When upgrading, make sure that you first upgrade your laptop before then installing Win 10 from scratch – the way the licensing for the free upgrade works means that it is tied to your hardware (you can move it by phoning ms) – which means that you do not have a win 10 product key.
The steps are as follows:
1) Make sure that you have a full backup of everything (and I do mean everything – It’s worth creating a disc image for this purpose as it will be a lot quicker and you can get files out of it if you need to)
2) Download the Win 10 Upgrade Tool (Don’t bother waiting until Microsoft give you the option.. You can download it straight from them online)
3) Use it to create a Win 10 ISO (Disc Image) – make sure that it matches your current system – IE Home or Pro, 32 bit or 64 bit.
4) Burn the ISO to a DVD
5) Run the upgrade tool again, but this time choose “Upgrade my pc”. Click through, it doesn’t matter what you keep and what you don’t as it will all be overwritten shortly.
6) Restart your laptop, this time using the DVD drive to boot.
7) Use the installer to “Format” each of the partitions on your laptop – avoid any which are called “Recovery” though.
8) Install windows 10. Each time it asks you for a product key, click “Skip” (or equivalent). It will license itself automatically.
9) Install all your programs etc.
10) Done.
Note – If you are unsure about any step, please make sure that you get someone who knows what they are doing to have a look at it first… Or help guide you through it.. It is quite a complex process and one which can go wrong – and if it does then you will be left with an awful lot of stuff to do getting your PC working again..
I am currently running Win 10 on my laptop – I haven’t crashed it yet (although I know some people who have) and all my software and drivers for all my kit work fine.. Not everything will though..
bob6397
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