Adding SSD and Installing Windows on it.

[SoKalEl]

I just purchased this PC and am pretty happy so far. However I would like to add a a spare SSD I have and make this new SSD the system drive.  I cannot seem to find a Windows key or disk in the box. How can I do this?

[krzemien]

I think that you should be able to achieve it by buying / installing SSD of your choice, then cloning the content of the current drive to it (for example using Acronis True Image) and changing boot up settings in BIOS to load OS from it.

Bit fiddly taking into account that your SSD will have less capacity than your current HDD (I assume 1 TB) but entirely doable. That would be my preferred route as it keeps all HP bloatware intact - there might be issues in getting some of these off HP later...

That's one option, others on this forum will be able to indicate other ones, with OS image off Microsoft and fresh install on the new drive. Not sure how that works but I believe that MS has registered details of your current machine already and it should just work once you install new OS ont he same machine (no key needed). Disadvantage is that you would have to gather / install whatever HP software & drivers that you may need separately (usually in ~\SW_SOMETHING on the system drive - can't remember exactly the name)

Whatever you do though please make sure you sucecesfully created Recovery Media before you start.

[Photoray002]

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@krzemien wrote:

That's one option, others on this forum will be able to indicate other ones, with OS image off Microsoft and fresh install on the new drive. Not sure how that works but I believe that MS has registered details of your current machine already and it should just work once you install new OS ont he same machine (no key needed).

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Just wanted to confirm it will absolutely work, I have done it before several times.

Originally it had been said that a clean install of Windows 10 from the Microsoft ISO download would only allow activation for OEM systems that had been previously upgraded before hand.

But since then, MS does allow you to clean install direct from the Microsoft ISO onto an OEM system like HP.

In other words, the HP recovery media for your specific system is not mandatory to reinstall Windows 10.

Microsoft does not want to leave someone stranded in case of a system failure and they do not have access to the OEM recovery media.  Thank you Microsoft.

Yes you will still need to install the HP drivers from the HP website for your model though.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/omen-by-hp-870-200/13687063/model/15741069

It is a good idea to have your HP Recovery Media made regardless. You might have an issue with the current MS update breaking hardware functionality and you cannot get Windows to revert back.

Example: The Creators Update breaking webcam functionality, etc.

This is where the HP Media would come to the rescue as the MS media creation tool only lets you download the most current version of Win 10.

If you are going from an HDD to a new SSD, I always recommend a clean install. Then when your system has all the programs you want configured, create a backup image onto an external.

[mdklassen]

> Example: The Creators Update breaking webcam functionality, etc.

> This is where the HP Media would come to the rescue

> as the MS media creation tool only lets you download the most current version of Win 10.

Just run Windows Update to download and install a fix to "unbreak" the webcam functionality.