New PC, same SSD advice

Rusko187 · 21 May 2018 at 10:17

Morning all, just need some advice as to whether my proposed plan is advisable. I've changed the majority of the new components in my PC (CPU, Mobo, CPU Cooler and RAM) but I intend to keep my existing SSD.

Reason for this is I have Windows 8 which was upgraded to Windows 10 for free as part of some offer MS were doing a while back. I don't wish to buy a new SSD right now and wish to retain the OS on the SSD.

Is this wise to do or would I be encountering some big issues doing this?

inogen · 21 May 2018 at 10:19

Would be interesting to see if it would boot, but you're best off wiping it clean and reinstalling windows. Your windows 8 key should still work. Mine did.

Rusko187 · 21 May 2018 at 10:21

ok daft question, can I wipe an SSD prior to first booting up?

inogen · 21 May 2018 at 11:56

Yeah, you can format it when you install windows.

southernorth · 21 May 2018 at 12:04

Rusko187 said:
Morning all, just need some advice as to whether my proposed plan is advisable. I've changed the majority of the new components in my PC (CPU, Mobo, CPU Cooler and RAM) but I intend to keep my existing SSD.

Reason for this is I have Windows 8 which was upgraded to Windows 10 for free as part of some offer MS were doing a while back. I don't wish to buy a new SSD right now and wish to retain the OS on the SSD.

Is this wise to do or would I be encountering some big issues doing this?

Is your windows 10 key tied to a microsoft account?

Nate1492 · 21 May 2018 at 12:35

Tie your windows key to the microsoft account or you will not get a 'smooth' upgrade (and they may try to reject you).

Rusko187 · 21 May 2018 at 12:36

southernorth said:
Is your windows 10 key tied to a microsoft account?

I may need to check that, I believe it is.

Edit: How can I check? Thought I may be able to do this by logging into Microsoft account online.

southernorth · 21 May 2018 at 12:52

Rusko187 said:
I may need to check that, I believe it is.

Edit: How can I check? Thought I may be able to do this by logging into Microsoft account online.

If you sign into windows with a Microsoft account, instead of just a local user account, it should be paired.

If not, here's a guide.

orbitalwalsh · 21 May 2018 at 13:02

i just play dumb and use the WEB CHAT feature within Windows to ask if my Windows can be activated as my mother board broke, few lines of being stressed and no idea what to do, they'll get you to log into your MS/hotmail account (make sure you've already done this with your old system as it secretly ties in your CD Key to your MS account), then will take over and do all the activation for you

inogen · 21 May 2018 at 17:18

yeah, I've rung them up before when I couldn't get a laptop to activate. They gave me a brand new key over the phone, no questions. They're okay to deal with.

Rusko187 · 22 May 2018 at 10:32

I think I'm going to have a lot of difficulty with this, my old computer has gone and all that remains is this SSD.. if I've interpreted correctly it seems you guys are suggesting the Windows is locked to my hardware, all that is long gone now

I'll get onto their helpline but I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy another Windows.

fowler002 · 22 May 2018 at 11:18

Well I recently did this tho with windows 7 being the one I’d upgraded to windows 10, after I built my new pc and installed windows 10 I just used the windows 7 key and it worked fine for me. I hadn’t tied my windows 10 to my Microsoft account or anything.
I made a mess up initially when I downloaded windows 10 and had ended up getting the original version that was released not the latest so was having issues installing the lan driver & nvudia driver, redownled and reinstalled and everything worked fine. During the second installation it gave me the option to sign in with my Microsoft account, once I put the windows 7 key in it activated it and tied it to my account.