Re: [gentoo-user] Guidance on using Gentoo to clone a Win 10 system drive

[Wols Lists]

On 06/01/20 23:37, Mark Knecht wrote:
> Michael,
>    I got Win 10 Pro installed via the M$ tool that creates USB install
> devices. It worked fine. Reading online it seems that if M$ sees the new
> disk as still the same 'hardware' then it's supposed to automatically
> validate and I'd be good to go. so far, after 2 hours it hasn't done
> that but I'll give it awhile and see what happens. As it only took an
> hour I might still try the disk copy path and see if that comes up
> validated as that would also transfer the couple of applications I have
> on the original hard drive.
>
>    Anyway, thanks for the ideas.
>
A few more ideas from my experience -

Have you ever re-installed windows and actually used the licence key
that came with the laptop? No? Then try a clean install of Win10 using
the Win7 key.

Nearly all regular computers come with a bulk licence install, and the
key that is actually on the sticker is usually completely unused. If you
try to install Win10 with a Win7 key that has never been used, it will
activate. That's how I did a clean install on my laptop. (And it's
certainly true of Office, maybe of Win also - if you give it a key, it
will install the version that matches the key.)

Or just buy a key from Amazon. I think I paid about £15 and had
absolutely no trouble. I've bought a bunch of Win and Office keys off
Amazon at between £10 and £20 and they've all installed no problem
whatsoever. (Thanks to an EU legal ruling, MS cannot block the sale of
2nd-hand licence keys ...)

The last route, if you want to clean as much cruft as you can, is to do
a "factory reset" of the laptop, and then upgrade to Win10 over it.
Okay, it's not a completely clean install, but it gets you as close as
possible to a clean OEM install.

Cheers,
Wol