I have kept an old HTPC to use to play around with for installing programs and other things that I do not want to do on my main computer.
I wanted to install a video editing program called “Kdenlive” on Windows and I will write about it on my next post. However there were problems with my old HTPC so I decided to do a “Reset This PC”. I started with the reset that keeps your files but it stopped part way so I started again but used the full wipe and restore. However it again stopped part way and when I tried to reboot a notice came up saying that an OS could not be found.
Originally when I built this PC, Win 8 pro was installed and later upgraded to Win 10 using the free upgrades. I still had the Win 8 Pro disc and Product key and I recalled reading somewhere that you could do a clean install of Win 10 using a valid product Key from Win 7 on. In fact it was here on Paul Thurrott’s site.
So I went to the Microsoft site https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10
Naturally, you need another PC to do this if the target PC won’t boot. Follow the instruction under “Using the tool to create installation media (USB Flash Drive , DVD, or ISO file) to install Windows 10 on a different PC” to create the Win 10 Installation Media, then boot from the USB (or DVD) and use the Win 7/ 8.x Product Key when prompted.
It worked without any problems and I now have an activated Win 10 back up and running.
This time I made a system image – All Settings / Update and Security / Back Up / Go to Back Up and Restore Windows 7 / Create a System Image – and saved on another drive just in case.