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I have a Lenovo ThinkPad X1C 5th Gen with Windows 7 Professional 64 preinstalled through downgrade rights in Windows 10 Pro. I am going to replace the SSD and would like to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 on the same occasion. How do I do that efficiently?

I have retrieved and saved the Windows Product Key with Nirsoft ProduKey. After replacing the SSD, can I just download Windows 10 Pro installation files on a USB stick and boot from it? Would the product key recovered from the original Windows 7 installation work?

Or should I replace the SSD and install Windows 7 first and only then try upgrading to Windows 10?

P.S. Regarding a suggestion to clone the original SSD to the new one, I cannot do that as the only way I can access the new SSD is by putting it in the same slot where the old one is, and that is the only disk on the laptop, so my room for maneuvers is a little limited. I have an external HDD, but that does not help in this situation.

Richard Hardy
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  • You should have included that in your question, I had to read an extremely long commentary chain, to determine that myself. – Ramhound May 04 '18 at 15:04
  • @Ramhound, thank you, I will correct that. The information is actually included in the first sentence, but now I see it was not clear enough. – Richard Hardy May 04 '18 at 15:45

2 Answers2

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Theoretically swapping out to the SSD, installing Windows 10 and using your Windows 7 licence key should work just fine. I've never had a problem with either Nirsoft ProduKey or Magical Jelly Bean KeyFinder in getting the Windows 7 licence key.

You should consider putting a backup of your drivers on to the USB stick so you can quickly get any unrecognised devices up and running again. There is nothing worse than having a clean install of Windows 10 and no internet connectivity. You may even need the drivers if the installer can't see your hard drive.

If it doesn't work then I'd swap back to your original drive, boot, do an upgrade to Windows 10, make sure it's activated correctly (which will get your hardware configuration registered against a Windows 10 licence) and then swap back to the SSD and try again.

If you change too much hardware then registration will fail but I've never had the replacement of a hard drive trigger it, usually it's been the motherboard.

Richard
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  • Thanks for your answer! Update: Nirsoft worked just fine. Good tip regarding the drivers! I had quite a headache when I was replacing the SSD on X1C 4th Gen last year. The Windows 7 instalation USB did not include drivers for a USB3 port, and the laptop did not have any USB2 ports. What I ultimately did was install Linux first (this was the easiest option to get USB3 ports running) and only then installing Windows. Coming up with this took me a while since the laptop was blind, deaf and mute without the drivers (internet not working, USB not working, no other means to communicate with it). – Richard Hardy May 02 '18 at 19:04
  • But actually, I am not sure how useful having a backup of drivers on a USB stick will be if, say, the USB ports do not work (as was the case last time). I might need to use the Linux solution once again or some other workaround (not aware of any as of today, though), don't you think so? – Richard Hardy May 02 '18 at 19:09
  • @RichardHardy Have to admit, I've not normally had a problem with USB! Since you'll have internet access, how about putting the drivers online somewhere? Say Dropbox or OneDrive? – Richard May 02 '18 at 19:14
  • @RichardHardy Seems odd that the Windows installer would happily boot and run off a USB port but, post installation, couldn't recognise it without a driver installed. – Richard May 02 '18 at 19:19
  • No, I could not install Windows from the bootable USB precisely because there were no USB drivers. There was no internet access at that point, all I had was BIOS (I don't know if I can go and surf the internet having only BIOS working but no OS). So I had to install Linux first since somehow it had drivers for USB3 in the installation stick and only then were able to install Windows. The puzzle for me is how is it possible to have USB3 drivers on a USB stick and use them, given that the USB3 is inoperable due to lack of drivers. Sounds like Baron Munchausen lifting himself by the bootstraps... – Richard Hardy May 02 '18 at 19:28
  • But I found this in several forums, I mean the fact that Windows 7 bootable USB does not include USB3 drivers and is therefore unusable unless you have a USB2 port. Of course, most of the laptops used to have those when Windows 7 was at its peak, but the new laptops do not have them anymore, so one can get stuck then. As I said, it took me a while to figure out what to do with a blind, deaf and mute laptop. – Richard Hardy May 02 '18 at 19:31
  • Using product key recovery tools is useless if it is an oem SLP activated installation. Legitimate copies of Windows 7 OEM or Retail have a COA with a product key on it. That is where the OP should get the key from. – Appleoddity May 02 '18 at 23:47
  • @Appleoddity, oh, that's unsettling. Where do I get this COA? I have thrown out the box the laptop came in and most of what was in it. Was the COA supposed to be there on a piece of paper or something? On the other hand, can it be that the relevant product key is stored in the BIOS/UEFI and I will not need it during the installation? – Richard Hardy May 03 '18 at 06:30
  • @RichardHardy if it is a modern laptop designed for Windows 10, then yes, the key will be in the firmware and Windows 10 will not prompt you for it during setup. Everything activates automatically. Alternatively, if Windows 7 came installed on the laptop, there should’ve been a COA sticker attached to the laptop with a key, possibly under the battery. Or, it should’ve been provided in the included material in the box. You can check the key you recovered by simply googling it. If it is found on the internet, you know it’s a generic key that won’t work. – Appleoddity May 03 '18 at 11:32
  • @Appleoddity, I guess the laptop is modern enough, and it was designed for Windows 10; Windows 7 is only a downgrade version from Windows 10. The battery is sealed, and there are no visible stickers on the laptop body itself. Interestingly, *Nirsoft ProduKey* recovered two keys, one called *Windows (BIOS OEM Key)* (without a corresponding Product ID) and another called *Windows 7 Professional* (with a corresponding Product ID). So I hope it is as you say, i.e. *the key will be in the firmware and Windows 10 will not prompt you for it during setup*. – Richard Hardy May 03 '18 at 12:51
  • @RichardHardy Should be fine. If you install on to the new drive and it fails to register then you can always go back to the original drive. At that point you can then upgrade the old drive to W10 and then try re-registering Windows on the new drive again. If that still doesn't work then clone the old drive on to the new drive. TBH I fully expect that you'll install Windows 10 on the new drive and it'll activate automatically without the need to enter a key. – Richard May 03 '18 at 15:49
  • @Richard, thanks for the tips! I will do the job tomorrow, I think, and will report back on how it went. At that point I can also accept the answer if it has proved itself correct. – Richard Hardy May 03 '18 at 16:22
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I have a Lenovo ThinkPad X1C 5th Gen with Windows 7 Pro through downgrade rights from Windows 10 Pro. I am going to replace the SSD and would like to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 on the same occasion.

Since the machine came with Windows 10 Professional, the license key to Windows 10 Professional, is stored in the ACPI table. It isn't necessary to know what your license key is to install Windows 10 Professional. All you need is an ISO to the current version of Windows 10.

I have retrieved and saved the Windows Product Key with Nirsoft ProduKey. After replacing the SSD, can I just download Windows 10 Pro installation files on a USB stick and boot from it? Would the product key recovered from the original Windows 7 installation work?

Your Windows 7 license key would indeed work. However, there isn't a reason to use the key, due to the fact you already have a Windows 10 Professional key and it will automatically be detected.

Or should I replace the SSD and install Windows 7 first and only then try upgrading to Windows 10?

The Windows 10 installation environment has accepted Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 license keys for nearly 3 years now. It is not necessary to install Windows 7, and then upgrade from that installation to Windows 10.

How do I do that efficiently?

Install the new SSD into your system, and after you have created a bootable Windows 10 installation disk, install Windows 10 on the new SSD.

Ramhound
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