Win10 activation/authentication experiments
 

Good and bad news. I tried to do a fresh install of Win10 v1607 on a new SSD with a system already running Win10 and it wouldn't activate. So I tried a fresh install using v1511 and that did activate (and updated to v1607).

Out of curiosity I then transplanted the SSD into other systems running Win10 and it successfully activated in each. Started off in a Lenovo C2D, moved to another Lenovo C2D, then a Lenovo i5 and finally a Toshiba i7. All the basic hardware worked out of the box (keyboard, trackpad, wireless networking and display with basic settings).

The caveat being you can't mix Home and Pro. I tried the SSD with Win10 Home in a system that was already running Win10 Pro and it failed to activate with "no digital entitlement".

Might be interesting when it comes time to upgrade to a new system - you might be able to clone your current hard drive to the new system, update a few drivers and resume normal service. Note that I've only tried it on systems that have been upgraded to Win10.

I should add that for each system Win10 was phoning home for activation so it wasn't being carried over from the previous system.

Lenovo?! Is it possible you could guide me with the BIOS on my Lenovo PC?

I can not make it find an SSD. The quad i5 Lenovo would not recognise my preloaded SSD at all and an attempt to make it the boot drive caused the original OS to be corrupted when I put the 2TB OEM disc in at the same time. Nowhere in the set-up could I find the SSD to label as boot drive.

I then tried the SSD in a laptop and it booted fine with W10 Pro

I got the PC New Old Stock unopened with 8.1 Pro. It upgraded to 10-Pro faultlessly and was okay for some weeks, though I did little with it than let it update. When I screwed it up, I got fed up and put it in another room. That'll teach it.:rolleyes:

So, is it worth another shot? What was I doing wrong that would not allow the Lenovo PC to recognise the SSD? I do realise I've not tried all of the things suggested on another thread but I'm finding more and more things becoming difficult these days and the help I got before was at the limits of my abilities.

All the systems I put the SSD in are laptops and they "just worked" - I didn't have to fiddle anything.

Have you tried different SATA and power cables, and using a different SATA socket on the motherboard - presuming it's a desktop?