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Is it possible to install Windows 10. Ways to obtain a license for free. The main disadvantages of the new OS

Installing each new release of Windows is easier than the previous one and requires less and less effort from the user. With the release of Windows 10, this task has become even simpler: now, to install the operating system on your computer, you don’t need any special knowledge or clever applications. You don’t even need a Windows distribution kit - the installation program has “learned” to download it itself. She herself creates the installation media - a DVD or flash drive. The user can only respond to requests and follow instructions that are clear even to those who do it for the first time.

Today we will tell you how to clean install Windows 10 on any laptop and desktop PC. A clean installation means installing an OS on a medium that does not contain an operating system (for example, on a new computer or formatted hard drive). Or where it exists, but must be completely rewritten without saving the installed software, accounts and settings. By the way, don’t worry about the license: if you install a system to replace a legally activated one, you can keep it. And we will not hide from you what needs to be done for this.

What you will need

  • Bootable media for recording the Windows 10 distribution. It can be a USB flash drive of 3 GB or more, a DVD, a portable or internal hard drive. Since the vast majority of users prefer to install Windows from a flash drive, we will consider this method as the main one.
  • or a set of files.
  • A utility for transferring system files to installation media. If you are going to install Windows 10 on a PC with UEFI (an improved “BIOS”), you can do without it - you just need to copy the distribution files and folders to a flash drive. By the way, in Windows 8 and 10, an ISO image can be opened in Explorer as a regular folder, but in earlier systems this will require a special application, for example, any archiver program.
  • The computer on which you will prepare the bootable USB flash drive.

Preparing a flash drive

If you don’t have a pre-prepared Tens distribution, it’s easier and more convenient to have Microsoft Media Creation Tools download it and burn it to a flash drive or DVD.

The utility does not require installation on a PC; you just need to run it with administrator rights.

After launching Media Creation Tools:

  • In the “License Terms” window, click “Accept”.

  • To the question “What do you want to do?” We answer: “Create media for another computer.”

  • In the “Selecting parameters” section, we determine the system language, edition (“home for one PC” or “Windows 10”) and architecture (bit) - 64 or 32. If the selection options are inactive, the “Use recommended settings” checkbox should be unchecked.

  • Next, select a drive: USB - to create a bootable flash drive, or ISO file - to upload an image that you will later burn to DVD.

  • Having selected the USB device, click “Next” and wait 30-50 minutes while the program downloads the distribution and creates installation media. At this time, the computer is available for use.

  • A message will inform you that it is time to proceed with installation: “The USB flash memory device is ready.”

If you downloaded the distribution in advance or do not have stable Internet access, use other tools to create Windows 10 installation media. For example:

  • Rufus. Works without installation. To write the operating system to a flash drive, you just need to specify the location of the distribution kit, as well as determine the partition layout and the type of system interface: MBR for computers with BIOS (old), GPT for computers with UEFI (new, released after 2013) or MBR for computers with UEFI ( if the PC with UEFI has disks marked according to the MBR standard).

  • . This utility is as simple as Rufus. In the “Add to USB disk” section, just check the “Windows Vista/7/8/10, etc.” item, specify the path to the Windows 10 image and click the “Go” button.

  • Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. This proprietary Microsoft utility is capable of transferring all versions of Windows, starting with Windows 7, to USB flash drives and DVDs in just 4 steps.

In addition to these, there are many other free utilities for creating installation media. You can use any - the result will be the same.

Let's start the installation

Installation launch options

There are two ways to start the Windows 10 installation:

  • From under a running system. Can be used if you plan to reinstall it or install Ten from scratch on another disk partition.
  • When booting from installation media (via BIOS). A universal option that is suitable for installing the system on a new computer and for reinstalling an old copy of Windows.

If you choose the first option, open the boot disk or flash drive in Explorer and run the Setup.exe file.

If you choose the second one, boot the computer from the installation media.

How to boot a PC or laptop from a flash drive

The BIOS Setup utility has a different interface on different computers. To enter it, you must immediately press a certain key after turning on the machine and the manufacturer’s splash screen appears on the screen. Which one is usually indicated at the bottom of the splash screen. Most often these are Delete, F2 and Escape, sometimes F1, F3, F10, F12 or a combination of several keys.

After opening the utility, go to the “Boot” section. In the BIOS Setup Utility version shown in the screenshot, this is a separate tab in the top menu.

In other versions it is not present as such, and the necessary settings are collected in the “Advanced Bios Features” section. In order not to confuse anything at the most crucial moment, study the BIOS interface of your computer in advance and figure out what is where.

In the "Boot" section you will see a list of devices from which the machine can boot. The first place is usually the hard drive. You need to make sure that first of all the computer checks the boot files not on it, but on the flash drive. To do this, using the arrow keys, as well as F5, F6, plus and minus (the hint is located in the right half of the BIOS window), move the USB device to the top of the list. To save the settings and exit the utility, press F10.

In graphical versions of UEFI, there is no need to change the order of devices; just click on the USB device. After this, the PC will restart and begin booting from the selected media.

Main part of the installation

Most of the Windows 10 installation process takes place without active user participation. You will only have to work at the beginning and a little at the end.

So, the first thing you have to do is select the operating system language, time formats, currency formats and the main keyboard layout. If you downloaded the Russian version of Windows, the default language will be Russian.

After defining the language settings, click the "Install" button.

Accept the license terms. To move on to the next task now and in the future, click the “Next” button.

Now you need to determine the installation type - as an update or “custom” (in previous versions it was called “clean”). We, accordingly, need the second type.

Let's move on to choosing the place where the new Windows will “settle”. If the hard drive is not partitioned or you want to change their proportions, select the desired area of ​​the disk and click “Create”.

In the "Size" field, enter the number of megabytes that you allocate for the system partition. Windows 10 64-bit requires at least 32 GB. Click Apply. If necessary, create other partitions in the same way, and then format them.

Attention! If you want to install the system while maintaining the license, do not format the disk, but carry out the installation in the same partition where the previous activated copy of Windows is located. The second important factor in maintaining activation is that the new system must be the same version as the old one. If you install Windows 10 Ultimate instead of Home, you will not be able to do without losing your license!

After finishing working with the disk, you can relax - for the next 40-60 minutes the process will proceed without your participation. If you want, just watch him.

Copying files will take approximately 1/4 of the time.

The computer will then reboot and continue the installation. Most of the time the Windows logo will hang on the screen and the “wheel” will rotate. You can see what stage the process is at by the messages at the bottom of the screen.

It's time to move on to action again, because the end of the installation is approaching. When you see a proposal to increase the speed, click the “Use standard settings” button. You can change them later if you wish.

After the update, you will have to create your first user account. By default, it will be assigned administrative rights. Everything is simple here - enter your username and, if necessary, enter a password.

Finally, the long-awaited desktop. Everything is ready, the installation of Windows 10 is complete. We hope it didn’t bore you too much, because now you have to set up the network, design your desktop, install applications and other pleasant chores to “get used to” the new OS.

If during installation Windows did not require you to enter a license key, check whether activation is in place. Open the context menu of the Start button and go to system settings.

Activation information is located at the bottom of the basic computer information window. In our example, it was not completed, since “ten” was installed in the virtual machine from scratch.

If you were able to reinstall while maintaining the license, you can delete the C:\Windows.old folder, which contains the files from the previous copy of the system. They are no longer needed - the activation information has been successfully transferred to the new one.

How to install a system from a hard drive

There are situations when neither flash drives nor DVDs are at hand. In short, nothing except the hard drive of the same computer on which you need to install Windows 10.

To install “tens” from a hard drive, you must meet 3 conditions:

  • Have a distribution. More convenient - in the form of a set of files and folders. If you only have an ISO image, you will have to unpack it, for example, using an archiver application (WinRAR, 7-zip and analogues) or Windows Explorer (only in G8 and 10).
  • Have an additional partition on your hard drive with a capacity of 3 GB or more. Preferably free.
  • The computer must boot from the same disk. If not, then you will need media with a Live CD/Live USB (portable operating system), like BartPE, Alkid Live CD, etc. You can easily find their images on the Internet.

The storage medium for the installation files will be the hard drive, or more precisely, its additional partition. You will need an operating system to copy the distribution and create its boot loader.

Installation procedure

  • Boot your computer from your hard drive or portable OS media.
  • Copy the files and folders of the Windows 10 distribution to the root of the additional partition (not the one in which the system will be installed).

  • Rename the boot file (bootmgr), for example, to "Win10". The length of his name should not exceed 5 characters.

Now you have to create a distribution boot loader using the BootICE utility. You can use other boot management tools instead, but we chose BootICE because we think it's the simplest and most convenient.

  • Run the utility (it does not require installation). In the “Physical disk” section, select the computer’s hard drive from the “Destination disc” list. Click the Process MBR button.

  • Check "Grub4DOS" and click "Install/Config".

  • In the “Rename GRLDR” section, write a new name for the Windows 10 download file (as you remember, we called it “Win10”) and click “Save to disk”. Click OK on the bootloader creation success message and close the utility.

All that remains is to restart the computer. The next time you start it, the Windows 10 installation program will take control, and then it will be the same as when installing the system from a flash drive.

No matter how hard they try in Russia to promote various alternative operating systems for computers such as Linux or MacOS, none of them has yet become more popular than Windows. Today, the most modern version of the OS from Microsoft is Windows 10. It has a convenient user interface, excellent functionality and extensive capabilities. In my opinion, this version has every chance of surpassing the legendary “seven” in popularity.

Despite the very, very friendly interface even for an untrained person, users still have questions. One of the most common questions is how to install Windows 10 on a clean computer from scratch. So let's take a closer look at it!

Preparing to install Windows 10

Before you do anything, you need to thoroughly prepare! The first thing you will need is an installation disk or bootable USB flash drive with a Windows 10 image! The easiest way to do it is with a proprietary utility from Microsoft.

Despite the fact that outdated DVDs are often used to install Windows 10 on a computer, it is much easier and faster to use an installation flash drive. The only condition is that the capacity of the USB drive must be at least 4 Gigabytes.

It is also worth taking care of the drivers for the main components of the PC - motherboard, video adapter, sound card, WiFi adapter, etc. You can separately download software for each device on its manufacturer’s website, or use the automatic driver installation tool. For example, DriversPack Solution.

After the installation flash drive is ready, plug it into the USB port. Now you need to force your computer or laptop to boot from it. To do this, when turning on, you need to press the “Del” key. On laptops, the “F2” button is most often used for this.

In the BIOS you need to go to the advanced settings “Advanced Settings” and find the “First Boot Device” item. Here you need to select “USB-HDD” from the list - this is a flash drive.

Note: On laptops, as a rule, the BIOS has a separate “Boot” section dedicated to booting the device:

Everything is the same here - we find the first boot device “1st Boot Priority” and set the installation media there from which we will install Windows on the PC.

Installing an operating system on a computer

The preparation is complete, now we proceed directly to the installation. If you did everything correctly, then after the next reboot the language selection will appear:

You will now be required to enter your product key. Without it, further actions will not be possible.

If you don’t have a license key, you can always use free installation keys for dozens, which can be found here -. They allow you to easily install Windows 10 on a computer or laptop, but then you still have to look for a licensed one somewhere or use alternative options.
The next step is the license agreement that no one ever reads:

The next stage is very important. If you are trying to install Windows 10 on a completely new HDD or SSD, you must first partition it.

Click the “Create” button and below we get the following menu:

Here you need to specify the size of the system disk to be created. After you click the “Apply” button, the following window will pop up:

We agree by clicking on “Yes” and we see this picture:

The installer created a 500 megabyte system partition, reserved by the system and the main installation partition for the operating system.

Note: If you have a large hard drive, then it is better to make several partitions rather than one, but huge one.

If the hard drive HDD or SSD is already partitioned, then the partition selected for installing Windows 10 must simply be formatted by clicking on the appropriate button.

During this process, the computer will restart at least once.

On average, installing Windows 10 on a computer or laptop takes from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the characteristics of the device.

When the “Increase speed” window appears, it is best to select the “Use standard settings” option.

Again we wait for the installer to perform a series of operations.

Click on the line “This computer belongs to me” and on the “Next” button. Then you need to skip the step of entering your Microsoft account information.

Pay attention - are there any lines with an exclamation point? These are unidentified components or devices for which Windows 10 does not have a standard driver. If everything is clean, then in principle the system can be used. Although I would still advise that as soon as the installation of Windows 10 is completed, be sure to run the DriverPack Solution utility and automatically update all drivers to the latest versions.

The fact is that standard universal drivers are used for the computer to turn on, start and work more or less normally. They are not always suitable for user tasks and therefore such an update is extremely necessary.

Secondly, be sure to go to the “Dozens” settings and open the “Update and Security” section, where you start the process of searching for and installing system updates.

In this article we will look at how to download Windows 10 from the official website, whether it can be done for free and what other methods exist for this.

First of all, I’ll explain that by “Microsoft Windows 10 download from the official website,” users mean that they need to create installation media with Windows 10 or download a Windows 10 image to create this media.

If you purchased an electronic license/product key for Windows 10, you can download the original image using the MediaCreationTool utility from the Microsoft website.

Create installation media with Windows 10 using MediaCreationTool

Methods for activating the system after installation

We were able to download Microsoft Windows 10 to your computer and install it. If you purchased a system license on the official Microsoft website, from partners in the form of a product key, there will be no problems activating the system. You will need to enter your product key at the installation stage, and the program itself will determine which version to install.

Another question is if there is no key. In this case, the following options remain:

  • If this device has ever been previously updated to Windows 10, perhaps only when it came out, at any other time at least once, there is a chance that there is a digital license for your equipment. In this case, perform a clean installation of the system, connect the device to the Internet and, if there is a digital license, the device will be activated automatically.

  • Activation failed? Try signing in to your device with a Microsoft account and running the Activation Troubleshooter from the system activation settings.


Let's select that the components on the device have been changed, check the box that this device will now be used and activate the system.

  • If you have a product key from a previous Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 system, you can download Windows 10 and install the system of the corresponding edition Home, Professional, For one language, during installation select the option “I don’t have a product key” and after successful installation go to activation parameters and using the key from previous versions, try to activate the system. In most cases, activation will be successful.

  • The last way is to use activators. We do not recommend using this method, since when using third-party activator programs, you put your system and personal data at risk, use pirated software and violate the license agreement, but if there is no other option, you will find instructions in the following that describe how download and use them.

Using the recommendations in this article, you can download a licensed distribution of Windows 10, create installation media and install the system. That is, download activated Windows 10 for free in Russian. If something doesn’t work out for you, you still have questions, ask them in the comments and use the search on our website!

Watch the video instructions: