[Not working anymore] How to upgrade from W7/8.1 without going through the complete upgrade process

CSM - Enabled.
Secure Boot - Other OS.

That should allow you to install in MBR mode. The other Legacy parts can be set to legacy. The top two are the main ones to have set to allow MBR.

Install 7, Use loader to activate, follow info about obtaining the GenuineTicket xml file. Save to a memory stick.

once that done, go back into the bios and turn CSM Disabled and Secure boot UEFI/On.

install Win 10 (same edition home/pro as the edition that was installed on 7) onto your SSD.

follow info about inserting the Gen Ticket and you should have a HWID done after a few minutes of net connection

 

I see the point, thanks

@mxman2k So to summarize, it's just keeping HDD connected with MBR, installing and activating W7 edition. Once done, I boot UEFI Secure and clean that HDD and convert into GPT (using diskpart). Finally, adding SSD (which will be formatted GPT format), clean install + pasting ticket. Right?

Wondering now how I could help you in return ;-)

 

After altering the BIOS to MBR (secure boot off, CSM enabled). Install w7 as it be in MBR mode then, activate it. Obtain the genuineticket, save onto a memory stick.

You can either fresh install W10 on that HDD (or upgrade the current win7 to win 10**), if fresh install copy the saved Gen ticket to the required folder. it should then activate that edition. If you are upgrading over the top of 7 the gen ticket will already be in place.

Once you have established the HWID for that edition. You can remove the HDD. Change the bios back to UEFI, secure boot enabled, CSM disabled/auto. Connect up your SSD and install Win10 fresh on that.

**If you did the upgrade over the top of 7 to obtain the HWID then you not need to do the copy gen ticket part.

I am guessing you are going to be using the SSD as the boot drive and the HDD as a storage 2nd drive?

If so once your win10 activated you can wipe the HDD.

Setting the bios to UEFI/Secure boot enabled, CSM disabled should automatically install using GPT.

Personally i only use GPT if the drive is over 2.2TB in size, or you have to partition it as Windows will not see the full size using MBR.

 

How i did my pc...

Installed a standard HDD, think it was 160gb. That not matter.

Made sure the bios was set to legacy mode (no secure boot, CMS enabled).

Installed win 7 Pro, activated with Daz's Loader, followed steps in the first post to obtain the GenuineTicket. Saved that to a memory stick. Disconnected the LAN cable.

Went into the bios, changed it all back to UEFI/SecureBoot enabled, CMS disabled, (on my bios turning off secure boot automatically enabled CMS).

Connected my new SSD, installed Windows 10 pro. Copied the Genuineticket to the folder. Connected LAN cabled, and after a few minutes i got the Activated by Digital License.

 

Got it, indeed I want to boot on SSD and store data only on HDD. I just don't understand why I should first clean install/upgrade W10 on that HDD to get the HWID, then connect the SSD and re-fresh install W10 on it.
Isn't it the same to skip installation of W10 to the HDD to directly fresh install on the SSD (having the GenuineTicket from the W7 HDD that will be copied to required folder)?

 

@mxman2k Okay, I just saw your last message. This answers "Yes" to my above question and it's all good
Many thanks for all your time!
How can I help you now? ;-)

 

Ive done the upgrade many times and its sort of just automatic and i have to think of the steps lol.

All being well you will have a Digital License saves paying out for a key!

Note: Sometimes the Windows 10 activation may take place within a few seconds or it can take a while , it depends on how busy the activation servers are at the time.

 

yes, if you have the HDD still connected it might confuse things. so i always make sure only the drive i want w10 on is present to do the install. Saves hassle later!

Then once Win10 sorted and activated i then put the other HDD in and wipe that ready for storage use.

Set CSM to enabled yes. This tells the bios to not use UEFI mode.
Set Secure Boot to Other OS, it may automatically do that when you change the CSM bit, but make sure it set to Other OS.

The other parts set to Legacy can be done if you wish to make sure it going to use MBR mode.

Remember to change them back after your win 7 part been done, if you wish to use UEFI mode.

*edit* not sure what went wrong there, something went wappy and this post was posted out of sequence!

 

@mxman2k Hey man!

Sorry to come back to this, but I was also thinking: because HWID might be also based on HDDs, why not letting connected both SSD and HDD with W7 (installing and booting on HDD, then before activating making sure all drivers are setup properly)?
Instead of doing HDD only W7 and SSD only W10 then back SSD+HDD for storage on W10?

Hope I'm not bothering you too much with that, but getting to the point of doing it, so just double checking

Thanks!

 

HWID's are not based on HDD's, even CPU's/RAM changes not bother it. The main board does.

 

In 2015 I did establish all 4 HWID's per system on a separate HDD with all others disconnected, changed the hdd's of my test system many times, never lost the HWID activation.

 

@mxman2k @Enthousiast Thanks for your replies, very kind to take time to answer!

 

New
@mxman2k Thanks for writing the posts above. I did this sequence today on an older laptop and it did not activate Win10 within a couple of minutes so I rebooted again and it indeed activated. I will wait a little longer next time. Certainly saves time over upgrading to Win10. Excellent sequence, glad I found this thread.

 

@MissWiggly , if the process to obtain the Digital License is done correctly it then all depends on how busy the M$ activation servers are, sometimes it can be instant, a few minutes, or in one of my cases a couple of days!

 

I've tried this method, and did it with out any problems.
Thanks for this, I might call this as a trick.

 

Well, unless you have a dedicated NIC and the onboard one disabled...

 

There are mentions that:


1.1 Install all necessary drivers before the next step otherwise your hardware id may not match the Windows 10 hardware id.

and the next step doesn't tell me that i should install drivers for new Windows 10 clean installation.

My problem is also where there is different installation for Nvidia device driver (or any other graphics drivers) for Windows 7/8/8.1 and Windows 10...

Since this activation logically require the exact same HWID...

Didn't try this yet but i might try come 2020 (or as soon as i got a Kabylake/RYZEN CPU or more latest models)... And then there's a possibility if i switch around hardwares in the future...

 

The most important driver would be the LAN one. More so the onboard one (if present) as i believe the HWID is heavily based upon that device.

You can change cpu/ram/graphics card/HDD/CD\DVD drives and it not affect the activation. A change of motherboard or LAN (possibly the MAC address it uses) then activation may be lost.

 

Clear enough, and LAN driver is usually one with the motherboard itself on almost all laptop and PCs i use... Dunno about the external ones (such as USB wi-fi on a desktop PC without wi-fi receiver) though...