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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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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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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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