Hello,
I have ordered a new laptop that has a 64GB SSD and will come with Windows 10 preinstalled.

I have ordered with gearbest, so I guess I still have a long time to mull things over before the package actually arrives...

anyhow, I don't think I can or even want to Dual boot Windows 10 with Linux - the SSD is too small for that.
I do not want to get a larger SSD.

So, what are my options? What sort of license am I getting here (OS: Windows 10 Home - no further info)?
i think i remember that windows licenses are device specific, i.e. i cannot move it to another computer?
What can I do with it?

Scenarios I thought about:

• move the win 10 installation to a microSD or even USB stick to use when required - on the same laptop
• simply store it somewhere so that i can reinstall if required
• use it as a vm on the laptop

also, is it possible to "downgrade" the license to windows 7 or 8?

thoughts, suggestions, experiences?
thanks.

I'm sure it's possible to install Windows on to a USB, and maybe a microSD as well. You could even get a USB hard drive and install Windows on to that instead - I've seen guides that tell you exactly how to do it, although I don't remember which guides it was I've seen - but I explicitly remember it saying you can install Windows on to a USB hard drive. (I've never done it myself for full disclosure.)

Personally, I'd go the second option you mention and just make a backup of Windows just in case you need to reinstall it, and wipe the Windows 10 installation and install Linux in it's place. But that's just me.

I don't know if this helps with your last question or not, but here it is anyway's.

Good luck with it.

I suppose it all depends on how we use our PCs but there's no way I could get by with 64GB total drive space for more than a few months, but then I have been multi-booting forever and not likely to stop and I use my main as a DAW, among other things, and lossless songs soon occupy a lot of real estate. My main is just shy of 3TB. Not many need as much space as that but 64GB? Will that serve you for even a year? If not, this time of the year even top notch SSDs are pretty cheap and since everyone sees the writing on the wall, electro-mechanical SATA drives are just ridiculously cheap. Whether installed internally or in a separate enclosure, I'd want at least a few hundred GBs available. That might be worth considering now while it is brand new and you're making decisions you must live with for awhile.

I've got a 2TB internal SATA drive for my multimedia needs and an external USB hard drive for backups - including my multimedia stuff. My main drive Linux is installed on is a 120GB SSD drive, but I don't really care about the size of the SSD. Because I've still got plenty of space left for the system - I only bought my SSD to install Linux on to, so it starts faster than my 2TB non-SSD drive does. And I'd prefer my videos and what not are on a separate drive to make upgrading/installing Linux easier - so I know my stuff isn't on the drive Linux is, and therefore I can wipe Linux etc, without having to worry about my videos, etc.

I would just ditch Windows!

I haven't used a Windows machine since 1999.

For me, 64GB SSD is fine, I have two laptops with them, & also one with a 60GB SSD, whilst another runs from an 8GB SDHC card.

Have you tried WSL yet?

I would wipe clean, install your favorite Linux, then confine Windows to a VM, for the rare times you might need it. For me its once per year for a tax program, since I refuse to use the browser version. Otherwise its all Linux (or BSD).

this is something I'd of thought out before purchasing the laptop.
is it emmc, m.2, esata ?

usb stick with persistence, until you get a larger ssd.

OK, i left out a major piece of information in my first post:
of course i want to install and use Linux on that machine! there's no question about that and that was the plan from the very beginning! i guess i took that for granted. sorry.

let me make it very clear:

• this is not my primary machine. most my media is on a network drive anyhow, so 64GB is totally suffcient. and i knew exactly what i was buying (it's one of the reasons this machine was dirt cheap: all the windows users complained about the tiny SSD).
• i do not really need or want windows 10. definitely not going to use WSL, lol. But i paid for it, i have a license now, and i don't want to just throw it away

i guess my question is more about licensing, if i am allowed to create or move a windows installation on a removable medium, and how it's done technically.
PS: thank you for this link. it's not my main question, but the only useful piece of info so far.

if you want to keep your windows license DO not register it to anything, activate it, but do not register it, that will lock it to the HardWare. this maybe old information, because I do not register it any more, nor really use windows much, other than itunes, which is not a lot of,

Windows may have changed that bit of information some, Because know I do not even have to put in my key to get my windows 10 activated, they themselves may have already took a picture of my hard ware to know it is on the laptop I upgraded the free 10 on, so every thing is just Skippy peanut butter with them.

as far as I know windows does not work if used on a USB platform other than installing. if memory serves me correct, I have a 30GB ssd I installed windows on once, for safe keeping, then later on I tried using it, and it would not boot up via USB Connection. even though the os was there and had not been played with.


though there should be no reason you cannot install it on a smaller hdd and keep it on that, then swap it out if you ever find yourself needing to use it.

I myself am actually thinking of putting it back onto that 30GB sdd I got so I can use the rest of my 250GB sdd for Linux. I hate to see that 30GB sdd just sitting there not being used for anything.

According to this, you can in fact install Windows on to an external USB drive. Windows just can't know what you're doing, that's all. So it seems you can with WinToUSB - but once again, I've not done it myself.

that's a good thing, just need to trick it into thinking it is not a usb port one is booting it from. good work! cheers.

You will need to use some third party software discussed in the above post to get windows installed on a USB drive. The standard message with the default windows installer is below:

An OEM install is tied to the specific hardware although I believe it is possible to contact microsoft directly to get permission to use it on another drive/computer. Not sure if you can avoid this by not registering, maybe?

If you want licensing information on your specific version of windows on your specific hardware, boot windows, go to a command prompt and type: license.rtf, it should pop up. From the point of view of microsoft, you are paying for the privilege of using one instance of their software OS on one and only one machine.

The simplest solution, if feasible or something you would want, leave windows on the SSD and get an external or second drive on which to install Linux.

Windows 10 "self activates", the licence key is built into the UEFI.

So that installation of windows is pretty much bound to that computer. If you can get the same edition of Windows 10, you can create installation media: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/soft...load/windows10

My advice is that if you don't want to run it (but just want to hang onto it just in case) that you use something like clonezilla, take an image of the whole SSD, save that image file to a USB stick or external drive and just keep it.

You can then just wipe it out and install whatever you like.

speaking of cloning
https://www.easeus.com/backup-software/tb-free.html
I've used this peoples software for windows and it works nicely for me anyways. they have updated it sense I've used it.

https://www.techradar.com/news/best-...oning-software

what i did too, was download a copy of windows iso, and using windows software via a web search until I found it, made an USB stick install for windows 10 that I keep. I've reinstalled windows twice so far using it, and I have not had any problems, it actually installs a lot faster then it use to, and as stated self activates. I select the no key option when it asks to put one in and still there ya go, it is activated upon accessing the internet.