SOLVED 1803 meltdown recovery

[COdesperado]

I had a working windows 10 system, since it was released - the box came as a windows 8 home machine - I paid to upgrade to Pro, then upgraded to 8.1 - took the free upgrade to 10. Lost years of customization, programs and data when nothing worked to recover from 1803 (INCLUDING THE BACKUP BEFORE BEFORE RESET) - NOW I have to BUY windows 10? I don't think so - Microsoft has cost me three days of fruitless effort and commercial software (purchased 8 years ago and media now gone missing) with this careless deployment - I WANT A LINK TO A FREE UPGRADE TO WINDOWS 10 v1709

OR, NEXT STOP LINUX (YES, I'M BEYOND LIVID)

THANKS

 

[Bighorn]

Once Win10 was installed on a computer failure of a component such as the HDD or SSD could have it replaced then using the MCT/Media Creation Tool on a different computer download either the .iso file to create an exact copy or the bootable USB tool [8GB]. Installing and connecting to the Internet should pick up the Digital Entitlement for the computer and/or your Microsoft Account. So, really, you are not out any more money, just some patient time in going through the process.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

[COdesperado]

Once Win10 was installed on a computer failure of a component such as the HDD or SSD could have it replaced then using the MCT/Media Creation Tool on a different computer download either the .iso file to create an exact copy or the bootable USB tool [8GB]. Installing and connecting to the Internet should pick up the Digital Entitlement for the computer and/or your Microsoft Account. So, really, you are not out any more money, just some patient time in going through the process.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

[COdesperado]

Did I say anything about failed hardware? No, a non-existent file on a non-existent path was supposedly corrupt (bootres.dll) - the log file placed the corrupt file in a folder that didn't exist on my hard drive - booting into Safe Mode worked (for a while) - following every "fix" I could find on every forum led nowhere - I was left with the recovery partition which formatted the drive and put me back on 8 with no free path back to the 10 Pro I was running and all my application installations and data gone - the 'backup' function in the reversion process also failed. Thanks for your response but, I still need that KEY.

 

[Bighorn]

Once Win10 was installed on a computer

I was giving a scenario which is similar to what is desired, you have a Digital Entitlement/License for Win10 on that computer already established, shouldn't have to buy anything more.

 

[COdesperado]

Where, exactly, is this License and how is it accessed?

 

[TrustMe]

The hardware ID’s for that computer is stored on Microsoft’s activation servers. If that computer was activated with Windows 10 Pro, once you reinstall Windows 10 Pro and go on the internet, it will activate automatically. The thing is it has to be the same version. If you had Windows 10 Pro activated and you install Windows 10 Pro N or Windows 10 Pro K, it will not activate.

When you are reinstalling Windows, and it asks for a key, just click on “I don’t have a key”. Once you are finished and go on the internet, it will activate.

 

[COdesperado]

Never found a 10 Pro download that would go past the KEY entry

 

[TrustMe]

Use the link provided by Bighorn. Create the Windows 10 USB flash drive or DVD. When you get to the screen where it asks for a key, on the bottom of the screen, there is "I don't have a Key". Click on that to get past that screen.

 

[COdesperado]

I did that but didn't get the Pro version I had, even though I was upgrading from 8.1 Pro.

 

[Bighorn]

Recently did a Factory Restore of Win7 on a Lenovo for a client, got the Home version. Then I installed the Win7 Pro version, worked fine. Installed Win10 Pro, still okay. Had to revert to Factory once again, got Win7 Home. Upgraded to Win10, got Home. Seems I should again have installed the Win7 Pro Upgrade again to get Win10 Pro. Miss a step, things don't work as planned.

 

[StevenG]

Never found a 10 Pro download that would go past the KEY entry

'COdesperado' this is impossible 'I did that but didn't get the Pro version I had, even though I was upgrading from 8.1 Pro' the Pro 86/64 versions of Windows 10 are activated when you log into your MS account, it askes you to 'login' into your Microsoft account in the installation process, when you install Windows 10. Then it activates the appropriate Windows 10 that you have either paid for or upgraded to (just like 'TrustMe' indicates above) there is no such thing as a ‘Pro or Home’ versions in the download, all the versions are activated through your Microsoft account e.g (e-mail address removed) etc. I've even updated a basic 'Acer One HAPPY2-N57NQpp' with 'Win 7 Basic' and it activated as 'Win 10 Home'! I've updated many computers Win 7 to 8.1 Pro in this way and I've always gotten Windows 10 Pro or Home with the appropriate licences, whenever I've done either a clean install or an upgrade on every computer. The media creation tool downloads windows as a package. See the 1-4 images that I’m including so it gives you a step by step guide of what the ‘MediaCreationTool’ does.

 

[TrustMe]

Okay, this is what I think is happening, Windows is reading the key in your BIOS and automatically installing Home. The way to get around this is to create a PID.txt file and place it in the Sources folder.

Open Notepad and copy the information below into it. Save it as PID.txt
Now plug in your usb flash drive with the Windows 10 installation files on it. You will see a Sources folder on the drive. Open the Sources folder and place the PID.txt file in the folder.

[PID]
Value=VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T


The key above is the generic Windows 10 Pro key. When you are installing Windows, it will look for the PID.txt file before it reads the key in your BIOS. When you install Windows with a PID.txt file, you will not get the screen asking you for a key. It will automatically read the file and install Pro.

 

[Comp Cmndo]

Technically, the key is contained in the TPM module (a different chip), but everybody just says the BIOS.
Just as the BIOS is now a UEFI, but the old term still lingers.

 

[COdesperado]

Technically, the key is contained in the TPM module (a different chip), but everybody just says the BIOS.
Just as the BIOS is now a UEFI, but the old term still lingers.

 

[COdesperado]

So, based on SteveG the issue may be my lack of a microsoft account...mission impossible 4 coming up as I work on TrustMe's response...

Bingo - since I was already booting Win 10 Home I just told it I wanted to upgrade and manually entered the KEY, but I will make the .txt file and copy it to the USB for 'future use'

Thank you (all)

 

[StevenG]

Okay, this is what I think is happening, Windows is reading the key in your BIOS and automatically installing Home. The way to get around this is to create a PID.txt file and place it in the Sources folder.

Open Notepad and copy the information below into it. Save it as PID.txt
Now plug in your usb flash drive with the Windows 10 installation files on it. You will see a Sources folder on the drive. Open the Sources folder and place the PID.txt file in the folder.

[PID]
Value=VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T


The key above is the generic Windows 10 Pro key. When you are installing Windows, it will look for the PID.txt file before it reads the key in your BIOS. When you install Windows with a PID.txt file, you will not get the screen asking you for a key. It will automatically read the file and install Pro.

Great answer and thanks for that 'TrustMe' this should help allot of people and should be another alternative to this problem, well done!