Way to reinstall Windows 10 without loosing any data?

[Jett Wallace]

Title says it all

 

[secolliyn]

do an upgrade any files not moved over will be put into a folder names windows.old and you can make sure nothing is missing before to get rid of it

 

[Jett Wallace]

What do you mean? I just want to reinstall and keep ALL of my data. Including games ECT.

 

[theunliked]

You can't. Whats your reason for reinstalling windows? We can help you fix your problem.

 

[USAFRet]

What do you mean? I just want to reinstall and keep ALL of my data. Including games ECT.

This depends on several factors.

1. Why are we doing this?
2. Where did this OS come from?
3. What is on this drive?
4. Do you have other drives with free space?

 

[Jett Wallace]

So my motherboard died a few weeks back and I changed it out. The only issue I am having is not being able to activate Windows 10. I am unsuccessful at activating it in CMD and the normal way. I call MS and they said to do a reinstall. Any suggestions??

1. Above
2. I installed Windows 8.1 pro and did an upgrade
3. Os and basic programs on my ssd and another drive has just games
4. Yes my save game drive has 300gb free

 

[theunliked]

Then only thing yuo can do now is to do a clean reinstall. You'll only need to reinstall the basic programs. Everything you have on the other drive including the games will be fine. A reinstall only wipes the OS partition.

I really don't think a simple reinstall will fix your activation problems, because to get windows 10 free, you need to do an upgrade not an install. That's just my opinion. What does everyone else here think?

 

[USAFRet]

So my motherboard died a few weeks back and I changed it out. The only issue I am having is not being able to activate Windows 10. I am unsuccessful at activating it in CMD and the normal way. I call MS and they said to do a reinstall. Any suggestions??

1. Above
2. I installed Windows 8.1 pro and did an upgrade
3. Os and basic programs on my ssd and another drive has just games
4. Yes my save game drive has 300gb free

A reinstall will not fix your activation issues.

So...
Original Win 8.1, Upgraded to Win 10.
That Win 10 'license' is actually a hash of the original Win 8.1 license and your hardware info. Specifically, the motherboard. That info lives at the mothership.
This being a new motherboard, it is a totally different system and hash. MS activation servers know nothing about this.
Hence, it will not activate. It thinks you're just trying to install this for free on a whole new system.

CMD activation? No....
You MUST go through MS to get this activated, probably talking to a human.

Call again, and explain exactly what happened (broken/replaced motherboard).

 

[Jett Wallace]

So my motherboard died a few weeks back and I changed it out. The only issue I am having is not being able to activate Windows 10. I am unsuccessful at activating it in CMD and the normal way. I call MS and they said to do a reinstall. Any suggestions??

1. Above
2. I installed Windows 8.1 pro and did an upgrade
3. Os and basic programs on my ssd and another drive has just games
4. Yes my save game drive has 300gb free

A reinstall will not fix your activation issues.

So...
Original Win 8.1, Upgraded to Win 10.
That Win 10 'license' is actually a hash of the original Win 8.1 license and your hardware info. Specifically, the motherboard. That info lives at the mothership.
This being a new motherboard, it is a totally different system and hash. MS activation servers know nothing about this.
Hence, it will not activate. It thinks you're just trying to install this for free on a whole new system.

CMD activation? No....
You MUST go through MS to get this activated, probably talking to a human.

Call again, and explain exactly what happened (broken/replaced motherboard).

So basically you are saying the upgrade changed the key to an OEM one.

 

[USAFRet]

So my motherboard died a few weeks back and I changed it out. The only issue I am having is not being able to activate Windows 10. I am unsuccessful at activating it in CMD and the normal way. I call MS and they said to do a reinstall. Any suggestions??

1. Above
2. I installed Windows 8.1 pro and did an upgrade
3. Os and basic programs on my ssd and another drive has just games
4. Yes my save game drive has 300gb free

A reinstall will not fix your activation issues.

So...
Original Win 8.1, Upgraded to Win 10.
That Win 10 'license' is actually a hash of the original Win 8.1 license and your hardware info. Specifically, the motherboard. That info lives at the mothership.
This being a new motherboard, it is a totally different system and hash. MS activation servers know nothing about this.
Hence, it will not activate. It thinks you're just trying to install this for free on a whole new system.

CMD activation? No....
You MUST go through MS to get this activated, probably talking to a human.

Call again, and explain exactly what happened (broken/replaced motherboard).

So basically you are saying the upgrade changed the key to an OEM one.

Mostly, yes.

What, specifically, did you install before? Where did the Win 8.1 come from?

 

[Jett Wallace]

So my motherboard died a few weeks back and I changed it out. The only issue I am having is not being able to activate Windows 10. I am unsuccessful at activating it in CMD and the normal way. I call MS and they said to do a reinstall. Any suggestions??

1. Above
2. I installed Windows 8.1 pro and did an upgrade
3. Os and basic programs on my ssd and another drive has just games
4. Yes my save game drive has 300gb free

A reinstall will not fix your activation issues.

So...
Original Win 8.1, Upgraded to Win 10.
That Win 10 'license' is actually a hash of the original Win 8.1 license and your hardware info. Specifically, the motherboard. That info lives at the mothership.
This being a new motherboard, it is a totally different system and hash. MS activation servers know nothing about this.
Hence, it will not activate. It thinks you're just trying to install this for free on a whole new system.

CMD activation? No....
You MUST go through MS to get this activated, probably talking to a human.

Call again, and explain exactly what happened (broken/replaced motherboard).

So basically you are saying the upgrade changed the key to an OEM one.

Mostly, yes.

What, specifically, did you install before? Where did the Win 8.1 come from?

I am confused on what you are asking. Like what do you mean?

 

[USAFRet]

Your original Win 8.1. Where did it come from? How was it installed.
This relates to OEM vs Retail.

 

[Jett Wallace]

Your original Win 8.1. Where did it come from? How was it installed.
This relates to OEM vs Retail.

The product key was purchase from a site called Key Sale Online. I downloaded the ISO and put it on a thumb drive to do the install. The key was sold to me as a Retail Key

 

[theunliked]

You can actually install windows 8.1 and go through the upgrade process again.

 

[USAFRet]

Your original Win 8.1. Where did it come from? How was it installed.
This relates to OEM vs Retail.

The product key was purchase from a site called Key Sale Online. I downloaded the ISO and put it on a thumb drive to do the install. The key was sold to me as a Retail Key

So much wrong with this.

This is why I asked 'where'.
"Key Sale Online" is not a valid source for OS license keys.

You have 3 options:
1. Reinstall Win 8.1, activate it, and do the Win 10 Upgrade again. This may of may not work.
2. Call MS, and convince them that the Win 8.1 license you got from "Key Sale Online" is a valid license. This probably won't work.
3. Get your money back from "Key Sale Online", and buy a valid OS license.

The second half of #3 is your only really way forward.

 

[theunliked]

If you can activate windows 8.1, you'll be fine.

 

[Jett Wallace]

If you can activate windows 8.1, you'll be fine.

Why?

 

[theunliked]

If you can activate windows 8.1, you'll be fine.

Why?

Because the only requirement for the windows 10 upgrade is that you have an activated version of windows 7/8/8.1. Even if its not a genuine product key, you'll still be eligible for an upgrade, as long as you are activated. I know, because my friend did it. I don't know why yours didn't work though.

 

[Jett Wallace]

Here is an update, What I have decided to do is install windows 8.1 pro again and then update to 10. This actually works out for the best because I am also getting a new HDD for Christmas. If I run into any problems along the way I will be sure to update the thread.