Can I use a USB backup of W10 to install W10 on another machine?

[MissChief]

This machine has a USB stick 'ESD-ISO' which was created when I installed windows onto the M.2 drive in this machine. Can I use it to boot and install windows with a different product key on another machine?

 

[bimbleuk]

You can always change the Windows key during/after installing the OS. Depending on how log ago you created that USB stick it may be worth downloading and creating it again to allow for subsequent versiopn updates.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

 

[ED209]

you need to make sure the USB stick has the correct OS on it for the license your going to use on the second PC. so for example If the USB stick is W10 Pro and you don't have another license for it you cant use a Home license on a Pro install.

During install it will ask you for a key which you can put in, if its a re install or had 10 on before it will activate once online and you can skip the key stage.

How old is the USB stick as new updates will be applied to the W10 tool version as they come out and will save you time of having to install them once its in windows

 

[MissChief]

The stick is about 9 months old, maybe a bit more. I think I will just download an additional copy, the key I have is for Pro. Will an 8gb stick be big enough?

 

[ED209]

The stick is about 9 months old, maybe a bit more. I think I will just download an additional copy, the key I have is for Pro. Will an 8gb stick be big enough?

8GB is fine

Make a new one if its that old. There was a Autumn update that recently came out and its included in the W10 USB tool

 

[Orcvader]

As above, worth grabbing the latest one as it'll have the Fall Creators update already part of it, saving a lot of time with updates.

The ISO from the Microsoft tool with have both Home and Pro 32/64-bit options which you can select as part of the installation stage.

 

[MissChief]

Thanks chaps. Internet cookies al round!