Dell OptiPlex 790 to Win 10

Hello all,

my parents OptiPlex 790 came with Win 7-64 pro (I have the windows
recovery DVD from Dell). I bought it second hand from eBay a few years
ago. It initially had 4GB RAM and a 250GB hard drive. I replaced the
HD with a Sandisk 240GB SSD and upped RAM to 6GB today. It has the
latest bios.
I would like to a fresh format and install to Win 10 1903 -64.
It does not have a coa sticker. Can I install Win 10 on this machine?
I have all the drivers ready for either Win 8.1 or Win 10. I
understand that some 8.1 drives can be used for 10.
Like my laptop, is the product code burnt into the bios so I will not
have to type in a product code or will I have to buy a Win 10 license?
I can get, Dell Win 8.1 - 64 recovery DVD and do a 'upgrade' from
inside Windows like I had to do with my Win 7 - 64 ultimate laptop.

On 14/07/2019 17:34, Dan wrote:
I would like to a fresh format and install to Win 10 1903 -64.



First time you do this is to "upgrade" your windows 7 system. when it
is activated, then you can reformat the hard disk, wipe the disk clean
and you are good to go.

The reason you need to do this is to let Microsoft servers know about
the machine. Once it is known, you are entitled to a free license of
windows 10 for lifetime of the machine. That's how modern activation
works. There are no serial numbers for FREE Windows 10 but you can use
Windows 7 serial number if you want to go direct clean install but you
said you don't have that. Has BIOS got Windows 7 serial number? I
doubt it but upgrading first is the best route for your grand dad.

Why did you upgrade to 6GB ram and not 8GB? rams works better when they
are in the power of 2s . e.g. 2^3 is the /de-minimus/ I recommend to
people.






--
With over 999 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

Dan wrote:
Hello all,

my parents OptiPlex 790 came with Win 7-64 pro (I have the windows
recovery DVD from Dell). I bought it second hand from eBay a few years
ago. It initially had 4GB RAM and a 250GB hard drive. I replaced the
HD with a Sandisk 240GB SSD and upped RAM to 6GB today. It has the
latest bios.
I would like to a fresh format and install to Win 10 1903 -64.
It does not have a coa sticker. Can I install Win 10 on this machine?
I have all the drivers ready for either Win 8.1 or Win 10. I
understand that some 8.1 drives can be used for 10.
Like my laptop, is the product code burnt into the bios so I will not
have to type in a product code or will I have to buy a Win 10 license?
I can get, Dell Win 8.1 - 64 recovery DVD and do a 'upgrade' from
inside Windows like I had to do with my Win 7 - 64 ultimate laptop.

That means you have two hard drives then.

The SSD with Win7 currently on it. The old hard drive
with a stale copy of Windows 7 on it.

First, look for a COA sticker on the machine.
Is there a key present on the COA sticker ?
That should be a unique key. You could try
entering that during an install.

You can install over top of one of your Windows 7
installs, as long as the Windows 7 has SP1 installed.

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft...spx?q=KB976932

Extracting a Royalty OEM or Refurbisher OEM key might
not be unique enough for activation. It's hard to tell
whether the installer logic and the Microsoft server,
work with materials like that.

The SLIC table in the BIOS says "I'm a Dell" and that
table is sufficient to activate WinXP, Vista, Win7 Dell
versions. Whether that's enough to activate, I don't know.

*******

There are two kinds of installs.

1) Clean install to blank hard drive.
2) Upgrade install, Win10-over-Win7SP1

In the process, a Digital Entitlement is generated on
the server. That's how activation is tracked for reinstalls
later.

(1) would work, if you had a COA key. At least the odds
are better if you start with that material.

(2) would work in other situations, where you
weren't sure. As long as the System control panel
said Windows 7 SP1 "was activated", you could install
over top.

To do (1), you boot the Win10 DVD.

To do (2), you boot Win7 SP1 on the hard drive,
insert the DVD, and run "Setup.exe" off the DVD.

*******

Generally, you'll be following the same SKU and bitness
on your install.

Win10-over-Win7

Win7 SP1 Home Premium x86 == Win10 Home x86

Win7 SP1 Professional x64 == Win10 Professional x64

Win7 SP1 Ultimate x64 == Win10 Professional x64

You can do:

Win7 SP1 Home Premium x86 == Win10 Home x86 (get Digital Entitlement)

followed by

Clean install Win10 Home x64 (change bitness)

Just to give you a few ideas.

Paul

On Sun, 14 Jul 2019 13:41:16 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Dan wrote:
Hello all,

my parents OptiPlex 790 came with Win 7-64 pro (I have the windows
recovery DVD from Dell). I bought it second hand from eBay a few years
ago. It initially had 4GB RAM and a 250GB hard drive. I replaced the
HD with a Sandisk 240GB SSD and upped RAM to 6GB today. It has the
latest bios.
I would like to a fresh format and install to Win 10 1903 -64.
It does not have a coa sticker. Can I install Win 10 on this machine?
I have all the drivers ready for either Win 8.1 or Win 10. I
understand that some 8.1 drives can be used for 10.
Like my laptop, is the product code burnt into the bios so I will not
have to type in a product code or will I have to buy a Win 10 license?
I can get, Dell Win 8.1 - 64 recovery DVD and do a 'upgrade' from
inside Windows like I had to do with my Win 7 - 64 ultimate laptop.

That means you have two hard drives then.

The SSD with Win7 currently on it. The old hard drive
with a stale copy of Windows 7 on it.

First, look for a COA sticker on the machine.
Is there a key present on the COA sticker ?
That should be a unique key. You could try
entering that during an install.

You can install over top of one of your Windows 7
installs, as long as the Windows 7 has SP1 installed.

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft...spx?q=KB976932

Extracting a Royalty OEM or Refurbisher OEM key might
not be unique enough for activation. It's hard to tell
whether the installer logic and the Microsoft server,
work with materials like that.

The SLIC table in the BIOS says "I'm a Dell" and that
table is sufficient to activate WinXP, Vista, Win7 Dell
versions. Whether that's enough to activate, I don't know.

*******

There are two kinds of installs.

1) Clean install to blank hard drive.
2) Upgrade install, Win10-over-Win7SP1

In the process, a Digital Entitlement is generated on
the server. That's how activation is tracked for reinstalls
later.

(1) would work, if you had a COA key. At least the odds
are better if you start with that material.

(2) would work in other situations, where you
weren't sure. As long as the System control panel
said Windows 7 SP1 "was activated", you could install
over top.

To do (1), you boot the Win10 DVD.

To do (2), you boot Win7 SP1 on the hard drive,
insert the DVD, and run "Setup.exe" off the DVD.

*******

Generally, you'll be following the same SKU and bitness
on your install.

Win10-over-Win7

Win7 SP1 Home Premium x86 == Win10 Home x86

Win7 SP1 Professional x64 == Win10 Professional x64

Win7 SP1 Ultimate x64 == Win10 Professional x64

You can do:

Win7 SP1 Home Premium x86 == Win10 Home x86 (get Digital Entitlement)

followed by

Clean install Win10 Home x64 (change bitness)

Just to give you a few ideas.

Paul


Cheers everyone. I sadly, do not have a coa on the side of the
machine. It does say: Windows 7 SP1 "was activated".
So, I could as good guy states do a Win 7 pro install, format, then
install Win 10 pro. I went from 4GB to 6GB because I got the 2 * 1GB
ram sticks free.
"BIOS got Windows 7 serial number" - no it has not.
But the bios has an option of legacy or uefi radio button.
For now it has been set to legacy.

Dan wrote:


Cheers everyone. I sadly, do not have a coa on the side of the
machine. It does say: Windows 7 SP1 "was activated".
So, I could as good guy states do a Win 7 pro install, format, then
install Win 10 pro. I went from 4GB to 6GB because I got the 2 * 1GB
ram sticks free.
"BIOS got Windows 7 serial number" - no it has not.
But the bios has an option of legacy or uefi radio button.
For now it has been set to legacy.

Then install Windows 10 over top of the activated Windows 7
(on your oldest drive, so nothing of value is lost).

Boot the Windows 7 hard drive.

Open the Control Panels, check System, check for
"Activated", check for the name of the SKU (Home Premium)
and so on. Run Setup.exe off the DVD that most matches
the SKU information and "bitness". If the OS is x64 then
you should have an x64 DVD in hand.

Another command is "winver".

Yet another, from admin command prompt, is "slmgr /dlv"
or "slmgr.vbs /dlv". That displays license info in a
window that will pop up.

Paul

In article ,
says...

Hello all,

my parents OptiPlex 790 came with Win 7-64 pro (I have the windows
recovery DVD from Dell). I bought it second hand from eBay a few years
ago. It initially had 4GB RAM and a 250GB hard drive. I replaced the
HD with a Sandisk 240GB SSD and upped RAM to 6GB today. It has the
latest bios.
I would like to a fresh format and install to Win 10 1903 -64.
It does not have a coa sticker. Can I install Win 10 on this machine?
I have all the drivers ready for either Win 8.1 or Win 10. I
understand that some 8.1 drives can be used for 10.
Like my laptop, is the product code burnt into the bios so I will not
have to type in a product code or will I have to buy a Win 10 license?
I can get, Dell Win 8.1 - 64 recovery DVD and do a 'upgrade' from
inside Windows like I had to do with my Win 7 - 64 ultimate laptop.

I think "free" Win10 is over. You'll likely require a new activation key
for your new Win10 install media even if you download the media, e.g.
buy the key online as well.

pjp wrote:
In article ,
says...
Hello all,

my parents OptiPlex 790 came with Win 7-64 pro (I have the windows
recovery DVD from Dell). I bought it second hand from eBay a few years
ago. It initially had 4GB RAM and a 250GB hard drive. I replaced the
HD with a Sandisk 240GB SSD and upped RAM to 6GB today. It has the
latest bios.
I would like to a fresh format and install to Win 10 1903 -64.
It does not have a coa sticker. Can I install Win 10 on this machine?
I have all the drivers ready for either Win 8.1 or Win 10. I
understand that some 8.1 drives can be used for 10.
Like my laptop, is the product code burnt into the bios so I will not
have to type in a product code or will I have to buy a Win 10 license?
I can get, Dell Win 8.1 - 64 recovery DVD and do a 'upgrade' from
inside Windows like I had to do with my Win 7 - 64 ultimate laptop.

I think "free" Win10 is over. You'll likely require a new activation key
for your new Win10 install media even if you download the media, e.g.
buy the key online as well.

We did one a week ago in the other group.

Paul

On Sun, 14 Jul 2019 14:29:54 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Dan wrote:


Cheers everyone. I sadly, do not have a coa on the side of the
machine. It does say: Windows 7 SP1 "was activated".
So, I could as good guy states do a Win 7 pro install, format, then
install Win 10 pro. I went from 4GB to 6GB because I got the 2 * 1GB
ram sticks free.
"BIOS got Windows 7 serial number" - no it has not.
But the bios has an option of legacy or uefi radio button.
For now it has been set to legacy.

Then install Windows 10 over top of the activated Windows 7
(on your oldest drive, so nothing of value is lost).

Boot the Windows 7 hard drive.

Open the Control Panels, check System, check for
"Activated", check for the name of the SKU (Home Premium)
and so on. Run Setup.exe off the DVD that most matches
the SKU information and "bitness". If the OS is x64 then
you should have an x64 DVD in hand.

Another command is "winver".

Yet another, from admin command prompt, is "slmgr /dlv"
or "slmgr.vbs /dlv". That displays license info in a
window that will pop up.

Paul


Thanks. I have all their data backed up on a seperate hard drive.
I will try that.

On 7/15/19 1:52 AM, Dan wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2019 14:29:54 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Dan wrote:


Cheers everyone. I sadly, do not have a coa on the side of the
machine. It does say: Windows 7 SP1 "was activated".
So, I could as good guy states do a Win 7 pro install, format, then
install Win 10 pro. I went from 4GB to 6GB because I got the 2 * 1GB
ram sticks free.
"BIOS got Windows 7 serial number" - no it has not.
But the bios has an option of legacy or uefi radio button.
For now it has been set to legacy.

Then install Windows 10 over top of the activated Windows 7
(on your oldest drive, so nothing of value is lost).

Boot the Windows 7 hard drive.

Open the Control Panels, check System, check for
"Activated", check for the name of the SKU (Home Premium)
and so on. Run Setup.exe off the DVD that most matches
the SKU information and "bitness". If the OS is x64 then
you should have an x64 DVD in hand.

Another command is "winver".

Yet another, from admin command prompt, is "slmgr /dlv"
or "slmgr.vbs /dlv". That displays license info in a
window that will pop up.

Paul


Thanks. I have all their data backed up on a seperate hard drive.
I will try that.

Just my 2 cents, maybe it will make you feel more secure.

Dan, I like Paul's idea of upgrading your win7 to 10. Once it's
activated you have that digital entitlement that now allows you to do a
clean virgin reload on any drive at any time.

You mentioned that you wanted to do a "clean install" of 10. So after
you upgrade if you still have all your programs (and likely bloatware),
you simply boot from the 10 dvd and tell it to format and do a fresh
install. Just make sure the win10 after upgrade shows activated, this
means you got the digital entitlement.

Al

On Mon, 15 Jul 2019 07:17:24 -0400, Big Al wrote:

On 7/15/19 1:52 AM, Dan wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2019 14:29:54 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Dan wrote:


Cheers everyone. I sadly, do not have a coa on the side of the
machine. It does say: Windows 7 SP1 "was activated".
So, I could as good guy states do a Win 7 pro install, format, then
install Win 10 pro. I went from 4GB to 6GB because I got the 2 * 1GB
ram sticks free.
"BIOS got Windows 7 serial number" - no it has not.
But the bios has an option of legacy or uefi radio button.
For now it has been set to legacy.

Then install Windows 10 over top of the activated Windows 7
(on your oldest drive, so nothing of value is lost).

Boot the Windows 7 hard drive.

Open the Control Panels, check System, check for
"Activated", check for the name of the SKU (Home Premium)
and so on. Run Setup.exe off the DVD that most matches
the SKU information and "bitness". If the OS is x64 then
you should have an x64 DVD in hand.

Another command is "winver".

Yet another, from admin command prompt, is "slmgr /dlv"
or "slmgr.vbs /dlv". That displays license info in a
window that will pop up.

Paul


Thanks. I have all their data backed up on a seperate hard drive.
I will try that.

Just my 2 cents, maybe it will make you feel more secure.

Dan, I like Paul's idea of upgrading your win7 to 10. Once it's
activated you have that digital entitlement that now allows you to do a
clean virgin reload on any drive at any time.

You mentioned that you wanted to do a "clean install" of 10. So after
you upgrade if you still have all your programs (and likely bloatware),
you simply boot from the 10 dvd and tell it to format and do a fresh
install. Just make sure the win10 after upgrade shows activated, this
means you got the digital entitlement.

Al

Thanks Al. Pauls way as well as good guy is the way I will go. Since
Win 7 eol is coming up. I have a for my desktop an installation of Win
7 64 uiltimate whose coa I will use to install Win 10 64 pro.

Dan wrote:
On Mon, 15 Jul 2019 07:17:24 -0400, Big Al wrote:

On 7/15/19 1:52 AM, Dan wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2019 14:29:54 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Dan wrote:

Cheers everyone. I sadly, do not have a coa on the side of the
machine. It does say: Windows 7 SP1 "was activated".
So, I could as good guy states do a Win 7 pro install, format, then
install Win 10 pro. I went from 4GB to 6GB because I got the 2 * 1GB
ram sticks free.
"BIOS got Windows 7 serial number" - no it has not.
But the bios has an option of legacy or uefi radio button.
For now it has been set to legacy.
Then install Windows 10 over top of the activated Windows 7
(on your oldest drive, so nothing of value is lost).

Boot the Windows 7 hard drive.

Open the Control Panels, check System, check for
"Activated", check for the name of the SKU (Home Premium)
and so on. Run Setup.exe off the DVD that most matches
the SKU information and "bitness". If the OS is x64 then
you should have an x64 DVD in hand.

Another command is "winver".

Yet another, from admin command prompt, is "slmgr /dlv"
or "slmgr.vbs /dlv". That displays license info in a
window that will pop up.

Paul

Thanks. I have all their data backed up on a seperate hard drive.
I will try that.

Just my 2 cents, maybe it will make you feel more secure.

Dan, I like Paul's idea of upgrading your win7 to 10. Once it's
activated you have that digital entitlement that now allows you to do a
clean virgin reload on any drive at any time.

You mentioned that you wanted to do a "clean install" of 10. So after
you upgrade if you still have all your programs (and likely bloatware),
you simply boot from the 10 dvd and tell it to format and do a fresh
install. Just make sure the win10 after upgrade shows activated, this
means you got the digital entitlement.

Al

Thanks Al. Pauls way as well as good guy is the way I will go. Since
Win 7 eol is coming up. I have a for my desktop an installation of Win
7 64 uiltimate whose coa I will use to install Win 10 64 pro.

As long as you have a Win7 image to go back to
(i.e. you have a backup), and you have the time
to spend on this, you will eventually succeed :-)

Paul

On Mon, 15 Jul 2019 14:59:13 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Dan wrote:
On Mon, 15 Jul 2019 07:17:24 -0400, Big Al wrote:

On 7/15/19 1:52 AM, Dan wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2019 14:29:54 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Dan wrote:

Cheers everyone. I sadly, do not have a coa on the side of the
machine. It does say: Windows 7 SP1 "was activated".
So, I could as good guy states do a Win 7 pro install, format, then
install Win 10 pro. I went from 4GB to 6GB because I got the 2 * 1GB
ram sticks free.
"BIOS got Windows 7 serial number" - no it has not.
But the bios has an option of legacy or uefi radio button.
For now it has been set to legacy.
Then install Windows 10 over top of the activated Windows 7
(on your oldest drive, so nothing of value is lost).

Boot the Windows 7 hard drive.

Open the Control Panels, check System, check for
"Activated", check for the name of the SKU (Home Premium)
and so on. Run Setup.exe off the DVD that most matches
the SKU information and "bitness". If the OS is x64 then
you should have an x64 DVD in hand.

Another command is "winver".

Yet another, from admin command prompt, is "slmgr /dlv"
or "slmgr.vbs /dlv". That displays license info in a
window that will pop up.

Paul

Thanks. I have all their data backed up on a seperate hard drive.
I will try that.

Just my 2 cents, maybe it will make you feel more secure.

Dan, I like Paul's idea of upgrading your win7 to 10. Once it's
activated you have that digital entitlement that now allows you to do a
clean virgin reload on any drive at any time.

You mentioned that you wanted to do a "clean install" of 10. So after
you upgrade if you still have all your programs (and likely bloatware),
you simply boot from the 10 dvd and tell it to format and do a fresh
install. Just make sure the win10 after upgrade shows activated, this
means you got the digital entitlement.

Al

Thanks Al. Pauls way as well as good guy is the way I will go. Since
Win 7 eol is coming up. I have a for my desktop an installation of Win
7 64 uiltimate whose coa I will use to install Win 10 64 pro.

As long as you have a Win7 image to go back to
(i.e. you have a backup), and you have the time
to spend on this, you will eventually succeed :-)

Paul



I have. Since I use a macrium boot CD to image to a USB hard drive.
Thanks.

Dan wrote:


I have. Since I use a macrium boot CD to image to a USB hard drive.
Thanks.

Here is a little trick you can use, to dual boot
Windows 7 and Windows 10. Whether this works or not,
might depend on how many partitions already exist
on your device.

By cloning C: and making two OS partitions, you can
make a dual boot system, set the default OS at boot
time to the second partition, then run the Win10 DVD
while Win7 (second partition) is booted, and put
Win10-over-Win7.

My partitions in the example, are too small for OS installs,
and they're this size just as an illustration of the
technique. For trouble free install, I might use
around 85GB partitions. I did this picture in a
VM, and I generally am stingy on space when I
do pictures this way.

By cloning my Win7 partition, I keep my programs
when Windows 10 is installed over the second partition.

https://i.postimg.cc/FRz0S7BS/make-d...Win7-Win10.gif

The boot menu then has two OSes in it (or should).

Paul

On Tue, 16 Jul 2019 14:32:59 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Dan wrote:


I have. Since I use a macrium boot CD to image to a USB hard drive.
Thanks.

Here is a little trick you can use, to dual boot
Windows 7 and Windows 10. Whether this works or not,
might depend on how many partitions already exist
on your device.

By cloning C: and making two OS partitions, you can
make a dual boot system, set the default OS at boot
time to the second partition, then run the Win10 DVD
while Win7 (second partition) is booted, and put
Win10-over-Win7.

My partitions in the example, are too small for OS installs,
and they're this size just as an illustration of the
technique. For trouble free install, I might use
around 85GB partitions. I did this picture in a
VM, and I generally am stingy on space when I
do pictures this way.

By cloning my Win7 partition, I keep my programs
when Windows 10 is installed over the second partition.

https://i.postimg.cc/FRz0S7BS/make-d...Win7-Win10.gif

The boot menu then has two OSes in it (or should).

Paul


Thanks Paul. Computer is for pensioners who just want to surf, use e
mail and Skype.
They are non technical.