Hello I have purchased new UEFI motherboard "MSI B250M Pro-VD" and will need to install Windows 10. I do have older HDD with many partitions, planing to reformat first one for Windows 10 while keep data on others. It was old HDD from BIOS/MBR computer that already had Windows 10 OEM there, working and activated for that motherboard. But now I read that for UEFI motherboard I will have to use GPT instead of MBR and also that Daz Loader won't work in such case. Will I need to reformat whole HDD to switch from MBR to GPT or just appropriate partition? If I chose to stick with Legacy BIOS mode and MBR will I still be able to use UEFI to control my motherboard settings? Second question is, how should I install and activate Windows 10? Previously I had Windows 7 Pro activated, used my Windows 7 Pro generic OEM key and just updated to Windows 10 Pro. After updating system was activated as Windows 10 Pro and I have actually formatted it and reinstalled brand new Windows 10 Pro which was already activated earlier. I did it because I've been told it's better and safer to do it this way. Not even sure if I needed Daz Loader or GenuineTicket.xml, or anything of this kind. Thanks
When a MBR hdd is used on UEFI non CSM mobos', windows setup needs the whole system drive to be repartitioned (or manually converted to GPT by using diskpart) and extra hdd's disconnected if they are MBR too. But most mobo's still have the CSM or Legacy BIOS option, so i would go for that option and install win 10 in BIOS/MBR mode. Once a HWID is established on the hardware it is valid for the lifetime of the hardware, now you have a new mobo it needs to be re-established or transferred by using the MSA if you had the old HWID linked to it.
Well, that older key was probably OEM. Anyway older motherboard is dead but I got access to HDD. Is there anything I can do?
1. The key you used might be OEM COA/System Builder/NONSLP, but for digital entitlement Windows uses the placeholder key whereas the actual hardware hash is preserved in activation server. 2. It would be better to plug the old HDD in, enable legacy/CSM module in your firmware & boot from the HDD. The activation should be botched, but to get another entitlement, you can do another qualified older Windows installation on a VHD/separate partition & get that from it. Afterwards you can convert the HDD from MBR to GPT on the fly, disable legacy booting completely & use the initial installation.
What do you mean by "qualified older installation"? And as my motherboard and hardware will be compltely different I hardly find any ability to be able to boot from HDD. While I have been updating to Windows 10 Pro from Windows 7 Pro using Windows 7 Pro key that got positively activated and entitled by Windows 10 Pro, I am now going to use Intel Kaby Lake series CPU and apprently that does not support Windows 7 anymore.
@hemlatuyda 1. Windows 10 is mature enough to handle complete new mobo+processor & usually boot successfully. 2. Qualified older installation => activated Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1.
@hemlatuyda @Enthousiast Installing Windows 7 on any newer chipset is kinda problematic as it lacks of newer chipset & USB related drivers which can be solved in multiple ways (which is true for any older OS on newer platforms). On the other hand, there is an artificial blacklisting by MS to block Windows Update which is completely uncorrelated with the situation we're currently dealing with. Unfortunately the media & tech news sites often choose click-bait headings for their articles so that the actual situation is getting worse for normal people.
I am just trying to get the HWID re-established (if the previous one is linked to a MSA it would be easily fixed). Unfortunately i don't have current hardware to test myself
Anyhow from what I heared you can still update Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro without issues? Microsoft was saying that Jul 29 2016 is final date, but servers are still working?
It's not the image size that limits EUFI bootable stick but the largest file inside the image (install.wim) that has to fit on FAT32, it must be < 4GB. But Rufus should be able to do it with > 4GB too,
So technically I could try running my older Windows 10 from old HDD on new machine, set a VHD(like with Oracle Virtual Box) on that old machine while running that botched Windows 10, install clean Windows 7 copy on VHD using my OEM Keys, upgrade this VHD Windows 7 to Windows 10 using Microsoft Media Creation Tool(or Windows Update if that works) and then validate this updated VHD Windows 10. Then format whole drive into GPT with both validated VHD Windows 10 and not-validated HDD Windows 10 from older machine that I used to boot before and finally install clan Windows 10 UEFI GPT copy from Rufus-made USB stick? This VHD Windows 10 activation will get my brand new motherboard to be HWID by Microsoft? And what if I would use different key for VHD Windows 7?
One more question, if I will do it, i.e. connect my HDD with old activated Windows 10 to new motherboard and use it to boot old Windows 10 installation for other motherboard, will I be able to use it to install Windows 7 with different key than previously?
May I know what is the difference between Windows 10 Pro normal and COEM ISO's, both available on Microsoft servers?
The difference is the COEM contains an ei.cfg setting the OEM channel (probably only for EULA purposes). The normal 10 iso's are OEMRET.