New Year Upgrade!

[Pob255]

old drives should show up on a new UEFI setup, it just won't be able to boot to them, esp if it's set to UEFI only in BIOS
The way I'd personally go about it is

1. make a windows 10 install usb stick
2. disconnect and sata drives
3. set bios to UEFI only or UEFI and CMS if you have that option
4. Boot to usb stick and make a fresh install of windows 10 on the m.2 ssd
5. finish windows 10 setup, run update (to grab drivers) and make sure all drivers are correct.
6. plug sata drives back in
7. manually setup drive letters to make sure drives are in the right place, re-install software needed.

That's basically what I did when I replaced my old os drive although that was win7 and I was going from a sata hdd to sata ssd, my old c: drive is still plugged in I've just got it set as b: instead and I'll dip into it very occasionally if there's a file I need.
Although I do have almost all my software and games segregated on a separate e: drive (dvd is d: yes I still have one)

[Jager]

If that will work, then that is exactly what I want to do. Not home yet but I don’t think my motherboard has a ‘UEFI with CSM’ option.

If I can enable UEFI and setup my windows for that while using my old drive, then that’s spot on

I’ve tried Googling all this and couldn’t find any information . Very little info around with clear details

[Jager]

It wooooooorked . Sending this from my computer now and everything seems to be good. I've gone for the fresh install route with UEFI, so I have a ton of stuff to sort though and move around now. First thing I did was install Chrome haha. Everything is amazingly fast, I love it

If anyone needs it, I used THIS video as a guide to setting up Windows with UEFI

Only thing I haven't attempted yet is to activate Windows with my old activation key(s). Just want to make sure everything is going smooth before I try that

Also, does anyone know a way for me to select which drive I want to boot from?. It would be nice to boot into my old drive to retrieve things if needed without having to opent he PC up and unplug the NVMe every time

[yomanew]

I got the m1 macbook air, that's my upgrade for a few years.

[DanceswithUnix]

Good to hear it is all up and running!

You can to get to a boot menu when starting up, usually at the point you hammer Del to get into the BIOS you hammer F5 or F8. Should get you a menu of things plugged in to boot.

OFC if the NVMe drive is plugged in then I've had Windows just decide to finish booting off that anyway having told it to boot from SATA, so it might not work.

You might be able to set up the Windows boot manager to give you an option to boot onto the old SSD. I've not played with that stuff for years, and it would slow down booting to give you the choice prompt, but should work.

[Jager]

I turned CSM and Legacy back on in the BIOS and it now lets me choose what drive to boot into if I smash F11 for the boot menu . I need to go back on and install loads of programs and a few games. I already uninstalled AVG Internet Security (I'll get ready for the replies after admitting to using it haha) and reinstalled it on the NVMe with the activation key I had. Once I'm finished with the hardrive I'll turn UEFI back on and use the NVMe from then on.

Activating Windows 10 seems to be a bit of an issue. The key no longer works and my old Windows 7 one won't as it starts with numbers and won't even let me enter it. I still have the OEM Win7 CD but doubt that'll be any help. Seems like it's going to have to be a phone call to support and try and sweet talk them. I should be allowed as I'm essentially moving my Windows 10 to another system because of a fault forcing me to (broken motherboard). Fingers crossed

[DanceswithUnix]

I usually put the windows key in during Windows install, and with a pretty good success rate.

Bit late for that now though.

[Jager]

Right, so there seems to be a few issue here as it still won't activate.

Apparently you can transfer 1 valid license key from one broken system to another. But if you do the free upgrade from Windows 7 to Win10 then I'm not sure if that can be transferred.
I did the trick last year of entering your Win7 key to get the Win10 free upgrade even after the offer had ended.

I'm going to keep trying but if anyone has any ideas then please let me know.

I usually put the windows key in during Windows install, and with a pretty good success rate.

Bit late for that now though.

When you upgraded did you enter a Win 10 key or a Win 7 key?. I'm tempted to just reinstall Windows on the NVMe and try it. I haven't started moving anything yet so it's an option

[Jonj1611]

There was a thread recently with Windows 10 keys for like a tenner from a legit site, might be worth just getting a new key?

[kalniel]

Right, so there seems to be a few issue here as it still won't activate.

Apparently you can transfer 1 valid license key from one broken system to another. But if you do the free upgrade from Windows 7 to Win10 then I'm not sure if that can be transferred.
I did the trick last year of entering your Win7 key to get the Win10 free upgrade even after the offer had ended.

Free upgrade continues the license you had before - so if you had a retail win 7 then your win 10 inherits the same conditions and it can be transferred (and OEM can't). I had a retail win 7, and I've done several win 10 to win 10 transfers since. Last time I had to put in my win 7 key and it did the trick.

[Zhaoman]

What you could have done was install Win7, use your spare key and then do the free upgrade to Win10. Easier option now is probably just buy a Win10 key for around a tenner. https://www.cdkoffers.com/microsoft-...ey-global.html Moore's Law Is Dead Youtube channel have the following codes 25% software discount code: brokensilicon
3% discount code for everything: dieshrink

[Tyrannosaur]

With my last upgrade I looked around for solutions just in case my key didn't transfer. Fortunately I didn't have to use it and my key activated, but might be worth a try.

Take a look at this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge5M_PzcZnc

Uses the Windows 10 Get Help app to help with activation.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you register the key to an MS account it should work fine. I converted my Win7/Win8 key to a Win10 key and so far its been fine with two motherboard changes and a few CPU changes. If all else fails,usually there is a automated activation phoneline IIRC.

[Jager]

OMG OMG, scrap everything I just said it just activated!

I have no idea what happened, it just suddenly worked after the 20th attempt. It was accepting the key but then it said there was an error. When I clicked 'Troubleshoot' there was a button at the bottom which said 'I recently changed my hardware' but everything I clicked it I got a 'Trouble connecting to Windows servers' error. I've had that same issue for 2 days and now it just suddenly worked....

How do I now find out what my product key is? I just want to double check and now make a note of it for the future. I've seen multiple methods online for how to do this but somethings they come up with different keys so I don't fully trust them

[DanceswithUnix]

OMG OMG, scrap everything I just said it just activated!

I have no idea what happened, it just suddenly worked after the 20th attempt. It was accepting the key but then it said there was an error. When I clicked 'Troubleshoot' there was a button at the bottom which said 'I recently changed my hardware' but everything I clicked it I got a 'Trouble connecting to Windows servers' error. I've had that same issue for 2 days and now it just suddenly worked....

How do I now find out what my product key is? I just want to double check and now make a note of it for the future. I've seen multiple methods online for how to do this but somethings they come up with different keys so I don't fully trust them

Nice one.

To answer your previous question, that was Win 7 OEM key which I hadn't attached to an MS account as that ties it down which isn't always a good thing with OEM licences (but works well for retail).

For your next question, if you just typed your licence key in and didn't tie it to an MS account, then activation should say it is "activated with a digital license". That means MS have fingerprinted the machine, mainly the motherboard. There is no product key to use, and licence extraction programs get the same useless code for all Windows 10 machines activated like that. So just don't sweat it, if you re-install Windows 10 on that machine in the future just skip entering a licence and it should automatically activate.

[rand0m]

There was a thread recently with Windows 10 keys for like a tenner from a legit site, might be worth just getting a new key?

Could you link the thread please?

I have only just 'upgraded' to Windows 10 - I just reformated HDD and fresh installed windows 10 and used my old Win7 key (which came from a key site) - and didn't have to do anything else

But i'll need a new win10 key for my new build as I don't tend to take old systems apart