How to re-install Win 10 with no disk and no activation code? – Microsoft Community

Cancel Submit. DaveM Independent Advisor. Hi yourpaintballgod , you need to create your own Installation Media, you can reinstall Windows 10 at any time and it will not cost you anything! You should just clean install Windows 10 rather than upgrading from Windows 7. This will have 2 benefits, if you have to reset again, it will reset to Windows 10, not 7 and your system will be more responsive and reliable.

Disable Secure Boot 2. Enable Legacy Boot 3. If Available enable CSM 4. Move the device with the bootable disc to the top of the boot order 6. How satisfied are you with this reply? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. Figure : Accepting the license terms. Select the language, edition, and architecture bit or bit for the Windows 10 installation, and then click Next.

Figure : Selecting language, edition, and architecture. Installation from ISO media is for advanced users. Figure : Choosing USB flash drive. Figure : Clicking Next. Figure : Clicking Finish. Proceed to the next step to install Windows 10 on your computer using the installation media. Step 2: Install Windows 10 on your computer Windows 10 Setup allows you to do a clean installation of Windows 10 erases all data or to keep your personal files and apps HP still recommends backing up all data in the event of any data loss.

When the installation is complete, Windows 10 Upgrade copies the windows. Keep this file on the USB hard drive. The file is required if you decide to Go Back to the previous operating system. Insert the Windows installation USB drive into the computer.

When the Get important updates window opens, select Download and install updates recommended , and then click Next. Figure : Selecting Download and install updates recommended. In the Choose what to keep window, select what you want to keep, and then click Next.

Keep personal files and apps : Keeps all your personal files, settings, and apps. Keep personal files only : Keeps your personal files, but no settings or apps. Figure : Choose what to keep window with Keep personal files and apps selected. During the installation process, your computer restarts several times. Do not turn off your computer or interrupt the installation process.

If the sign-in window displays, sign in to your account. If you chose Keep personal files and apps , the desktop opens when the installation completes. If you chose Keep personal files only , the desktop opens when the installation completes. If you chose Keep nothing , continue to the next step after the installation completes to set up Windows Figure : Clicking Install. Step 3: Complete setup and sign in to Windows 10 clean installation only If you chose the clean install and kept nothing, navigate the setup experience with the help of Cortana.

If you chose to keep your personal files and apps, you do not need to set up Windows 10 again. When the Cortana introductory screen displays, you can choose to use Cortana voice recognition if your computer has a working microphone or your keyboard and mouse to complete the setup.

If you do not want to use Cortana voice recognition, click the speaker icon in the lower right corner, and then mute the volume.

Figure : Cortana introductory screen. When the Let’s start with region. Is this right? When the Is this the right keyboard layout? When the Want to add a second keyboard layout? When the Let’s connect you to a network screen displays, select the network you want to connect to, and then click Connect and type your network user name and password, or click Skip for now to continue without connecting to a network. On the Sign in with Microsoft screen, type your email, phone, or Skype name in the text field, or create an account, and then click Next.

Figure : Signing in with your Microsoft account. Type your password in the text field, and then click Next. If you see a Call us overprotective screen requesting an additional method of account verification, select the way you want to verify the account, and then click Next. Figure : Typing your Microsoft account password. Read the options displayed on each screen, select the options you want, and then follow the on-screen instructions to continue.

When the Choose privacy settings for your device screen displays, select the options you want, and then click Accept.

Figure : Choosing privacy settings for your device. Windows activation To verify that you have a genuine copy of Windows 10 that has not been used on more devices than the license agreement calls for, your Windows 10 needs to be activated. Depending on where you acquired your copy of Windows 10, activation occurs using either a digital entitlement or a character product key.

Windows Hello To unlock your computer with your fingerprint or with your face, without a password, you can use Windows Hello. It is a much more personal and very secure way to unlock your Windows 10 device.

If your computer has the hardware required for Windows Hello, you are prompted to set up Windows Hello during Windows 10 setup. If Windows Hello does not activate automatically and you want to use the facial recognition or fingerprint reader, follow these instructions after Windows 10 is activated.

Click Start , and then click Settings. Under Windows Hello , options for face, fingerprint, or iris display if your computer has the fingerprint reader or camera to support the feature. After setting up Windows Hello, you can sign into your computer with the swipe of a finger or a quick glance.

Steps to take after installing Windows 10 After installing Windows 10, update your drivers, software, and apps. Connect to the Internet if your computer is not already connected. Install HP Support Assistant. HP Support Assistant scans your computer and automatically detects and installs the latest software drivers available from HP. Install updated video drivers. For the best viewing experience, download and install the latest graphics drivers for your computer. Download and install the Windows 10 video drivers for your computer.

Install updated wireless network drivers and wireless button software. The wireless button on your computer should sync with Windows Airplane Mode when the required software is installed. Go to support. Then install the latest wireless and Bluetooth drivers. Finally, install the HP Wireless Button softpaq. Install updated audio drivers. Audio from your speakers and headphones should work properly after Windows 10 is installed, but to get the most from your audio system, install the latest HP audio drivers.

Install updated touchpad drivers. The touchpad should work properly after Windows 10 is installed, but installing the Windows 10 touchpad driver allows you to use edge swipe features from the touchpad to switch between open applications and other useful functions.

Resolve any printer issues. In the following sections, we will teach you the process of reinstalling Windows 10 both with and without a CD or USB drive. Windows 10 comes with a feature called Reset This PC , using which you can either choose to keep your personal files or remove them and then reinstall windows 10 without key.

Resetting is a good solution for a PC that isn’t working well. The merit of this solution is that Windows does not require any additional downloads nor installation media to initiate the setup. Step 3: Choose an option to continue. To reinstall Windows 10 without losing data, you should choose Keep my files. Step 4 : After the process has been prepared, a window will pop up saying that your apps will be removed. Click Next to go on.

If the system fails to start up, how to reinstall Windows 10 from boot? And then, start to reinstall windows 10 without key by following the wizard. Microsoft comes with a media creation tool that can upgrade this PC to Windows 10 by creating an installation media or directly using the ISO file to install Windows Step 1: Download the media creation tool from Microsoft. Read this post to know what you should do.

Open the downloaded tool, and choose Create installation media for another PC. This also performs an upgrade of your current OS to Windows Step 4: After the setup is ready, decide whether to download and install updates or not.

Here, we suggest choosing the first option. These updates will smooth the installation by including important fixes and updated device drivers. Step 6: Click the Accept button in the License terms screen. Step 8: After everything is ready, you will see Ready to install screen where you can click the link labeled – Change what to keep.

Step 9: Then, three options are offered. If you need to reinstall Windows 10 without losing data and apps, please check Keep personal files, apps, and Windows settings. Step Then, this setup will then go back to Ready to install screen.

Now click Install to begin the Windows 10 reinstallation. After finishing the reinstallation, follow the instructions to customize your settings. Note that this method might erase everything on your computer. Click to Tweet. Use MiniTool ShadowMaker, as mentioned above. While searching for a solution to “reinstall Windows 10 without CD”, you might find in the related search results: can I reinstall Windows 10 for free?

How to reinstall Windows 10 after the free upgrade? Actually, it is possible to free reinstall Windows

How to Reinstall Windows 10 without CD

Then run the Windows 10 update tool. I had multiple OS multi-boot on my laptop. Different versions.. How do I get my OS upgraded to get the new Windows 10 key?? No difference. Very frustrating You can also just do a reset for those that don’t want create the media or deal with partitioning.

There is even the option to keep your personal files that get put into a folder called Windows. I’ve found it an easy and hassle free way to do it. I’d recommend it to anyone who did several preview upgrades as it cleared out all my issues that were inherited from prior builds. It’s just like hard resetting the phone. This gave me a bluescreen on my Surface Pro 3. You can upgrade your windows 8.

This ended up causing a blue screen just a day after upgrading. Back on 8. Hi, quick question here, I’m still upgrading mine to Windows 10 using Download Tool, if sometimes in the future I want to do clean install, should I re-download the ISO file? Also, if I’m upgrading with this way, should I re-enter the product key?

I haven’t been able to backup that yet.. Any response will be appreciated, thanks! Upgrading using download tool doesnt require a product key.

If you want to perform a clean installation in future, you would need to use download tool for creating bootable DVD or USB. You don’t need a product key to clean install. Your key is linked to your hardware. If you had an activated Windows 10, Windows will activate automatically after clean installing. What’s the difference between fresh install of windows 10 and resetting the already installed windows 10?

I would like to know this as well. After I upgraded to windows 10 I did a reset of the OS through settings. Reset might not work for some issues. I think reset and delete all files without wiping the disk is the best thing.

I tried doing the “reset’ from within W10 twice.. Got a BSOD both times I used the dvd I made from the. I was prompted twice to enter a key, skipped both times. Checked that W10 was activated when it was all done It was in fact. I upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 through Windows update. And this article mentions, the 7 product key will be changed to 10 product key. So can I still use that product key to activate 7 or will it only work with 10 now? Your key should work on 7 because it’s a win7 key.

But Windows 10 doesn’t need a key, your key is your hardware, that’s what Windows 10 searches, if it matches it will say “oh this hardware was activated before, so it will be activated” that’s why you can just put your windows 10 dvd and clean install without upgrading after you did a first upgrade of course so it would activate your hardware from 7 to If your W10 is running slow I suggest doing a clean W10 install.

Windows upgrades impact your system performance. Tried resetting my pc. While it is better now, still not upto 7’s smoothness. A full clean install is not viable as I have a lot of data to transfer that too without an external hard drive. Well it seems it’s easier just to Reset and delete all files no? Exactly my thought. Just upgrade to win10 and do a reset without keeping files and settings.

That’s no different than doing a clean install right? This technique doesn’t work. The main issue is that if you use your windows 8.

If you skip the product key, you’ll have an un-activated version of windows installed. After talking to Microsoft support, they basically want you to buy windows 10 if you truly want to do a clean installl.

Otherwise it’s an upgrade every time. My suggestion is to do a “fresh” install don’t save any previous files and apps. This shoves your old drive into the windows. Then you can run disc cleanup and remove the windows.

Then make an image of your drive for future recovery using your favorite imaging tool. I’ve not found any other way that works – and i’ve spent well over 3 days now testing different methods. Also confirming what everyone else found – the 2 computers i have upgraded to 10 are showing the same generic key and that key will not work for install.

It does work. You tried to use your 8. You shouldn’t enter any key at all at any point. If you upgraded to 10 from 7 or 8. During a clean install of Windows 10 later on the same machine, the request for Windows 10 product key must be skipped an option is available.

Otherwise your machine can’t be activated. Note: you do NOT need your Windows 8. Click SKIP when it asks you for a key, and when you sign in on the PC with your Microsoft account same one you were already using , Windows 10 will activate automatically, no key required.

Exactly, 8. After a true upgrade, MS stores your licence on their server along with your hardware info.

If you do a clean installation after the upgrade, the whole activation process is automatic. You just have to wait. No keys required. It seems that you don’t need to sign in with your MSA as you said, a local account should work too. As Zapella said, your hardware info is what matters. Well I didn’t perform a clean installation, I just used the media creation tool to upgrade to windows 10, and everything is working like a charm, expect for my display adapter driver, which gave me a low resolution, but I solved it after many trials and finally used windows update to download the latest driver, after I uninstalled the previous one, and I even got two additional updates for windows 10 pro.

You actually don’t need the product key. The clean install will activate it automatically, provided you don’t change the hardware. This makes sense Why would Microsoft expect users to extract their key with an archaic 3 rd party program, just to make use of their much advertised free upgrade for the entire populace?

Should be easy right? And it is. Handy article, however I would say it would’ve been best not to suggest to delete all the partitions off the hard drive lol Just the partition they wish to install on unless they want to clean the hdd “completely”. That’s the definition of a clean install: deleting absolutely everything, including partitions. Went the manual route for my laptop running Windows 8. Downloaded the ISO – so I can back that up too for later use if needed – loaded onto a USB stick, and used that to do the in-place upgrade.

By the time I made it into Windows 10 settings it was already activated. Then I turned around and did the the clean install – had already fully backed up and was ready, and I had been planning for a clean install anyway – which interestingly went much quicker than the upgrade. Again, activation was already done by the time I checked on it. Pretty good so far, though the system seems a bit sluggish at times.

Might just be initial shakedown happening, or maybe I need to verify the drivers are current. The mfr has drivers for 7 and 8. ISO will work fine, just make sure you get your license upgraded to a Windows 10 license by first updating through Windows Update, as mentioned in the article. In my case, my desktop and laptop currently run W7 Pro 64 bit. Does the USB get tied to that specific machine which a clean install is performed on? Thanks J! In total my household has 5 pcs to upgrade, I’m glad I won’t have to buy 5 separate USB drive for each pc.

And they have to be the same language if I’m not mistaken. Did it thanks! If you do everything right, you’ll never need to use any key at all. You don’t need to know your windows 10 key. Might as well buy Windows 10 Home. Clean install; all the way. Once I get it clean install only thru gimagex wonder if the media creation tool is like w8’s where it’ll decrypt the install esd as folder windows payload as I hate being bored with the long drawn out process that the setup app uses.

Hi All, I did a clean install in the same way as its mentioned in the post except taking the key with Magical Jelly Bean, but after the clean install my Windows is not getting activated. I contacted MS team and got the reply as its due to server slowness issue, but I’m not convinenced becuase its alredy two days my lap in this mode Anyone faced the same issue and got it resolved please post your comments below.

As long as you upgraded to W10 first and it showed as activated. If you tried straight clean install without first doing an upgrade, then the only way I’ve come across for it to work is to rebuild to a clean version of whatever the machine came with don’t waste time on the updates for it either, literally bang on the upgrade from a USB as soon as it’s activated , then upgrade, then clean install at which point it doesn’t need a key as the hwid is registered with MS.

I get the same error code after doing an upgrade of my Windows 10 Developer Preview last night. It was fully updated and activated before I did the upgrade. I upgraded to my own language and it kept only my personal files. The error code means that the key has been blocked.

Same here. Did an upgrade from Win 8. This morning massage pops out that Windows is not activated. It’s must be noted that the requirement to get Windows 10 through Windows Update is only if you want to perform a clean install.

If you use the ISO tool to install it, you just skip the cd-key and upgrade the installed OS, then it activates itself from within Windows So it’s safe and fast to just update it with the ISO tool. Is there any way to recover the Insider activation or something? Exact same issue here. Same with DVDs, is it more than one disc?

It does as it has the directories for both. Download it if you need both, and just check the size before dumping to a USB. Upgrade to win 10 then do a reset Or, you can skip all this, go into the new recovery settings and do a full reset and reinstall Windows 10 automatically Does anyone know if I can upgrade to windows 10 from vista using a clean installation?

You can, but your license won’t be upgraded. You will be running a non-Genuine copy of Windows unless you purchase a Windows 10 license key or sign up for the Windows Insider program. The licence wouldn’t matter in this case anyway – it’s Vista so doesn’t get a free upgrade. So purchase a new licence key or have MSDN or go the insider path, and do a clean install from there. Doesn’t Windows, since Windows 8, have built in Refresh and Restore options, the latter of which basically formats the hard drive and reinstall Windows automatically?

Correct me if I’m wrong. Definitely a fresh install for me. New components may be on the cards too. While this is closer to a clean install I don’t consider it completely clean. I don’t lik my OS drives to be quick formatted. I have not seen that anybody mentioned it, but for all students that have access to free Microsoft software via Dreamspark, you can download Win10 iso, put it on the USB or DVD and install clean copy on your system, like usually You will get a new serial key, independent of your previous downloads Win 7 or 8.

During clean install, we would definitely format the previous partition then why we need to first upgrade previous version to Windows 10? It means during clean install you don’t need to give installation key and windows will be activated by itself.

First sorry for my english-I’m from Poland. I done clean installation exactly like you, but I don’t downloaded Windows 10 twice, I only downloaded once and check prepare pendrive.

Why did Edge disappear? Taskbar was unresponsive and I fixed that, but Edge disappeared? It looks like it just uninstalled. I can find the shortcut but it doesn’t open anything. Please help! So what if I have windows XP. Can’t I install windows 10 by just purchasing windows 10 and installing it after a format of the hard drive. Does an upgrade write this over? Doesn’t matter in my case, yet wondering. The product key is tied to the motherboard bios right?

So if I clean install Windows 10 on a new hard drive will it find the product key? How to download “get windows 10 app”. I upgraded to Windows 10 via Windows update but I performed the reinstallation of windows 10 from the settings app and selecting the restore option, choosing to delete everything. Is this thing giving the same result of the formatting option said in the article?

Or maybe there is still some windows 8. Once i upgraded my network connection didn’t work perfectly I try to install the new versions of the drivers for my mother board but it didn’t work Officially I don have internet connection on Windows That’s easy enough BUT what are you all doing about booting off of a thumb drive on a surface pro?

Mine isn’t doing it. For devices with UEFI security you have to set up your usb stick in a different way. Have a look on Google. Even specific ones for the SP3. Sent from mobile. Im interested to know how to clean install win 10 on surface 3 and pro 3. I called ms and they didnt really provide a solution. I’d like to of course have everything intact so when I do a reset it still works perfectly.

Can I use my windows 7 product key, after upgrading and then doing a clean install for win 10? As mentioned by several users above, you don’t need to enter the product key during the clean install after you have performed the upgrade first. Microsoft may have associated you’re hardware information as licensed. My test procedure: 1.

Clean install a Windows 7 with OEM product key on my machine label 2. Upgrade activated Win7 to Win10 using the Windows update method 3. Format already installed Win10 4. Perform a clean install of Windows 10 with USB 5. Do not enter skip any product key during the installation process 6. After the installation is completed, Windows 10 is already activated. I already did an upgrade of my Windows 8. So if I do a fresh install of Windows 10 in this machine, I need to use my key for Windows 8.

Can I also use this new cd key to make a fresh installation of Windows 10? You do not use your key from 8. After the upgrade, make sure that the upgraded W10 is activated. Once activated, you can then do a clean install of W10, and when asked for a key simply skip entering it. Once the clean install is completed, it should already be activated. Because the activation server will recognize your hardware and activate it. Changed your hardware? I just did a factory reset and windows 10 upgrade was automatic.

Works perfectly I dnt get update but tray r showing. My windows 10 desktop update is stuck on “preparing for installation.. It has been stuck there for over half an hour. Can anyone help me? What could be the issue? I think during installation you can choose to download updates for the installer or not. Try ‘don’ t download updates’? What helped me was disabling the network adapter or turning off and on your wireless connection it should resolve the issue.

This article is hugely confusing. Confirm your Microsoft account email, phone number, or Skype identification to create an account. Confirm the privacy settings best suit your needs by turning on or off the toggle switch for each option. Click the Accept button to continue. Or click the Skip button to skip this part of the setup. You can always do this from the Settings app.

Click the Next button to allow OneDrive to automatically upload your Desktop, Pictures, and Documents folders to the cloud. If you do not have or want to use a USB flash drive, you can also perform a clean installation using the Media Creation Tool with the option to keep nothing. This option is available for devices already using Windows 10, Windows 8. Open Microsoft support website. After you complete the steps, the setup will continue with the fresh installation of the operating system.

Using the local image, you can also use the recovery settings to start fresh with a clean copy of Windows If you want to upgrade to a newer version, you will need to use one of the other alternative methods. The computer will connect to the network automatically if it uses an Ethernet connection. Once you complete the steps, a clean installation will be performed using the local image.

If this is a branded computer, the setup will restore all the original settings previously available with the device. This means manufacturer-specific settings, drivers, applications, and tools. However, the difference is that when you select this option, the setup will download a fresh installation image from the Microsoft server.

This option has been designed to reinstall Windows 10 when the recovery feature is not working with the local image or using a branded computer with a custom image. If you choose this option, the setup will download the same version already installed on the device, which means you cannot use this method to upgrade the computer to a newer version. Also, if the device has a custom image from the manufacturer, this option will replace it with the one from Microsoft with all the standard settings and without custom drivers or trial software and tools.

To avoid loss of pre-existing apps, drivers and programs, we recommend backing up all important data before going ahead with this method of reset. It allows you to reinstall Windows 10 and keep files given your computer is bootable. Your PC will now reboot with the saved settings.

Once verified, log in to your Microsoft account. The operating system is working hard to understand how to apply itself to your machine and how best to do that while preserving your files.

A slow reinstallation could also be caused by a slow internet connection. Although Windows 10 was designed so that a clean install would be possible, it is still a computer program and as such, it is prone to malfunctions.

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