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Question

Valid License on a Dead Hard Drive...

Apr 23, 2018 6:50AM PDT

I have a valid license for Win10 Pro that came with my refurbished laptop (MS certified). However, the laptop didn't come with any install media. My hard drive is DOA and I need to reinstall. How in the world do I go about doing this? I can't seem to find anything on the MS site except the MediaCreation tool.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Here's my steps.
Apr 23, 2018 7:31AM PDT

1. Google -> Microsoft Media Creation Kit.
Select the 64 bit (most likely)
2. Run the app from Microsoft and supply a suitable USB stick when asked.

I see you found this but maybe thought there were other ways.

Installing Windows is pretty much covered on thousands of web pages along with the work we do after so I'll pause here.

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PS. About the License.
Apr 23, 2018 7:42AM PDT

W10 uses Digital Entitlement. Once installed and activated, your PC is in Microsoft's database so I've never had to find the license when I reinstall.

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Answer
Re: license
Apr 23, 2018 7:36AM PDT

The license is not on your computer. It's in Microsofts database. And running the install from the USB stick to a new hard disk finds it there.

Didn't you use Belarc Advisor (free) to make a print (a file really, that can be backed up) of all license codes it can find?

And didn't you make a recovery drive to repair and reinstall Windows? The nice thing of a recovery drive is that it already has all the drivers installed that you might have to find on the net yourself.

To summarize the basic preparation for any Windows owner to be prepared for hard disk failures and other serious troubles.
1. After the first installation and after each half-yearly big upgrade make a recovery drive.
2. Save the install program and the license keys of all programs you install to your backup (see #4 below), so you can easily reinstall them.
3. Make a regular image backup. The best configuration for any PC is to have a 256 GB SSD for Windows and programs, and a 1 TB HDD for data. Then you only have to make an image backup of that SSD. For a laptop with one disk, you can split it in 2 partitions, one for Windows, one for your data.
4. Make a regular (file based) backup of all your own data, preferably incrementally (that is, only the changes, while keeping what's not changed).

Post was last edited on April 23, 2018 7:44 AM PDT