How to upgrade and install a new hard drive or ssd in your pc

I recently bought a server with SSD (Solid State Drive) disk. But how do I verify if I had really got a server with SSD disk? Fortunately there are few commands that will tell you if a disk attached to system is SSD or HDD. So if you ever want to know whether a disk is SSD or HDD, then here’s how you can find that out.

Before we learn about commands, let’s understand the difference between SSD and HDD.

Difference between HDD and SSD

Traditionally hard drives are spinning device that are non-volatile storage, which means the data is not lost when the power is turned off. Hard drive is a metal platter that is covered with a magnetic coating to store data. You need a data? The read/write head on an arm accesses the data while metal platter is spinning. The faster the platter spins, faster the HDD performs.

But SSD (Solid State Drives) stores data on an interconnected flash memory chips and does not lose data when the power is turned off. Flash memory chips are faster and more reliable. It means, SSD disk does not spin. Read more about SSD vs HDD here.

So HDD rotates and SSD does not. Tell again, HDD rotates and SSD does not. Now let’s learn commands that will allow you to identify if a particular disk is SSD or HDD.

How to check if Disk is SSD or HDD

Method 1: Check if the disk is rotational

Since kernel version 2.6.29, Linux systems can automatically detect SSD. So executing the below command will tell you if a disk is SSD or HDD.

If the above output is 0 (zero) , then the disk is SSD (because SSD does not rotate). You should see output ‘1’ on machines that has HDD disk.

Method 2: Using lsblk command

You can also check if the disk is rotational or not using lsblk command.

Use yum to check which package provides lsblk command.

Sample output:

The above output confirms that util-linux is the package that distributes lsblk command.

Install lsblk

Now check if the disk is rotational or not using the below command.

If the output of the above command is ‘0’ for ROTA , then the disk is SSD. In case of output being ‘1’ , the disk is HDD.

Method 3: Using SMART monitoring tools

Smart monitoring tools is a control and monitoring utility for SATA, SCSI hard drives and solid state drive. The tool comes with a command called ‘smartctl’ .

Use yum to check which package provides smartctl command.

Sample output:

The above output suggests that smartmontools is the package that distributes smartctl command.

Install smartmontools

Use smartctl command as shown below:

Sample output:

Lookout for ‘Rotation Rate’ in the above output.

Method 4: Dig through dmesg

You can quickly dig through dmesg to read the model of the disk.

Sample output:

In the above output, lookout for the model and just Google it to know if the disk is HDD or SSD.

Method 5: Read SCSI inside proc file system

You can find the disk model information using the below command:

Now Google the model to know if the disk is HDD or SSD.

I have used /dev/sda for demonstration purpose. You may want to replace with your own device.

Report abuse

Replies (3) 

My name is Fernando. I am a Microsoft Independent Advisor. I am here to guide you with a recommendation on the information you are seeking.

Here are a couple of links that might guide you through what you are wanting to do.

Please let me know if this information helps or need further guidence.

Report abuse

10 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Volunteer Moderator- Microsoft Community
I do not work for Microsoft

Mark the reply as helpful or answered to help others if your query is resolved

Report abuse

6 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Hi Martin, you can clean install Windows 10 at any time, you don’t have to worry about a Product Key or Digital Licence, Activation will be automatic and it will not cost you anything !

Since you previously had Windows 10 installed and activated on that PC during the installation process skip the steps which ask for a product key and select the option ‘I am Reinstalling Windows 10 on this PC’, and activation will not be an issue, your PC will have a digital entitlement stored on the Microsoft Activation Servers

Make sure you install the same Edition of Windows 10 (Home, Pro . . . etc.) you previously had installed to avoid Activation issues

Click this link:
to download the Media Creation Tool (Click on Download Tool Now), with that you can download the latest Windows 10 ISO (Select Create Installation Media for Another PC), you can create a bootable USB flash drive (min 8GB) using that tool

Then, Boot your PC from the Installation Media you just created (change Boot Order in your BIOS) to begin installing Windows 10

If you have problems booting from a boot disc, you may have UEFI BIOS:
Insert the Bootable Installation Media, then go into your BIOS and make the following changes:
1. Disable Secure Boot
2. Enable Legacy Boot
3. If Available enable CSM
4. If Required enable USB Boot
5. Move the device with the bootable disc to the top of the boot order
6. Save BIOS changes, restart your System and it should boot from the Installation Media

Power to the Developer!

MSI GV72 – 17.3″, i7-8750H (Hex Core), 32GB DDR4, 4GB GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 256GB NVMe M2, 2TB HDD

It’s been roughly a decade since the first SSDs started to hit the consumer market, and about seven years since they began arriving at price points that could broadly be called “consumer-friendly.” It’s only been in the past few years that SSDs have gotten inexpensive enough that buying a 512GB+ drive is more of an impulse purchase than a serious financial outlay. If you’ve already bought a new SSD or are wondering if you should pull the trigger, we’ll walk you through deciding how to move your data and the best ways to do it.

The simplest way to upgrade from a smaller SSD (or HDD) to a larger one is to pull the old drive, install your new drive, load your OS image and all associated software, and reinstall everything you don’t opt to manually preserve. We’re not spending too much time on this upgrade path, but if you want to go this route, our article on how to uninstall Windows 10 should be useful to you — particularly the “Look Before You Leap” section for advice on which files and data to back up before starting fresh.

The advantage of starting over from scratch is that you get a clean OS image and a cruft-free SSD. This is also the only practical option if you’re upgrading a laptop with a single drive bay. The disadvantage is losing an easy way to access old files if you need them, unless you invest in an external enclosure.

Another option, if you have the chassis space, is to install your new SSD, put a clean OS install on it, but keep your previous drive hooked up and available. Think of this as a best-of-both-worlds approach. We can’t guarantee the apps installed on your old SSD will still work without a reinstall, but your downloads, saved files, and documents are all still available. I tend to go this route when I upgrade or change storage solutions and while it doesn’t work for everything, it’s a quick way to solve the problem.

But what if you don’t want more than one drive and you don’t want more than one drive when you’re done? The best way to deal with this problem is to use cloning software. Disk cloning software can make a perfect image of a current SSD or HDD installation.

A disk clone isn’t just an archive or backup of your current SSD and shouldn’t be mistaken for it. Simply creating an archival backup of existing data is a good idea, but it won’t solve your problem — it’ll just drop a lump of compressed files on your new SSD. I’ve used Acronis True Image several times, but there are a number of utilities available to perform this kind of service. Wikipedia has a reasonable comparison of the various major applications.

You don’t need to worry about having both hard drives mounted internally to use a disk cloning utility; it’s not a problem to clone to (or from) an external connected via USB 3. It may take slightly longer, but the process should be the same.

Once the clone completes, you’ll be able to put your old drive in storage (I’d recommend not throwing it away, but I’m paranoid about data loss) and keep on going with your new hardware. As system transplants go, the entire process is pretty painless.

One last tidbit. If you are moving from SSD to SSD, don’t expect quite the same “Wow!” factor you got after moving from a conventional hard drive to an SSD. While newer SSDs are indisputably faster than old ones, the performance improvement simply isn’t as large. You may still get a performance bump out of the jump, but affordable, glorious capacity and the reliability benefits of a newer drive are the main reasons to upgrade to a new SSD.

How to replace your hard drive without losing data? It won’t be a difficult thing if you use AOMEI Backupper which is a professional backup software.

By AOMEI / Last Updated February 21, 2021

Will I lose everything if I replace my hard drive?

When asking how to replace a hard drive, you may be more concerned about how to replace your hard drive without losing data because computers have been a part of our lives to some degree, keeping many different types of important data.

Besides, if it is possible to change a new HDD or upgrade hard drive to SSD without data loss, that means you can avoid reinstalling system as well as various programs. Fortunately, this is not a dream. You will not lose anything if you do the replacement with AOMEI Backupper.

Replace disk without losing data via AOMEI Backupper

AOMEI Backupper Professional is a professional backup and recovery software equipped with a lot of advanced features such as incremental backup, universal restore, etc. Among them, clone should be an ideal choice to replace your hard drive without losing data.

Once the drive has been cloned, just simply remove the existing drive and replace it with the new one. You are allowed to replace larger hard drive with smaller SSD as long as you migrate only used parts.

What’s more, the whole procedure of clone will be quite easy even you’re not a computer expert. Let’s start. In the first place, download AOMEI Backupper Professional and install it on your computer.

Step 1. Connect the new drive to computer then launch AOMEI Backupper.

Step 2. Click Clone on the main interface and then Disk Clone. Well, if you only need to migrate operating system, you can choose system clone.

Step 3. Select your existing drive as the source disk.

Step 4. Select the destination disk.

Tips: A window will pop up to inform you that data on the destination disk will be overwritten. So if you have important documents there, please back them up first. Click “Yes” to continue.

Step 5. Now comes the operation summary.

Tips: Before starting clone, there are three more options in the bottom.

It enables you to adjust partition size on the destination disk in advance. While if you’re not sure about that, you can change partition size in Windows 7/8/10 handily whenever you want to via AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Sector by sector clone will copy all sectors no matter they’re used or not. If you are going to clone your hard drive to a smaller disk. Do not tick this option.

Ticking the SSD Alignment box if the destination disk is an SSD, which can improve its reading and writing speed.

Note: this operation will not cause data loss, however, data loss can also be caused by other unexpected factors such as inappropriate operations and battery failure. Therefore, it is highly recommended to backup data before replacing hard drive.

The final step to replace your hard drive without losing data – swap drives. When doing this, make sure that you understand any information regarding your warranty. Any unauthorized work on your system may void the warranty of system manufacturers. Plus, review the safety instructions inside of your system product manuals before working.

Boot up notes: if you’ve cloned the disk with operating system installed, you can boot up Windows from the cloned drive by changing boot priority in BIOS or switching boot drives directly.

A hard drive or SSD (solid-state drive) is the primary storage device of your computer. If a computer is low on storage space and you want to increase the size of the hard drive or SSD, there are options available.

Follow these steps to upgrade a hard drive or SSD in your computer.

• Upgrade an existing drive.
• Replace an existing drive.
• Install an additional drive.

Upgrade an existing drive

It may seem the best option is to upgrade the existing drive in the computer. Unfortunately, upgrading a drive is not possible without also purchasing a drive duplicator.

A drive cannot have additional space added to it, making it impossible to upgrade an existing drive. Replacing an existing drive or installing an additional drive are the only options for adding more storage space in a computer.

Replace an existing drive

To add more storage space, you can choose to replace the existing drive in the computer. Replacing the drive requires you to do the following.

1. Purchase a new drive with more storage space than the existing one. We recommend checking the total storage space of the existing drive first before purchasing a new drive. Also, check if the existing drive uses IDE or SATA to determine the type of drive needed.

• How do I find the hard drive type and specifications?

1. Back up the files on your computer, so you can copy them to the new drive.

• How to back up your computer.

1. Remove the existing drive by taking out the screws and disconnecting the cable.
2. Install the new drive.

• How to install a hard drive or SSD.

1. Using the computer restore discs, reinstall the operating system and original software that came with the computer. (If you do not have a set of restore discs, you need to contact the computer manufacturer.)

• How to install the Microsoft Windows operating system.

1. Copy the personal files you backed up in step 2 above onto the new drive.

• How do you copy files from one drive to another drive?

Install an additional drive

The most common option chosen by computer users to add more storage space is to install an additional drive. Doing so does not require the existing drive to be removed, which saves you time. To install an additional drive, do the following.

1. Determine if the existing drive uses IDE or SATA connections. Your computer must support the type of drive you want to install. Most computers built since 2012 support SATA. Computers older than 2012 may only support IDE.
2. Purchase the new drive.
3. Install the new drive.

• How to install a hard drive or SSD.

1. After the new drive has been installed, enter My Computer or File Explorer, to ensure it is being read properly. In this case, it’s the Extra Space (F:) drive.

When constructing your own gaming PC, having to choose between a solid state drive (SSD) or hard disk drive (HDD) can be difficult. Hard disk drives are cheaper and more common, but their reliance on internal moving parts means that they’re much more prone to breaking down, and they tend to be slower.

Solid state drives, meanwhile, are far more durable and load faster than HDD’s since they have no moving parts, but they’re also noticeably more expensive (for comparison, a 250GB SSD costs about as much as a 1TB HDD). Here’s a little secret though: you don’t actually have to choose.

If you’re willing to invest in both an HDD and an SSD, there’s a way to configure them so that you get the best of both worlds. The process of running two operating systems on your PC is known as dual-booting. When done with two separate drives, it most often involves configuring your system so that the SSD does the heavy lifting of booting and running your operating system, while the HDD is used for the less demanding task of file storage.

Using an SSD and an HDD in tandem

Before you begin the process of dual-booting, you’ll want to ensure you have the necessary hardware components. First, you’ll obviously need both a working SSD and HDD. Buying both kinds of drives is more expensive than simply going with one or the other, but the long-term benefits are well-worth the extra cost.

Since the SSD is only being used for your computer’s operating system, it doesn’t need much space. A 120GB SSD should be fine, but if you want to be absolutely safe you can go with a 250GB drive. Also, make sure you’re able to mount both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch hard drives into your case. Computer cases are form-factored to fit 3.5-inch drives (the standard size for most HDD’s), and some even come with extra mounting brackets to fit 2.5-inch drives (the standard size for SSD’s). However, chances are good you’ll have to buy a separate 2.5-inch mounting bracket.

Installing your operating system to the SSD

Once you’re sure you can properly mount both drives, go ahead and do so, but make sure you only hook the SSD up to your motherboard. This will ensure your computer doesn’t automatically try to install your operating system to the HDD. With the SSD hooked up, power on the computer, insert your installation media (disc or USB drive), and install your operating system. For this guide we’ll assume you’re installing Windows.

Formatting your HDD for storage

Installing and updating Windows can take some time, so be patient. When your OS is fully up to date and running, now’s the time to plug your HDD into your motherboard, afdter turning off your computer and unplugging it of course. Chances are your HDD won’t be storage-compatible right from the start, which is what the Disk Management function is for. Disk Management is an inherent Windows function which can be accessed in Windows 10 by typing “Disk Management” into your desktop search bar.

The Disk Management screen will bring up a list of all disk drives connected to your computer, and if you plugged your HDD in correctly, you should see it on the list. Right click on your HDD and select the “format” option. If prompted, make sure you set the File System type as NTFS. After the formatting process is finished, you can right click on the drive again and assign it a custom name and drive letter (if you want). With your HDD properly formatted, you can now start using it for file storage. Before you download and install anything, though, navigate to your computer’s Settings menu (in Windows 10, click the Windows icon on your desktop and then on the gear wheel icon). From Settings go to System, then Storage, and finally click on the “Change where new content is saved” option. Change whatever categories you feel are necessary to the HDD storage drive (at the very least you should change your New apps category). Following the above procedure will ensure your computer doesn’t try to install new apps and games to your much smaller SSD. Make sure to follow the same procedure with any third-party gaming platforms you use like Steam or Uplay.

Setting the boot order in BIOS

One final step to take is to ensure you have a proper boot order set up. This is done in your computer’s BIOS menu, and the specific method for accessing your BIOS varies between different motherboard manufactures. You basically have to press a certain key during the moments when your computer is first powering on (before you see the starting Windows logo).

Most of the time that key is something like F10 or F2, and you might have to Google your motherboard’s specific model to find out which key you need to press to access the BIOS. Once you’ve accessed your BIOS, you’ll want to find the boot order screen. Ensure that your SSD is the very first item in the boot order, restart, and you should be good to go.

Enjoy your speedy boot times, and all that extra storage!

hi, i need help on windows 10 OEM installation. So i bought SSD and want to install it on my laptop. i have the Windows 10 Home single language OEM key installed. the question is how can i install windows on the SSD with oem key? do i need the Windwos 10 Home Single language or just Windows 10 home ? thanks

ah last question (i know its stupid) how i can reply on my own post? Thank you.

Report abuse

Replies (6) 

When you upgraded from a previous version of Windows or receive a new computer preinstalled with Windows 10, what happened is the hardware (your PC) will get a digital entitlement, where a unique signature of the computer will be stored on Microsoft Activation Servers. The Windows 7 or Windows 8 genuine license you were previously running will be exchanged for a diagnostics key.

Anytime you need to reinstall Windows 10 on that machine, just proceed to reinstall Windows 10. It will automatically reactivate. You will prompted to enter a product key a couple times through the installation, click I don’t have a key and Do this later.

There is no need to know or get a new key, but if you have issues with Digital Licensing or the Activation Troubleshooter, you can utilize an existing Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 product key you already own to reactivate if necessary. or use the reset function in Windows 10.

Go to a working computer, download, create a bootable copy, then perform a clean install.

Step 1: How to download official Windows 10 ISO files

Review the following guide for instructions and details about configuring your BIOS or UEFI boot settings for DVD, CD, USB or SD Card.
a
BIOS/UEFI Setup Guide: Boot from a CD, DVD, USB Drive or SD Card

Once your computer is set to boot from the DVD, you should see this option. If you are installing from a retail Windows 10 USB thumb drive, you will be asked to select either 32 or 64 bit Windows 10. Learn more here

The Windows logo will appear on screen, this might be here for a while, as long as you see the animating dots, everything should be ok.

Select your Language, Time and Keyboard method then click Next.

Click Install now

Windows 10 setup will prompt you for a product key during installation a couple times. If you originally upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 click the option ‘I don’t have a key’ and ‘Do this later’ . If you have a Windows 10 product key, you can proceed to enter it.

Setup will also prompt you to select the edition you have a license for – Home or Pro. Please make sure you choose the right edition. If you choose the wrong edition, your only option will be to perform a clean install again.

The copy of Windows 10 you download and upgrade from will correspond with the edition of Windows you have installed, if it does not, this is why you might be experiencing problems activating:

Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Windows 8.0 Core, Windows 8.1 Core should install Windows 10 Home

Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8.0 Pro, Windows 8.1 Pro should install Windows 10 Pro

IF YOU ARE NOT SURE WHICH EDITION YOUR SYSTEM CAME WITH, CHOOSE WINDOWS 10 HOME.

Wait while setup prepares to copy files

Accept the license terms then click Next

Click Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)

NOTE: Sometimes Windows 10 setup can become confused if it see’s a thumb drive. You might get a driver missing error or something to that effect. If you do, restart setup, but this time, when you arrive at the following screen, disconnect your thumb drive then go through Custom options. When setup is ready copy files, it will prompt you to reconnect the installation source (your USB).

Select the drive then click New

NOTE: If you have multiple partitions listed, select each one (starting at the bottom), then click delete until there is only a single (one) unallocated drive displayed in the window.

Select the unallocated drive listed, click New, click Apply then OK

This will split the drive into multiple partitions, select the Primary partition then click Next.

NOTE: The System Reserved partition is where recovery files are kept for diagnostics and repairing damaged Windows 10 files; or even reinstall Windows 10.

Wait while Windows installs

When this phase of setup is complete, Windows will automatically restart then reboot into setup again.

Windows is detecting and installing your hardware. After this is complete, Windows will restart one last time.

Out of Box Experience

The Out of Box Experience page is where you get to configure detailed settings in Windows, which includes creating a user account, configure privacy, sync PC settings and install modern applications.

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

System crashes on VAIO? This article will introduce you how to upgrade/replace Sony VAIO laptop hard drive with SSD or new large HDD to gain peak performance.

By Teresa / Last Updated March 10, 2021

Reasons to perform Sony laptop hard drive upgrade

Upgrading or replacing hard drive with SSD or new HDD is the most common way to improve system performance on PCs, so as to Sony laptops. Sony VAIO comes with HDDs in different storage capacities, 500GB, 750GB and 1TB. Whichever the capacity is, hard drive is doomed to fail after several years of use as well as ubiquitous and countless potential network threads. When the system crashes caused by virus, for instance, it is inevitable to replace Sony VAIO hard drive with new hard disk.

Also, you may want to do Sony VAIO hard drive upgrade because of its awful performance, for example, 15 minutes for startup. There are many factors that will result in long-time boot, such as too many boot startups or hard drive failure. However, replace Sony VAIO hard drive with SSD definitely will make this condition better. What’s more, low disk space cause hard drive upgrading as well. In general, new hard disk brings better performance in computer experience. Now learn how to replace Sony VAIO laptop hard drive in detail in following parts.

How to upgrade Sony laptop hard drive?

In the first place, to upgrade Sony laptop hard drive you need to find:

The appropriate replacement (I mean the Sony VAIO compatible hard drives). It should be a 9.5mm thick 2.5” hard drive or SSD in order to fit in the HDD OEM caddy & drive bay.

One #0 Phillips screwdriver to uninstall Sony internal hard drive.

A backup and restore tool is quite necessary if you don’t want to do clean install and lose all personal files and settings. AOMEI Backupper Professional will assist you to accomplish this upgrading task with its Backup, Restore and Create bootable device features. It is better to use Backup & Restore method on laptop that has only one hard drive bay. Last but not least, patience. Free download it to have a try.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Backupper (Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista supported) on VAIO E or S series. Click Backup and select Disk Backup.

Step 2. Select the Sony internal hard drive as the source disk.

Step 3. Select a location to store the disk backup image. You may backup it to NAS, network shared folder, external hard drive or USB flash drive. If you backup to USB drive, it should be large enough.

Step 4. Click Start Backup. Wait for the process to be completed.

Step 5. Create a bootable media (USB or CD/DVD) to boot off VAIO later.

Step 6. Shut down Sony VAIO and remove the battery. Remove 2 screws on each side and slide out HDD cover carefully. Then remove 2 more screws of HDD case and slide the case to the left. Finally, lift the HDD with its caddy out and free up the HDD.

Important: Do not touch any other cables or circuit on the laptop. Take a picture of the caddy before lifting it out will help you place the new disk in right location later.

Step 7. Install the new hard drive or SSD to Sony VAIO laptop with the contrary method of removing. Plug the battery and lid the cover back. Insert the bootable device and start the laptop. Once boot up, you will see the same AOMEI Backupper Professional automatically running.

Step 8. Connect the device that contains disk backup image to Sony laptop. Then restore the backup image to new disk with AOMEI Backupper. One or two restarts are required.

Sony laptop hard drive upgrade to new hard drive or SSD is not that difficult as you think. However, more attention and careful will do great help because this is sort of long-run operation and you cannot be more careful with your data and system. This method also applies to ASUS Q501LA SSD upgrade, HP, Lenovo laptops etc. You can keep AOMEI Backupper on the laptop as regular backup solution since it is the best alternative to File History as well as Windows 7 Backup and Restore utility.

If you want to protect unlimited computers within your company, you can pick AOMEI Backupper Technician. With the inbuilt AOMEI Image Deploy tool, you are also allowed to deploy/restore system image file on server-side computer to multiple client-side computers over network.

Just built my brand new computer from scratch and want to do a fresh install of windows 10 to my SSD. How would I go about doin this since I’m new to the whole custom built PC scene.

Report abuse

Replies (4) 

You first need to purchase a license for Windows 10 if you don’t have a full retail license thats not in use.

Go to a working computer, download, create a bootable copy, then perform a clean install.

Step 1: How to download official Windows 10 ISO files

Review the following guide for instructions and details about configuring your BIOS or UEFI boot settings for DVD, CD, USB or SD Card.
a
BIOS/UEFI Setup Guide: Boot from a CD, DVD, USB Drive or SD Card

Once your computer is set to boot from the DVD, you should see this option. If you are installing from a retail Windows 10 USB thumb drive, you will be asked to select either 32 or 64 bit Windows 10. Learn more here

The Windows logo will appear on screen, this might be here for a while, as long as you see the animating dots, everything should be ok.

Select your Language, Time and Keyboard method then click Next.

Click Install now

Windows 10 setup will prompt you for a product key during installation a couple times. If you originally upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 click the option ‘I don’t have a key’ and ‘Do this later’ . If you have a Windows 10 product key, you can proceed to enter it.

Setup will also prompt you to select the edition you have a license for – Home or Pro. Please make sure you choose the right edition. If you choose the wrong edition, your only option will be to perform a clean install again.

The copy of Windows 10 you download and upgrade from will correspond with the edition of Windows you have installed, if it does not, this is why you might be experiencing problems activating:

Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Windows 8.0 Core, Windows 8.1 Core should install Windows 10 Home

Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8.0 Pro, Windows 8.1 Pro should install Windows 10 Pro

Wait while setup prepares to copy files

Accept the license terms then click Next

Click Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)

NOTE: Sometimes Windows 10 setup can become confused if it see’s a thumb drive. You might get a driver missing error or something to that effect. If you do, restart setup, but this time, when you arrive at the following screen, disconnect your thumb drive then go through Custom options. When setup is ready copy files, it will prompt you to reconnect the installation source (your USB).

Select the drive then click New

NOTE: If you have multiple partitions listed, select each one (starting at the bottom), then click delete until there is only a single (one) unallocated drive displayed in the window.

Select the unallocated drive listed, click New, click Apply then OK

This will split the drive into multiple partitions, select the Primary partition then click Next.

NOTE: The System Reserved partition is where recovery files are kept for diagnostics and repairing damaged Windows 10 files; or even reinstall Windows 10.

Wait while Windows installs

When this phase of setup is complete, Windows will automatically restart then reboot into setup again.

Windows is detecting and installing your hardware. After this is complete, Windows will restart one last time.

Out of Box Experience

The Out of Box Experience page is where you get to configure detailed settings in Windows, which includes creating a user account, configure privacy, sync PC settings and install modern applications.

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.