Windows 10 Re-installation on new SSD

Lee Monk

Lee Monk

Lee Monk

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21 May 2020
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138
Hi,

I'm struggling to get enough confidence on this point from various sources so I thought I'd reach out and ask you all.

I purchased Windows 8 years ago via OCUK. At some point, I upgraded to Windows 10. I 'think' I did this via MS direct.

I now want to install a 1TB SSD and put a clean W10 installation on this.

I cannot find anywhere a code or reference for the W10 installation but I am reading that, assuming I've done this correctly, Windows would recognise from my mobo that its been installed before and should be fine.

Is this the case and is it possible for me to check this somehow? The last thing I want to do is install the SSD and find it doesn't work.

Is there a 'safe' way of testing this? Could I perhaps download the install tool. Disconnect the current drive and then connect the new drive and install W10. If that doesn't work can I then just reconnect the current drive?

Any advice is welcome.

Regards
 
Check how Windows was activated (Settings -> Update & Security -> Activation). You want it to be linked to a Microsoft account.

Is there a problem with your existing install? To could clone the old drive to the new one and carry on with your existing installation.

If you unplug the existing drive you can test as much as you like without harming anything.
 
Presuming its already activated then it will activate when new windows 10 is installed :)

M$ recognise your computer by its digital signature....good idea to sign in with ms account too though as it will also recognize activation that way should major hardware changes occur...i actually built new PC from scratch and it activated when I signed in :)

(Actually just checked and I have 3 computers activated by account method and other two are from w7 upgrades.)



Yes disconnect all other drives when doing the w10 install...otherwise it puts some boot info on other drives...not a problem till you remove other drives and have a non booting system like I did lol..

If new install didn't work you just plug other drive back in and get it to boot from that and you are back where you are now.

If your computer was w8 machine then it will have a w8 code embedded on a chip on motherboard which can be extracted...was a pain as had to do it for customer reinstalls....not needed now though.

Hope that puts your mind at ease :)
 
Thanks guys.

Confidence taken and a project for the weekend booked!

Out of curiosity. If I were to upgrade my mobo in the near future would this impact at all on this process given that A) My drive will already be working and B) The account seems activated by the MS account moreso than my mobo.

Thoughts?
 
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