Need help installing win10 to ssd after mobo change-cannot clone

[Hatekraze]

Hey everyone. I recently changed my mobo to better suit my cpu overclocking. The rest was the same. I had also ordered a 120gb ssd to setup for windows which i am now trying to figure out how to configure. Now that i have been looking online to find out how to do it, i see that windows 10 wont validate if the mobo has been changed. Awesome. I was planning to do a fresh install off of a usb drive i setup, but im guessing that is out of the question? I do have the win7 disk and product key, but i doubt that helps any. I accepted the fact that my best bet is to try and clone windows over to the ssd and then try a clean install, but now i cant even get easeus todo to do it. I formatted the drive, set it up as GPT and assigned the disk letter. In my efforts ive trimmed the original drive down to only 80gb or so or storage. I selected the old drive to copy to the new drive, and selected the "configure for ssd" option, and it give me an error saying "linux emergency disk cannot support dynamic disk/gpt ". Those two options are the only ones i have in disk management. Such a simple goal and yet i cant even seem to find a simular problem online. I just want the damn windows on that disk and the rest i have stored on a external drive to transfer to the old one later. Any ideas? :/

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... The best and fastest install IS with a OS Install media... B / You'd be done in 15-30 mins...

1) Have you tried to Give them a Call first? they can be very helpful in situation like this... or give the Online Validation a try using your correct name/account information?

2) Are any of your Windows OS's from a "Retail" Key/Purchase?

 

[photonboy]

1) W10 will validate if the socket was not changed. It does not require an identical motherboard, just the socket.

This is called a REPAIR BUILD. Basically you might need a different motherboard, but aren't building a new system.

2) A CLEAN INSTALL would absolutely work fine.
a) Boot W10 media
b) do NOT enter a key when prompted (if you had W7, W8.1 or W10 activated already MS will figure that out and auto-activate and assign a product code)

3) CLONE->
This probably would have worked, though I do prefer a clean install.

*Your GPT error is because of the way you have W10 formatted already. Some clone software supports GPT but the program you have does not.

So...

I suggest doing a CLEAN INSTALL as described. Then copy any data off the old drive.

 

[Hatekraze]

The original windows 7 was valid and purchased with the disk and key. Could I just install windows 7 first and then upgrade again? I assume they would have record of that product key already upgrading so it wouldn't work. And I'd love to boot from the drive and that was my original plan. But I didn't want to get stuck afterwards with it not being valid and have to pay so much for something I already have. I need windows 10 for an upcoming game or I'd be on win7 again. I'm more so worried because I've seen a few cases while looking this up that claim the windows support try saying it wasn't a valid windows previously and they had to buy it. Because as far as they know the computer is entirely different now with a different mobo. I don't know... Ugh I should have just stayed with the 7200rpm lol

 

[photonboy]

If you don't own W10 media, then:
MS media creation tool:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

1) Download, then run
2) choose "other PC" (since you're on another PC) and create a version that matches what you had already (i.e. W10 Home 64-bit)
3) USB thumb drive or DVD options (I recommend USB if possible. need 8GB or better)

 

[photonboy]

The original windows 7 was valid and purchased with the disk and key. Could I just install windows 7 first and then upgrade again? I assume they would have record of that product key already upgrading so it wouldn't work. And I'd love to boot from the drive and that was my original plan. But I didn't want to get stuck afterwards with it not being valid and have to pay so much for something I already have. I need windows 10 for an upcoming game or I'd be on win7 again. I'm more so worried because I've seen a few cases while looking this up that claim the windows support try saying it wasn't a valid windows previously and they had to buy it. Because as far as they know the computer is entirely different now with a different mobo. I don't know... Ugh I should have just stayed with the 7200rpm lol

You're confusing me...
Did you already UPGRADE from W7 to W10?

Either way, if you've already ACTIVATED it you should just do a clean install of W10 via the media I mentioned and do NOT enter the key when prompted.

*If you install W10 and then it gives some problem with Activation then simply contact Microsoft Support from the same computer and explain the situation. I've done this a few times with W10 upgrades that rollback to W7 then the product key gets all screwed up. It's not a big deal. They'll look at your history and should sort it out quickly.

 

[Hatekraze]

edit: never mind. It wouldn't let me select the drive but I figured out I could delete and set it up again as windows wanted.

I'll let this instal and post how it goes. So I shouldn't have to do anything to windows after?

 

[Hatekraze]

And yes, originally I was running genuine win7 and had upgraded a while ago to win10. But how I understood it was that the new drive coupled with the new mobo would read as a new system. But I'll see how this goes. Thanks for the help so far. Sorry if I was confusing, I've been getting quite frustrated

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... You need to load/Install all your hardware drivers for the OS and Device Manager... DL them or use a MB/? media.

 

[photonboy]

Hello... You need to load/Install all your hardware drivers for the OS and Device Manager... DL them or use a MB/? media.

Not the issue, and Windows 10 will install most or everything needed during install then with MS Updates.

On that note, however, it doesn't hurt to reinstall the VIDEO driver just in case. I also use K-Lite Standard for my media player. https://www.codecguide.com/download_k-lite_codec_pack_standard.htm

I've tried everything including VLC and this is the best one IMO.

 

[Hatekraze]

I think it's working good now. I did a clean install off of the usb creation tool and had formatted both hard drives before installing. It seems to be working perfect and I've got all my drivers setup again as well. I had checked the validation settings and it had said I was validated as soon as I booted up the first time, so unless they tend to revoke things later it seems all I had to do was skip the product key. Maybe they've changed things since it first came out and people started freaking out. Thanks for the help everyone! Really enjoying the speed now, although I had it doesn't fill up too fast. I knew I should have spent the couple bucks to get the 240 lol I had read 120gb should be good for Windows, programs, and a game or two. But we will see.