Ugh...trying To Fix A Stale Issue

A LONG time ago I posted on here about losing my hard drive on my Dell XPS. I was given lots of help and thank you very much.

So I was able to boot up the failed hard drive with a USB to IDE/SATA Adapter and recover my day to day files and save them to an external hard drive. But I am *assuming* that my OS Win 10 was in the damaged sectors because I could not enter or transfer any Program Files (x86) , $Windows BT, and a few $SYSRESET files plus a few Program files.

In the meantime life got busy, I started a new job and they gave me a computer to use, so my XPS has been gathering dust. Yeah...I know...my bad

Here is where I am currently at:
Using my laptop running Win 7 32-bit system and I have a 14 GB USB drive clean and ready to use. I *think* my XPS was running 64-bit. The XPS core i7 came with Win 8 installed and I did a Win 10 over install right out of the box. Like all Dell computers it came with no OS disc and very little printed info.

Can I go to Microsoft's web site, download a copy of Win 10 64-bit to my USB drive, then hook up my clean new hard drive to my USB to IDE/SATA Adapter and copy Win 10 from the USB drive over to the new hard drive? Then reinstall the hard drive and fire up? I can move my other files any old time.

I have this irrational fear that Microsoft will attempt to overwrite my laptops Win 7 OS instead of downloading to the USB drive.....lol

And then comes the issue of $$$. Do I have to pay up front for the Win 10 OS or will my licence from my XPS be enough?

I think I might be getting too old for this....lol

 

First off you need to install your new hard drive in the Dell. Then, with your Win 7 machine, download the Media Creation Tool and follow the method for creating installation media for another computer. You can choose to create a DVD or a USB flash drive, but flash is the quickest and easiest and you already have a suitable blank drive I believe. On completion you can then try to boot the Dell from the flash drive. If you are asked to provide a Win 10 licence number at any point just say you don't have it. This should be ok because you have previously had Win 10 on the Dell and that will have given you a valid licence which the server will recognise automatically.

Once Win 10 is up and running you will need to acquire installation media or files for the other software you want. You cannot cobble together a working system by copying program files off of another disk, it doesn't work that way.

The only problem I foresee is which version of Win 10 to install, as it has to be the same as was previously installed - Home or Pro and 32 or 64 bit. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the help Earthling. I am *almost* certain that it was a Win Home 64-bit system so that is what I will try.

 

Okay, right up front I'm an idiot...or at least I feel like one. I followed Earthings link to Media Creation Tool. Followed the options to create installation for another computer. Hit the Download icon and sure enough it all downloaded. But then up pops a window asking "Do you wish to allow this program to make changes to your computer?". I automatically reach for "Yes" then stop. To put it simply I don't trust Win 10. Is it going to try and change the OS on my laptop from Win 7 to Win 10? Up to this point I have seen no option to "Save As" or to direct the download to my installed flash drive.
So I chickened out and hit "No" with the expected result. Download stopped.

Am I missing something or do I need to readjust my tin foil hat??

 

Sounds like your browser (IE?) has offered you a Run or Save choice and you clicked on Run. You need to save the file first and then continue to follow the MS instructions. But check whether you have already saved the file in your default Downloads folder MediaCreationTool1809.exe

 

"SIGH"....the only thing wrong is the *firmware" operating the keyboard. The first 7 words of my previous post are accurate. If I only read and PROCESSED in my head what was written I would be fine. Win 10 is downloaded to my USB drive and ready to move over.
I'm a little shaky about the driver situation once booted up in the PC but thought I would *drive the bus* first and see what happens.
No IE...Chrome.
Thanks for taking the time to *babysit* me btw.

 

Okay, Win 10 is downloaded and operating on my PC. The step by step was useful and functional. I have never seen a "naked" installation of an OS before and it looks odd without all the sundry programs usually downloaded. Now I can start moving things over from my removable hard drive backup and loading some of my programs off the net such as Chrome.
Thanks again for all your help. Much appreciated.

 

Hope you like it. It isn't universally popular but it's been good on three machines here, even on a 10+ year old Medion. When I occasionally fire up my Win 7 VM it seems a bit old hat now, solid as it is.

 

I am used to Win 10. Like you said, it has a few issues and is not liked by some people but I have found that, with a few tweaks, it has been good for me. I found that I had to change to Classic Shell because the Win8 / Win10 start page gave me diabetes. I am using my PC right now so everything seems to be functioning. Now starts the long process of re-loading everything. I cannot remember which version of MS Office that I had on this PC before so I will attempt to move Office 13 from my laptop and see what happens. If that doesn't work I will load a free compatible clone from Major Geeks.
I know that I have said it before but I remain thankful. You guys ROCK !