W10 Screen

[JAS21]

17 minutes ago, kekalot said:

if what i said above about accounts don't make sense, look in Settings under Accounts and it should be under "your info"

if there is an email address under your username/name then that is what you need to login with when requested and it will automatically activate

 

don't use the "keep my files" option if you are 100% sure that you backed up all your stuff somewhere else and then it will act as a brand new w10 installation

i'd suggest going on ninite.com (before better - after fine.) and then getting all your software from there.

 

I suggest at least:

 

Classic Start, WinDirStat under Utilities

Everything under Others

Notepad++ under Developer Tools

 

it downloads an exe file that will install all the selected apps and if you ever want to run for updates you can keep it and run it in a few weeks etc.

these are the things I always install:

 

My e-mail address is not shown ..I do know what my MS Account password is though

[kekalot]

3 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

My e-mail address is not shown ..I do know what my MS Account password is though

maybe under email and accounts? (just under your info)

mine shows my Microsoft account and says manage

if I click manage I get logged in automatically and can see devices (under this)

 

 

if you click on devices it will ask you to login and then you should see all your computers.

I would think as long as you can login and see the devices it should be fine to Reset

[Bruno123]

2 hours ago, JAS21 said:

Ram Drive Q ....

I'll look at that W10 forum ...but the problem existed under W7, it just started one day ...previous day it was OK

What about activation

There are some cross purposes going on here.

 

kekalot is talking about resetting the installation on your current hard drive, whereas I, about installing cleanly to a new SSD.

 

Once you have installed Windows 10, your hardware will be recognised the next time you install it, even to a new SSD. It will auto-activate.

 

kekalot has also possibly assumed that you use a Microsoft account to login. That is because some people assume that you have no choice to do so when installing Windows 10. By you can bypass that option and choose to sign in with a local account.

 

Many people, including myself, use a local account to login, as we don't want Microsoft tracking our every move.

 

Clean installing Windows 10 to an SSD leaves you the option of leaving your HDD connected  as a storage drive and booting from it if necessary.

 

I should be here to guide you through the process of purchase and installation, if need be. If I'm not travelling.

 

[JAS21]

Thank you to everybody for help and suggestions, especially Bruno for his PMs … did clean install...and it is activated as before. And with the SSD it's so  much quicker