My laptop had problems starting up and started automatic repair. After that it still didn't work and I wanted to reinstall Windows 10 on my laptop via USB boot. When I did that, I wanted to select the "upgrade" installation type so that my data would be retained. As soon as I click on that comes a compatibility report stating "The upgrade option is not available if you start the computer using the Windows installation media." Can someone help me?
Break that off, get yourself a fat USB stick or hard drive and save all your data there.
Then please do a clean install from the USB stick.
So don't keep the old data, the error sometimes remains in the system.
Completely rebuild Windows and then pull the data back over from the stick / disk.
Clean install = always better.
OK thank you. Can I also transfer the data to another laptop and how exactly do I transfer the data?
You just have to connect both laptops with a USB to USB cable, that should work.
The easiest way is to get a big USB stick or a small hard disk. It depends on what you have and what you like to keep.
You then connect the STICK / hard drive via USB, wait until the drive appears and drag your things onto it. If you have everything you want on it (pictures, videos, music, exe files for programs), you remove it again.
Ah ok. The only problem is that the laptop does not boot properly, i.e. I can't access the USB stick. Is there another way of doing it?
I see. Can't get to the desktop at all? What exactly is coming? So you start the box, it tries to start up and you can't get to the desktop?
If you boot from an installation medium, Windows can only be installed completely. The upgrade function, also for an in-place upgrade, is deactivated. The upgrade function, also for an in-place upgrade, is only available if you start the Windows setup from the desktop and do not boot the computer with the installation medium. Since your Windows no longer starts up, the variant with the upgrade is no longer available. So you have no choice but to completely reinstall Windows.
Before doing that, you should somehow back up your data and then reinstall Windows. Of course, you have to start your computer with a different operating system, from USB or CD / DVD, e.g. A Linux Live System. Download a Linux distribution (Ubuntu / Kubuntu) and install it bootable on a USB stick. Use Rufus, for example, on another PC. You can then boot your computer and save your data on another storage medium. Or you can remove the HDD / SSD and use a USB → SATA bridge to read the HDD / SSD on another computer, provided it is a SATA storage device.
If you then reinstall Windows 10, you do not need to enter a license key, as Windows was already activated on this computer with a digital license. This activation is stored on the Microsoft activation servers and as soon as the newly installed Windows calls home, Windows is automatically activated. This works because the digital license has been linked to your hardware and forms a hardware ID by which your computer is identified by the activation server. Simply claim during the installation that you do not have a key and then select the Windows 10 edition that matches the license, i.e. Home or Pro and then simply let Windows install. You can find the drivers etc. On the support page of the device manufacturer.
