On 06/01/20 23:37, Mark Knecht wrote: > Michael, > I got Win 10 Pro installed via the M$ tool that creates USB install > devices. It worked fine. Reading online it seems that if M$ sees the new > disk as still the same 'hardware' then it's supposed to automatically > validate and I'd be good to go. so far, after 2 hours it hasn't done > that but I'll give it awhile and see what happens. As it only took an > hour I might still try the disk copy path and see if that comes up > validated as that would also transfer the couple of applications I have > on the original hard drive. > > Anyway, thanks for the ideas. > A few more ideas from my experience -
Have you ever re-installed windows and actually used the licence key that came with the laptop? No? Then try a clean install of Win10 using the Win7 key. Nearly all regular computers come with a bulk licence install, and the key that is actually on the sticker is usually completely unused. If you try to install Win10 with a Win7 key that has never been used, it will activate. That's how I did a clean install on my laptop. (And it's certainly true of Office, maybe of Win also - if you give it a key, it will install the version that matches the key.) Or just buy a key from Amazon. I think I paid about £15 and had absolutely no trouble. I've bought a bunch of Win and Office keys off Amazon at between £10 and £20 and they've all installed no problem whatsoever. (Thanks to an EU legal ruling, MS cannot block the sale of 2nd-hand licence keys ...) The last route, if you want to clean as much cruft as you can, is to do a "factory reset" of the laptop, and then upgrade to Win10 over it. Okay, it's not a completely clean install, but it gets you as close as possible to a clean OEM install. Cheers, Wol
