Reinstalling Windows 10 from another SSD

[Marky]

Hi all,

I currently have a 250GB M.2 SSD that has Windows 10 on it, along with a 500GB SSD which stores games from Steam. I want to wipe the M.2 SSD and reinstall Windows 10 from scratch.

Is it possible to run the installation from the 500GB SSD to reinstall Windows on the M.2?

Thanks,
Marky

 

[ED209]

I would disconnect all drives from the pc apart from the os drive and use the windows 10 creation tool to create a usb install media and run this.

Having a second hdd or ssd connected may cause issues down the line if you format or wipe the 500gb drive as sometimes during install windows can store the boot files on this instead of the intended drive.

During windows 10 install skip the product key and windows will activate once online or once you have logged into your e mail account (if used to login to windows)

 

[Marky]

I would disconnect all drives from the pc apart from the os drive and use the windows 10 creation tool to create a usb install media and run this.

Having a second hdd or ssd connected may cause issues down the line if you format or wipe the 500gb drive as sometimes during install windows can store the boot files on this instead of the intended drive.

During windows 10 install skip the product key and windows will activate once online or once you have logged into your e mail account (if used to login to windows)

That's very helpful, thanks I definitely would not have disconnected my other drives, so thansk for that!

Could I use an external hard drive as the usb install media for Windows 10 Creation tool? I lent my USB stick to a friend who's now gone on holiday for a week :\

 

[Double07]

USB install every time and just have the one drive connected that you want to install to, it just saves so much hassle.

You can use a USB external hard drive but you will need to wipe the drive (afaik, and I did anyway) when you create the bootable USB image for Window installation, so if need be back everything up before hand.