How to Install Windows 10 on a New Hard Drive (in 20 easy steps)
**Please read all of the steps before deciding if this solution is right for you.
Congrats! You made the decision to install of Windows 10 on an upgraded OS hard drive! If you got your computer years ago (before SSD was popular) then it’s a great opportunity to upgrade to a SSD hard drive while creating a fresh install of Windows 10. Besides, you may have upgraded a Windows 7 computer to Windows 8, and then to Windows 8.1, and now Windows 10 - that’s just messy! Sometimes it’s nice to have a clean install!
Here’s what you do:
#1: Have Windows 7, 8, or 8.1
First, check your OS and make sure you have one of Microsoft’s more recent operating systems.
#2: Reserve your copy of Windows 10
This might seem like a random waiting game, but it’s not - at least that’s what Microsoft tells us. Why do we have to wait? Probably so Microsoft can evaluate complaints as they come in, since they know they’ll only get one first impression with Windows 10.
#3: Download and install
Your system will restart several times, but the upgrade should go pretty easily.
#4: Create a recovery flash drive
Windows provides instructions on how to do this here, so I’ll gloss over it now. There are also these instructions <- that’s what I did.
#5: Plug in and boot up
Plug your new SSD hard drive into your computer, and also insert the flash drive into a USB port. Boot up off of the USB drive, and install the OS on your new SSD.
Check to see if Windows 10 is activated. It won’t be.
#6: Answer Tech support call #1
You might get lucky and this might be it - if so, congrats! However, in all likelihood you will have a watermark in the bottom-right corner of your screen that says “Activate Windows”, and when you try to enter the authentication key from your previous version of windows, you’ll get “Errorcode: 0xc004e016″.
You’ll likely be on hold for about 2 hours - it doesn’t really matter if you do the “Answer Tech” chat or the phone call. At this point, you should have spent between 3-6 hours on the upgrade. Congrats on making it this far!
After you wait for 1-2 hours, the Answer Tech won’t help you. They’ll do one of the following:
Suggest that you wait and hope the authentication just takes care of itself
Suggest that you download your old operating system, then upgrade it again all the way through Windows 10, or give up on the new hard drive
Offer to take a ransom fee of $200 (or more) in exchange for a new Windows 10 key that will activate your inactive version of windows
In this case, I recommend waiting two days to see if the authentication takes care of itself, but it won’t.
#7: Answer Tech support call #2
After some careful thought, you realize “why can’t you just use your genuine Windows 8 key (for example) to prove that you purchased the OS before, and you’re just trying to upgrade to a new SSD hard drive?” You think “I even have my Windows 8 receipts - maybe the’ll just give me a complimentary Windows 10 key if I can prove that I’m a valid customer just trying to do an upgrade.”
After waiting for another 1-2 hours, and after explaining the situation to the “Answer Tech” again, you’ll be told the same thing as before.
You were told to wait for a few days, so you’ve got everything set up on your old computer running Windows 10 on a new fast SSD. You won’t like the idea of having to download Windows 8, installing Windows 8, requesting an upgrade for Windows 10, and then installing Windows 10 all on your new SSD just so that you can get the free upgrade.
You’ll consider paying the $200 ransom, but at this point you are too mad at Microsoft so you don’t want to give them any more money for the rest of your life, and you decide to call again - maybe you’ll get a better Answer Tech.
In this call, try to get a phone number to Windows directly. Or, whatever. I’ll just give it to you - (866) 425-8809.
#8: Answer Tech / Windows support call #3 & #4
This is an important step. Because you know that the odds of you getting any meaningful solutions from Microsoft are slim, you decide to double your odds. Sign up with the Answer Tech chat service, and call Windows at the same time. It may feel as if they are being intentionally irritating because they’ll probably both be ready for you at the exact same time which means you’ll have to multitask.
In both the chat and the call, you’ll really need to beg. This is after, of course, you’ve been on hold for another 1-2 hours - but that’s okay because this time you are multitasking!
Try to make the following points to the agents:
It’s important to focus on the customer experience, because in this social media world, the customers have lots of sway in the success or failure of products. Failure to focus on the experience will continue to result in record losses for Microsoft.
I’ve been wrestling with this situation for probably 8-10 hours at this point. Please, for the love of God I am a good customer - I had a legitimate Windows 7 OS, I PAID for a Windows 8 upgrade, and you are promising Windows 10 to us for free - please just give me the Windows 10 key!
Has Microsoft considered just letting us use Windows 7 or Windows 8 keys in Windows 10 if we have genuine keys?
Have you read “What Would Google Do?”
Does Microsoft realize that they could just provide me a complimentary Windows 10 key (virtually no loss to the company) and keep me as a customer? Otherwise I’ll just switch to Apple products and Microsoft will miss out on FAR more than $200 from me over the rest of my lifetime?
None of this will work though. Both calls will fail.
#9: Choose from one of the crappy solutions and be angry
Waiting didn’t work, and you still won’t want to give Microsoft another cent, so you won’t be paying the ransom.
Looks like you’ll have to re-install Windows 8 and go through all of the hassle.
Go to Windows website and try to download Windows 8 so you can create a Windows 8 flash drive and boot from that so that you can install Windows 8 so that you can upgrade to Windows 10.
Actually you’ll get this:
Also, the screen-grab feature won’t work so you’ll have to take a crappy picture with your cellphone.
#10: Go for a walk
At this point you’ve contemplated suicide and alcoholism. Those are two really bad things, so it’s better to just go for a walk (or start drinking, whatever).
#11: Adopt the “always on hold” rule
At this point you realize that you might as well call Answer Techs or Windows support and be in a state of permanent hold, because even if you don’t have problems or clearly articulated concerns yet, you will by the time you eventually get off hold.
#12: Get creative
Okay, you tried waiting and that didn’t work. You tried creating a Windows 8 thumb drive and that also didn’t work. It’s too bad you are such a good person - someone who pirates software wouldn’t be in this situation right now.
Okay... okay... think... you’ll decide to try to boot up the old hard drive (the one that was originally Windows 7 then Windows 8 then Windows 8.1) to see if there are any clues... maybe you’ll make a new flash drive and try again.
#13: Get angry (even more angry)
Just kidding! Your start button doesn’t work on that hard drive anymore, so you can’t do anything! Why not? F@%& you - that’s why.
Okay... so waiting won’t work, installing Windows 8 and playing “OS installation dominoes” also won’t work, and your old hard drive’s OS doesn’t work. Here’s the silver lining - Windows 10 is working GREAT off of your new SSD hard drive - if it just wasn’t for that pesky activation issue that will eventually start restarting your computer every few hours.
#14: Tech support call #5
Hopefully you paid close attention to step #9 (the “always on hold” rule). If you did, you may only have 1 hour left to be on hold - but probably not!
You are waiting and waiting for someone to answer - you think “this is the exact same number I called before right? Why did the previous waiting music break for ads for Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge, but this has just been a solid block of music for an hour?”
You realize you MUST be on the phone with Microsoft because nobody else would leave you on hold for this long.
#15: Write a blog while you wait
Might as well do something productive right? Maybe you can share your experience with others so that they can benefit from the lessons you are learning.
#16: Get hung up on
After being on hold for almost two hours (again)...
...the support staff will go over the exact same things that all of the other reps went through even though you tell them that you already tried all that. They will be mildly sensitive to all of your time that Microsoft has wasted, and admit that they can just issue you a Windows 10 key since they can see that you have valid/genuine Windows 8 licenses.
(audio clip coming soon)
After admitting that they can give you a Windows 10 key (about 22 minutes into the call with them), they’ll remote into your computer and ask questions for 40 minutes. They’ll also laugh (perhaps at you) with their colleagues but you won’t be able to tell because they’ll be talking in their native language (which is really quite cool sounding). You think “I could be learning another language right now on Rosetta Stone if my computer worked.”
Then they’ll just hang up on you. Even though they have your phone number (because the ask for it straight away) they won’t call you back - they never do.
#17: Make an appointment at the Microsoft Store
The Microsoft Store’s website says:
Get Windows 10. Visit a Microsoft store near you for FREE upgrade services. Come into our store with your device and we’ll help you get to Windows 10. Our Answer Desk will evaluate your device, make sure you have everything you need for an amazing experience, and take you through all of the new features of Windows 10.
Great - they will help me get it to Windows 10, and they’ll make sure I have an amazing experience! Well, I’ll tell you - IT’S BEEN FREAKING AMAZING SO FAR!
Great - let’s make an appointment. NOPE! The website says there is no store near you even though you have been there before. In fact, if you type the exact city that the store is in, it still says this:
#18: Crash the Microsoft Store
No problem - just carry your enormous CPU through the entire mall and into the Microsoft Store, all because they have not given you a new Windows 10 key. You might not have an appointment, but at least they can’t hang up on you in person.
Here, they’ll tell you that you CAN NEVER UPGRADE YOUR SYSTEM AGAIN without having to pay for a new version of Windows 10, then tease you for not reading the entire ‘terms and conditions’ agreement before attempting to upgrade to Windows 10. This means you CAN’T ACTUALLY UPGRADE YOUR SYSTEM’S OS HARD DRIVE LIKE YOU WANTED TO.
Ask the Microsoft rep why this didn’t come up at some point in the last 20 hours of customer service calls - they’ll say “actually I found about it by accident.”
Your dreams of having a fast SSD running windows 10 are crushed, so you just ask if they can just install windows 8.1 on the SSD for you. They say “yes, for a fee.” Naturally you can’t do this because you already promised yourself that you wouldn’t give Microsoft another cent for your entire life.
Ask them what they can do for free. They say “We can put Windows 8 back on your old hard drive - we’ll just need your computer for 10 days, and we’ll need your Microsoft password which will be stored in our CRM system.
Smoke will start to come out of your ears. They will say “okay, we’ll put a rush on it - we’ll only need your computer for 5 days.”
Leave the store and immediately change your Microsoft password.
#19: Cut your losses
Walk from the Microsoft store to the Apple store and buy a functioning computer there. Then, just sell ALL of your Microsoft devices on Craigslist or eBay and buy Apple products for the rest of your life.
While in the Apple store, you’ll notice that it’s much more crowded than the Microsoft store was!
#20: Watch the aftermath, and know you made the right decision
When you go to pick up your old PC machine, the Microsoft will have lost your power cord. If you are able to convince them that you dropped it off (even though the person checking in the computer didn’t mark it down) then they MIGHT give you a replacement at no extra charge.
3 days after you think everything is over, you’ll get your confirmation emails from the Microsoft store that your appointments have been made. The confirmation for the appointment that you made to get Windows 10 help will arrive on the same day as the confirmation for the appointment you had to make to pick your computer up.
This will make you laugh and roll your eyes.
Congrats - you are done!
