Which Windows have I got?

[PrincessB]

Quick version;

My SSD tied itself in a knot a while ago and now refuses to boot Windows 10. It also refuses to consider anything else apart from a full reinstall with loss of data.

The drive itself seems fine and had no complaints about being cloned, all data is intact.

I'd rather not spend any more time on trying to work out why Windows so unable to repair or even put a fresh version over the old one and leave the files in place and I'd much rather just do a fresh install.

What I don't know is which version of Windows 10 I have registered to the motherboard and I can't boot it to ask.

Does anyone know any quick way to find this out by probing a working drive that can be plugged in?

Fun bit;

I have no idea of the back history of a retail copy of Windows 95 which was upgraded (with the cheaper upgrade discs) over and over again until the Windows 10 free upgrade turned up.

Rooting through my desk has turned up the boxes and disks that in some sort of order include:

A Windows 95 upgrade
Windows XP Home
Windows ME
Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows 8 Pro

I hope you can see why I'm confused.

Regards,

B.

[didds]

did the system come with win 10 or eg win8 or 7 and then got upgraded?

If 8 or 7 etc could you not install the one it came with (various caveats on that too of course) and then permit it to upgrade - or live with whatever you now have if it wont do that any longer?

didds

[bungeejumper]

This isn't normally my sort of subject, but isn't there any way you can hook the SSD into another computer so as to get at the data? There are scanning apps that claim to do this, but that's well beyond my ken.

BJ

[Infrasonic]

If you upgraded from W8 Pro then you'd have had W10 Pro as the free upgrade previously.

You can clean install W10, choose Pro and just ignore the license key entry boxes -- it should all be stored on the MS activation servers and will sort itself out (if on the same motherboard).

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ins ... 3181625b08

[mc2fool]

My SSD tied itself in a knot a while ago and now refuses to boot Windows 10. It also refuses to consider anything else apart from a full reinstall with loss of data.

The drive itself seems fine and had no complaints about being cloned, all data is intact.

Will it boot OK from the clone?

[ReformedCharacter]

According to this:

https://www.askvg.com/how-to-check-whic ... -computer/

you can find the information from this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

from a working PC with your SSD attached, see:

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how- ... dary-drive

HTH

RC

[Breelander]

My SSD tied itself in a knot a while ago and now refuses to boot Windows 10. It also refuses to consider anything else apart from a full reinstall with loss of data.

The drive itself seems fine and had no complaints about being cloned, all data is intact.

I'd rather not spend any more time on trying to work out why Windows so unable to repair or even put a fresh version over the old one and leave the files in place and I'd much rather just do a fresh install.

What I don't know is which version of Windows 10 I have registered to the motherboard and I can't boot it to ask.

Your PC has a digital licence for Windows 10 stored on Microsoft's activation servers and linked to the unique hardware ID of the PC. This digital licence allows you to do a clean install of Windows 10 without entering a key, and it will activate from the existing digital licence as soon as it can contact the activation servers.

The ONLY thing you need to know about its deceased copy of Windows 10 is: was it Home or Pro? The digital licence is only valid for one edition, you have to install the same edition as you had before for it to activate.

If in doubt - install Home. I have seen it stated that a Pro digital licence may allow Home to activate (as a sort of downgrade permission). Then try changing the installed key to the generic Pro key VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T

If the digital licence is for Pro, then it will let you upgrade from Home to Pro. The reason to start with Home is that it can be upgraded to Pro, but Pro cannot be downgraded to Home.

[elkay]

If you have a Microsoft account, the simplest way would be to log into your account on any device. All devices with your Microsoft account as login will be listed, and you can go in to details to find the edition (Home, Pro) of Windows installed, and the version (e.g. 1909, 2004).