Create Recovery Media

Yesterday I posted how to upgrade to Windows 10. I had initially said during the instructions that recovery media could be made if you need to reinstall Windows 10 later. I later realized that what's being made is in fact installation media, and is only an upgrade and cannot be used to install Windows 10 on a new hard drive if it's needed. Something to be aware of, however, is that when upgrading to Windows 10, a new product key is created for activation related to your hardware configuration. In plain English, that means that when you upgrade to 10, your hardware is like a unique lock, and the key is unique to that lock. If you change any of the hardware, you change the lock, and so need a new key to make sure you can stay activated. Whether it's upgrading your RAM, your hard drive, or even your processor, the activation key will change. That means you will need to reinstall your previous operating system from recovery media, and then upgrade to 10 again with the installation you created in the previous post.

Now, if you need to do a clean installation of Windows 10, the easiest route is to install from recovery media, if you haven't changed your hardware. In this post I will describe the process to create recovery media. In order to create recovery media, you will need to have upgraded to Windows 10 already.

To begin, click here:

Type "Control Panel" and press enter:

In the window that pops up, click "Category" and select either icon option:

On the next screen, click "Recovery":

 

 Now, click "Create a recovery drive":

Click "Yes" on the popup that comes up. From there, follow the prompts, and if all goes well, you'll have created your recovery drive.

If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them. I will later post how to revert to your previous operating system if you need to, which is only available for up to a month after upgrading to Windows 10.