Rebuild Windows 10 Machine

Hi I'm Peter an independent advisor, you can use the Media Creation Tool to create the iso which you can burn to Dvd or USB, don't need the product key as its embedded into the systems BIOS.

If you want the product key though do the following:

Press Windows key + X.
Click Command Prompt (Admin)
At the command prompt, type: wmic path SoftwareLicensingService get OA3xOriginalProductKey. This will reveal the product key. Volume License Product Key Activation.

Let me know if you need any further assistance

Hi BigWI

Yes, you can format the hard drive, if you wish to . .

At the start of the installation routine, you will see a windows with 2 large buttons, choose the bottom button (Custom: install Windows only)

Then on the next window, you will see all partitions on your drive(s)

Being careful, if you have another drive on your PC, delete all partitions on the system drive

Then when you are left with just 1 unallocated space on the drive, click 'Next' to begin the installation . . .

Hi BigWI , you can reinstall Windows 10 at any time and it will not cost you anything !

You should just clean install Windows 10 rather than upgrading from Windows 8.1. This will have 2 benefits, if you have to reset again, it will reset to Windows 10, not 8.1 and your system will be more responsive and reliable . . .

Since you previously had Windows 10 installed and activated on that PC during the installation process skip the steps which ask for a product key and select the option 'I am Reinstalling Windows 10 on this PC', and activation will not be an issue, your PC will have a digital entitlement stored on the Microsoft Activation Servers

Make sure you install the same Edition of Windows 10 (Home, Pro . . . etc.) you previously had installed to avoid Activation issues

Click this link:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-downlo...

to download the Media Creation Tool (Click on Download Tool Now), with that you can download the latest Windows 10 ISO (Select Create Installation Media for Another PC), you can create a bootable USB flash drive (min 8GB) using that tool

Then, Boot your PC from the Installation Media you just created (change Boot Order in your BIOS) to begin installing Windows 10

NOTE: if you intend replacing the motherboard in your PC, if your Windows 10 is based on an OEM Windows 8 licence (pre-installed, not purchased separately) you may encounter activation problems, because that would be locked to the previous motherboard . . .

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-downlo...