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April 6th, 2021 16:00
Manually installing Win10 on new SSD
So, the warranty passed for the service on my Optiplex 3020.
Someone in the house destroyed the harddisk that was in it. It now fails to boot. I've taken it out, it's formatted by some beginner cousin that tried fixing it for me when I wasn't home.
I intend to put a new SSD in it and install Win10 Pro x64 fresh on it.
I only have the Service tag on the Optiplex, but NOT a Win10 iso or Dell disk or product keys for W10 Pro anywhere.
It used to run W10 Pro x64.
How do I best clean install Win 10 Pro x64 on this machine? Will it automatically see it's installed on the same machine (through BIOS) and make it validate by MicroSoft ?
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redxps630
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15.5K Posts
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April 6th, 2021 16:00
Re: I only have the Service tag on the Optiplex, but NOT a Win10 iso or Dell disk or product keys for W10 Pro anywhere.
How do I best clean install Win 10 Pro x64 on this machine? Will it automatically see it's installed on the same machine (through BIOS) and make it validate by Microsoft
It is pretty easy. Download Microsoft Windows 10 Installation Media and run it. It will give you either an .iso file and prepare a bootable USB. Use .iso to burn a DVD (DL) or get a USB (at least 8 GB). Boot pc from DVD or usb, proceed to clean install on ssd.
At completion of install when PC is on line the new OS will be automatically activated by Microsoft because it remembers your pc in registry.
edit: I type too slowly and did not see another user already replied.
Chino de Oro
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April 6th, 2021 16:00
@jultus , for a clean install, you will need to create a windows 10 installation USB. You can go to Microsoft website and download the tool to create installation media (USB). Information of the process could be preview here.
Once you complete the installation, connecting to the internet and it will be activated with a digital license based on your hardware already registered previously. Changing out storage shouldn't be a problem with activation.
jultus
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April 7th, 2021 03:00
Ah, great, so it's indeed grabbed from BIOS then? Because there's nothing else that could ID the machine to MicroSoft, since the original storage is gone.
Thanks, I'll try and make a bootable win10 pro iso to USB-stick using rufus etc.
Chino de Oro
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April 8th, 2021 13:00
Re: so it's indeed grabbed from BIOS then?
@jultus , it depends. while you installing windows 10. If it doesn't give you option of which version to install, then it has found a license embedded in BIOS and use that version. If it give you the option to choose the versions (Home or Pro, etc.) then Windows is not activated until you connecting to the internet. If your system has been registered before, then Windows will activated based on that version because Microsoft kept a database of your system, a combination of motherboard, CPU, graphics....some minor upgrade or repair doesn't affect the re-activation. If you replace both major components like motherboard and CPU, then activation will fail.
There is another process to force install of Windows 10 pro by inserting PID file. Only if you have dual version registered on a same PC and don't want windows installation to select BIOS version. This might not relate to your case. Just for reference.