the least likely outcome. I’ve personally never seen this occur, but there are enough credible reports that it must happen on occasion. I would also imagine this only happens when one is dealing with actual or virtual "hardware twins" for the transplant.

My general advice is to start again from scratch with a completely clean (re)install. It all depends on what your tolerance for experimentation and frustration is. But you should expect that all will not go perfectly smoothly, into the indeterminate future, if you do not start from scratch.

If the machine in question ever had Windows 10 installed and activated at any point in the past it when you reinstall it will automatically fetch the digital license for the edition that it knows that machine last had. You can, of course, choose to upgrade it to a different edition, e.g., Home to Pro, by purchasing a Pro license key and using Settings, Update & Security, Activation Pane, Change product key link. After doing the under the hood activation for the components that were previously locked, you’ll have Windows 10 Pro instead. Windows 10 does not have to be reinstalled, as all components are already present, it is the license key that determines which are unlocked and active, which in turn is what determines the edition you’re running.