Use the win10 upgrade on another drive and remove old OS

[JochemDoek]

So i currently have Windows 7 on a drive with a ton of other files. Soon ill be getting a ssd and i would like to put windows 10 on that drive and remove windows 7 from the other one.

Can someone explain in steps how to do this (if its possible)

 

[Joshua_32]

to my knowledge (at least when i done) it let me choose the drive i wanted to install 10 on.

 

[JochemDoek]

to my knowledge (at least when i done) it let me choose the drive i wanted to install 10 on.

Thanks, but was it the win10 upgrade or a new win10 with serial key?

 

[The_Prophecy]

If you have successfully run the Windows 10 upgrade and activated, you should be able to swap out the drive and reinstall Windows 10 straight up. Don't enter a serial when installing and once the install is done, it should activate with a Digital Entitlement. A storage device change should not be enough for MS to consider it a "new" computer.

Edit: As far as removing Win 7 from the other drive goes.... just format it. You won't be able to use that Windows 7 license on another computer though.

 

[Colif]

The upgrade just upgrades the win 7 install. To get it onto another drive and keep win 7 you would need a second licence as win 10 upgrade uses the win 7 key to activate itself.

 

[JochemDoek]

If you have successfully run the Windows 10 upgrade and activated, you should be able to swap out the drive and reinstall Windows 10 straight up. Don't enter a serial when installing and once the install is done, it should activate with a Digital Entitlement. A storage device change should not be enough for MS to consider it a "new" computer.

So install the upgrade, then it probably asks to restart the computer. While the PC is turned off, remove the win7 HDD and boot the pc and it will give an installation screen? Or howdoes it start the installation? Where is it stored?

 

[Colif]

that won't work, win 10 is stored on the hdd you just removed... nothing would happen at boot except error saying no boot device

 

[SkyNetRising]

Can someone explain in steps how to do this (if its possible)

1) Install SSD.
2) Clone HDD to SSD (and fix bootloader)
3) remove HDD
4) Upgrade to Win10.

There is no need for another license on the same computer.

 

[The_Prophecy]

If you haven't already, install the Windows 10 upgrade. Let it complete the install and then let the system run for a bit. Make sure it's activated. Once you get the new SSD you mentioned above, download the Microsoft Media Creation Tool from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

Use that to download the Windows 10 install media and set it up on a DVD or USB flash drive (the tool will guide you through that process). Once the install media is created, shut down the system, remove the old hard drive and install the SSD. Boot up with the Windows 10 install media you just made and run the install for Windows 10. Once installed, 10 should activate as I described above.

 

[JochemDoek]

Can someone explain in steps how to do this (if its possible)

1) Install SSD.
2) Clone HDD to SSD (and fix bootloader)
3) remove HDD
4) Upgrade to Win10.

There is no need for another license on the same computer.

If you haven't already, install the Windows 10 upgrade. Let it complete the install and then let the system run for a bit. Make sure it's activated. Once you get the new SSD you mentioned above, download the Microsoft Media Creation Tool from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

Use that to download the Windows 10 install media and set it up on a DVD or USB flash drive (the tool will guide you through that process). Once the install media is created, shut down the system, remove the old hard drive and install the SSD. Boot up with the Windows 10 install media you just made and run the install for Windows 10. Once installed, 10 should activate as I described above.

So it just "knows" the installation is legit? And is there a way to remove win7 from the old drive without removing other files?

 

[Colif]

you doing it the long way

best way to do this is download the win 10 iso from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10

create a USB or DVD - your chocie
put the ssd into pc without the hdd installed
Change boot order to boot from usb or dvd
Install win 10 - use the key you have for win 7 as you can do that now

As for old install, put that hdd in after iSSD is complate and copy anything you want off drive. We can work out cleaning it later.

you don't want win 10 on both devices at same time as it confuses it at boot (Or can) - it depends if bios set to UEFI boot or not.

 

[JochemDoek]

you doing it the long way

best way to do this is download the win 10 iso from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10

create a USB or DVD - your chocie
put the ssd into pc without the hdd installed
Change boot order to boot from usb or dvd
Install win 10 - use the key you have for win 7 as you can do that now

As for old install, put that hdd in after iSSD is complate and copy anything you want off drive. We can work out cleaning it later.

Is there a way to find my serial key in my conputer? Because i dont have it physically anywhere anymore...

 

[bitwright]

What The_Prophecy said is one way of doing things; upgrade now and just do a clean install or drive clone when you get your SSD.

If you don't want to upgrade now, I believe the latest Windows 10 builds allow you to activate with a valid Windows 7 or 8 key. So you could download the Windows 10 media from MS and just do a clean install when you SSD arrives using your Windows 7 key.

Either way, if you plan on clean installing Windows 10 on your SSD, you are going to want to disconnect your old drive from your PC before you do so. The Windows installer is known for being kind of stupid when it comes to picking a boot partition when more than one drive is installed in a PC, especially if one drive has an older version of Windows on it. So when you install windows 10 you are going to just want to have your SSD connected. You can plug your old HDD back in when you are done.

As for uninstalling Windows 7 on your old drive, that can't really be done. The best you can probably do is try to delete the Windows and Program Files folder along with any folders you no longer need, though you might run into some permission errors on Windows (not sure, I don't think I've never done this). Your other option is to temporarily copy over any data you want to keep to your new drive or to an external drive, format the old drive, and then copy the data back onto it.

 

[Colif]

umm... okay, ignore my fast way then, you need to do it the other way

I think there are ways to extract the key but I don't know them.

windows has this thing about deleting old windows partitions... diskpart wont delete a partition with an os or pagefile on it

 

[bitwright]

Is there a way to find my serial key in my conputer? Because i dont have it physically anywhere anymore...

I believe magic jelly bean finder and belarc advisor are the usual gotos when it some to finding lost Windows 7 activation keys. Google them, or search the forums for more advice.

 

[The_Prophecy]

I suggested that method because the OP mentioned they were going from HDD to SSD. In my experience, trying to clone the old drive to the new SSD tends to saddle the user with all kinds of problems, especially if it doesn't correct for 4K sector realignment.

Also, trying to remove an existing install of Windows from an old drive while keeping your other data intact is basically impossible. You'll need to copy your data to the new drive, and wipe the old one completely.

 

[JochemDoek]

If you haven't already, install the Windows 10 upgrade. Let it complete the install and then let the system run for a bit. Make sure it's activated. Once you get the new SSD you mentioned above, download the Microsoft Media Creation Tool from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

Use that to download the Windows 10 install media and set it up on a DVD or USB flash drive (the tool will guide you through that process). Once the install media is created, shut down the system, remove the old hard drive and install the SSD. Boot up with the Windows 10 install media you just made and run the install for Windows 10. Once installed, 10 should activate as I described above.

Thanks this is what ill be trying to do. If i am able to find my win7 key in my directory somewhere i will use that key to install. Either way, thanks a lot

 

[Colif]

I would move everything you want to save off the old hdd before putting in new.

once both have win 10 on them it may be tricky to boot. depending how they both formatted and how bios is set to boot, win 10 may start on the old drive and not the new, or it might work fine... its hard to say from here. Either way it might boot from either drive. Both have an MBR of sorts and both have the file an UEFI boot would look for to choose which to boot from.

So to answer this you may need to use the installer to delete the old win 10 install (being careful which install you delete) but currently I am not sure how to do that efficiently.

 

[JochemDoek]

If you haven't already, install the Windows 10 upgrade. Let it complete the install and then let the system run for a bit. Make sure it's activated. Once you get the new SSD you mentioned above, download the Microsoft Media Creation Tool from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

Use that to download the Windows 10 install media and set it up on a DVD or USB flash drive (the tool will guide you through that process). Once the install media is created, shut down the system, remove the old hard drive and install the SSD. Boot up with the Windows 10 install media you just made and run the install for Windows 10. Once installed, 10 should activate as I described above.

Okay, last question, do i have to put the win7 serial key in somewhere in the process?

 

[Colif]

No, When you get to part where installer asks for the serial key, there is a blue link that says "I don't have a key" right along side the next button. Click that and windows 10 will auto activate itself when it installs.

Microsoft has a record of your pc on their servers so you don't need that key anymore. In one months time it will become a win 10 key anyway.

 

[JochemDoek]

No, When you get to part where installer asks for the serial key, there is a blue link that says "I don't have a key" right along side the next button. Click that and windows 10 will auto activate itself when it installs.

Microsoft has a record of your pc on their servers so you don't need that key anymore. In one months time it will become a win 10 key anyway.

Okay, is there a big risk if the win7 isn't genuine? And what are the consequences?

 

[Colif]

Have you done any of it yet? have you done the upgrade? If it activates at that stage you are fine. Don't do any more until its activated itself

 

[JochemDoek]

Have you done any of it yet? have you done the upgrade? If it activates at that stage you are fine. Don't do any more until its activated itself

Currenty unboxing the ssd package

 

[Colif]

If windows 10 is activated, you don't need the win 7 key anymore as windows has a record of your PC on their servers and have recognised your old licence as good.

So if you right click This PC on the desktop and select properties
On the pop up screen, at bottom, it says activated, you are fine to upgrade to ssd.
If it doesn't say activated yet, I wouldn't yet.

So when you install win 10 on ssd, you do what I said before.