Upgrade to Win 10 but on new SSD?

Kavs

Hi, as title describes I want to upgrade to Windows 10, but have recently purchased a 500GB SSD and want to install windows onto that.

Can I 'migrate' the upgrade to the new drive once its connected?
Thanks,

theteal

Run the upgrade on the old disk. Take note of the licence key once upgrade is complete (winkeyfinder is a handy tool for this).

Download a windows 10 iso that matches your build e.g. home x86, pro x64 etc. This iso file can be easily got from official MS channels with a quick Google search.

Burn the iso to a USB stick (rufus is a good tool for this).

Pop in your new SSD, then boot the machine with a USB connected and select it as the boot disk. Run a clean install. It may not ask you for the licence key you noted earlier but it's better to have it than not.

Darren 83

I recently just did this make sure the windows 10 is activated before you install the ssd, I was never asked for the cd key and it is activated with the ssd installed.

kierank01

Darren 83 wrote: »

I recently just did this make sure the windows 10 is activated before you install the ssd, I was never asked for the cd key and it is activated with the ssd installed.

how are you logging into windows? is it with a microsoft account, or with a local one?

I did a 'from blank' install onto an ssd last night, and was asked for a product key.
I haven't tried to extract the key out of the old HD yet.

There is a suggestion online that if you login to win10 with a microsoft account, the product key gets tagged onto your microsoft account, and if you re-login to the same account on a clean install, it activates from there.

I don't like those microsoft accounts, so will look into extracting the key from the old hd.

Darren 83

I log in from my Microsoft account.

kierank01

kierank01 wrote: »

There is a suggestion online that if you login to win10 with a microsoft account, the product key gets tagged onto your microsoft account, and if you re-login to the same account on a clean install, it activates from there.

I don't like those microsoft accounts, so will look into extracting the key from the old hd.

It's suggested a lot online but it's not true. Has nothing to do with Microsoft accounts.

unkel

Karsini wrote: »

It's suggested a lot online but it's not true. Has nothing to do with Microsoft accounts.

This. You won't need a key to upgrade to Windows 10 no matter what way you log into your old system

It goes one step further. Once you have upgraded to Windows 10 (and checked it got activated), you can wipe your hard disk and do a fresh install of Windows 10. No key needed and it will activate automatically.

kierank01

unkel wrote: »

This. You won't need a key to upgrade to Windows 10 no matter what way you log into your old system

It goes one step further. Once you have upgraded to Windows 10 (and checked it got activated), you can wipe your hard disk and do a fresh install of Windows 10. No key needed and it will activate automatically.

Does not appear to have worked for me, for whatever reason. Only difference was an SSD

I have gone the long way around, by installing 7+network card, and activating, and then 10 auto activated on top of that.
and then clearing down the windows.old with disk cleanup.

unkel

kierank01 wrote: »

Does not appear to have worked for me, for whatever reason.

There's button to skip this step when you are asked to enter the key. This is small and easily overlooked. Perhaps that's what happened?

kierank01

unkel wrote: »

There's button to skip this step when you are asked to enter the key. This is small and easily overlooked. Perhaps that's what happened?

I saw the skip button, and got 10 installed, but once logged in, it wasn't, and wouldn't activate

unkel

You upgraded right, not fresh install?

In the last few months I've seen most W10 upgrades be activated pretty much immediately but in the early days it could take a day or two. Perhaps it was just taking a bit of time to connect to the activation servers...

kierank01

unkel wrote: »

You upgraded right, not fresh install?

In the last few months I've seen most W10 upgrades be activated pretty much immediately but in the early days it could take a day or two. Perhaps it was just taking a bit of time to connect to the activation servers...

I upgraded 7 a couple of months ago, and it activated fine.
Then I got an ssd this week, and did a clean install into that, wouldn't activate...now, I didn't give it much time...couple of hours...
Then I did a 7 reinstall, and upgrade...

I'm reasonably happy, I have a 17gig win 10 install on a 120gig ssd...now I need to get my nas4free setup...

Moon54

Once a computer is upgraded to Windows 10, it will always be activated.
That's because activation is based on hardware and not a product key.

This means that as long as you have upgraded before, you can always do a clean install of Windows 10.
You don't need a product key, just skip that screen when it asks for one.

Once Windows 10 is installed and online for a short time, it will show "Activated with a digital Entitlement" in the "Settings/Update & Security/Activation" section.