Win 8 won't boot, would like to upgrade to Win 10

[Temporal Wolf]

So my laptop had a dual boot setup: HDD Win7/SSD Win8.
Now I've upgraded the Win7 to Win10.

The SSD Win8 will not boot (Not a consequence of the 7 to 10 upgrade, it's been like this for about a month). Not in safe mode, nothing. The drive is accessible, and running scans from Win7 there appear to be no issues with the drive itself (just that the Win8 installation is completely borked). I've attempted on at least a half dozen occasions repairs to that installation with mixed success over the last two years... it never seems to last.

I have a new SSD coming, and would like to upgrade that Win8 to Win10 and install it on the new SSD, but I'm not sure that's doable. I *think* I reserved a Win10 upgrade for it before the partition began refusing to boot, but it may not be.

Ideally, I'd get a valid Win10 key from the Win8 upgrade and do a fresh install on my new SSD, and that should finally leave behind whatever issue is plaguing my old installation. I'm hoping There is a simpler way than spending the time to troubleshoot the Win8 installation enough to get it to upgrade, then nabbing the key to install it on the new drive.

Hopefully, I will end up with a Win10/Win10 HDD/SSD dual boot, with the SSD the primary installation and the HDD bootable for troubleshooting purposes.

 

[psoohoo]

The newest build (1511) of win10 should allow you to activate it with a valid windows 7 or 8.x key. Once you have activated the windows 10 install, you can reinstall the os on that same machine without needing another key. Microsoft will remember this machine when you try to reactivate a new install on it. That is provided you did not may any significant hardware changes.

 

[Temporal Wolf]

The newest build (1511) of win10 should allow you to activate it with a valid windows 7 or 8.x key. Once you have activated the windows 10 install, you can reinstall the os on that same machine without needing another key. Microsoft will remember this machine when you try to reactivate a new install on it. That is provided you did not may any significant hardware changes.

So are you saying I don't have to fuss with the Win8 install at all? I can just install a second copy of the same Win10 I've already upgraded?

EDIT: This does in fact work. I didn't have to bother with the borked win 8 installation.

 

[CN Shana]

my question is why the need for two window's 10's on one computer, but i would think overall if what this guy above me says is true, than that would work best for you, if not, then you'd just be stuck with going out and buying a new copy of windows 10 which honestly in the long run is probably better than going through all the frustration you are already going through.

it looks like he's saying just to install windows 10 on it, and use the 8.x key you have and then it should say "hey you upgraded good job okay heres a windows 10 key instead"
although i don't think it works that way.

 

[Temporal Wolf]

my question is why the need for two window's 10's on one computer, but i would think overall if what this guy above me says is true, than that would work best for you, if not, then you'd just be stuck with going out and buying a new copy of windows 10 which honestly in the long run is probably better than going through all the frustration you are already going through.

it looks like he's saying just to install windows 10 on it, and use the 8.x key you have and then it should say "hey you upgraded good job okay heres a windows 10 key instead"
although i don't think it works that way.

I'd prefer to maintain the two separate copies of Windows that I paid for... that way I have the option of moving one to a new computer in the future without having to buy a third copy... and having two bootable partitions has proven invaluable in the past for troubleshooting.