Reinstalling Windows 10 on a DBAN HDD involves clearing the drive and restoring the operating system.
Reinstalling Windows 10 on a DBAN HDD involves clearing the drive and restoring the operating system.
You're facing a tough situation with your PC. It seems you're trying to recover your Windows 7 product key and access your login screen, but things are getting stuck. You mentioned you don't have the upgrade key anymore and can't find it on your system. Your plan to use a Windows 7 ISO for installation is a good one—it could help restore the key and get you back to Windows 10. Since you're dealing with a large 2TB HDD, the DBAN process will take time, but it's worth trying. Let me know if you need more guidance on the steps involved.
Are these details accurate? You have Windows 10 installed and activated, but you're having trouble accessing the login screen. You're considering using DBAN to erase your drive and install a Windows 7 copy to upgrade later, and you're looking for the Windows 10 key.
I noticed the partition during installation of 7. Just reinstall an older backup when that worked well.
There are some concerns with your current approach. Using DBAN will permanently erase all data, including the Windows 10 OS and serial key, making recovery impossible. The Free Upgrade to Windows 10 is no longer available, so you can't upgrade from Windows 7 without buying an upgrade package from Microsoft. Even after replacing both a Windows 7 and Windows 10 key with a new serial, the original data remains inaccessible. Consider these alternatives: A) Check if your device is a pre-built system or laptop—look for an activation sticker indicating Win10 serial. B) Try booting into safe mode via the troubleshooter at https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help...-safe-mode. From there, you can attempt key recovery or perform a system reset.
I didn’t do anything because I’m not sure how to fix it. The only option was a factory reset, but it wasn’t allowed.
The device includes a Windows 7 license. I purchased a Windows 10 installation last summer due to issues with my hard drive. It’s a ready-made setup, and I’m unable to access safe mode for an unknown reason.
No, I haven't attempted any of those steps yet. I'm here to help you with the troubleshooting process.
I received the message that resetting your PC caused no changes and diagnostics also failed. Running a test didn’t help. I considered using SeaTools on a CDRW drive to check if it was my HDD, but everything kept failing. Windows 10 functioned normally until a game stopped working, prompting me to think about a factory reset despite the issues.