Fresh install of Windows 10 on SSD from previous OEM install

[Conster]

I have Windows 10 installed on a HDD and is activated using an OEM key, due to it being a retail Asus PC. Now, my issue is that I want to do a completely fresh install of Windows on an SSD and I have no product key due to it being a retail PC. My question is, will the fresh install activate due to the OEM motherboard or am I out of luck. As far as I'm aware you can't retrieve the OEM key and then use that to do a fresh install. Any help is appreciated, cheers.

 

[bignastyid]

During the install skip the key. It should recognize the hardware id and activate itself.

 

[Conster]

During the install skip the key. It should recognize the hardware id and activate itself.

Cheers for the reply. My SSD is coming tomorrow so I'll see if that is the case.

 

[bignastyid]

I've done it multiple times with hdd/ssd upgrades and replacements and have yet to have a problem.

 

[Colif]

Take HDD out while you do it or windows 10 might decide to use hdd for its boot partition, and if you remove hdd later, ssd won't boot.

It should reactivate as bignastyid said, only seen one not do it. You can do this before swapping drives and then after just to make sure it works - Reactivating win 10 on new hardware. Always helps to have licence linked to email account anyway. Never know when you might need to move it.

 

[Conster]

I've done it multiple times with hdd/ssd upgrades and replacements and have yet to have a problem.

Okay, I installed Windows fine and everything was looking good. I started installing some stuff and went to restart to finalize the install of my GPU drivers. The PC froze when I brought up the start menu. I had to hold the power button to shut it off as it was completely unresponsive. Now upon reboot all I get is a black screen, a cursor and spinning dots. How would I go about completely re-installing? Since Windows is installed, when I go into the install part through the USB, I have four partitions. Recovery, system, primary and mts. Do I delete all of them? I'm confused as to what to do here and don't want to mess up my drive.

 

[Colif]

Yes, delete all 4 partitions leaving only unallocated space and click next and win 10 will create those 4 partitions again.

See stage 13 here: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

 

[Conster]

Yes, delete all 4 partitions leaving only unallocated space and click next and win 10 will create those 4 partitions again.

See stage 13 here: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

Alright cheers, will give that a go. Only just noticed I wrote mts instead of msr. Whoops