I deleted Windows 10 for a Linux OS - now I want Windows 10 back.

[virtusa]

• I bought an off-the-shelf Acer computer from Best Buy a few years ago and replaced Windows 10 with a Linux OS.
• Now I want to replace the Linux OS with Windows 10.
• I assume I still have a license for Windows 10 on this machine.
  
• I have no receipts for the computer.

Is there a way to accomplish this?

The first thing you do when you buy a new computer or install a new OS: MAKE A BACKUP from the clean system.

And keep it for later use.

From start I make at least once every month a backup. I also keep old backups because a virus can be installed and activated only weeks or months later. If you don't keep the old backups you backed up for nothing as the the backup to restore should be, in this case, a few months old.

 

[Bad_Badness]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(video_game)
View attachment 244463

Have you ever won? Of course, that was a UNIX (BSD?) game originally, I believe.

 

[DiceAreCast]

I wonder where all the Linux heroes of the past are? Busy on fixing issues perhaps? My windows 10 pro and windows server have not crashed or bogged down for several years now. I have never had a virus, never got hacked, never had my identity stolen, never had any liberties taken away by the few information MS gleans from me using windows 10.

 

[ph1l]

Have you ever won? Of course, that was a UNIX (BSD?) game originally, I believe.

The last time I played rogue was about 1985, and my memory is a little fuzzy.

 

[TimMykes]

This nonsense again.

Linux is no match for windows , never was ,and never will be , for actual, end user computing

The only reason it's even reasonably useful for many today, is it copied all the stuff that makes Windows user friendly

 

[TimMykes]

I wonder where all the Linux heroes of the past are? Busy on fixing issues perhaps? My windows 10 pro and windows server have not crashed or bogged down for several years now. I have never had a virus, never got hacked, never had my identity stolen, never had any liberties taken away by the few information MS gleans from me using windows 10.

Running W10 on a new AMD build for a year now. Win 7 before that , rock solid .

Maybe 1 blue screen early on (first weeks) as I was futzing with drivers

None since , 15+ hours a day usage. Reboot maybe once a week if that , sleep it every night .

 

[tryingto]

Your BIOS might point to a hidden "Win10 recovery partition" on it.

• I bought an off-the-shelf Acer computer from Best Buy a few years ago and replaced Windows 10 with a Linux OS.
• Now I want to replace the Linux OS with Windows 10.
• I assume I still have a license for Windows 10 on this machine.
  
• I have no receipts for the computer.

Is there a way to accomplish this?

What would be the exact model of the computer?

Look around for a sticker with the product key. It would be like xxxx-xxxx-xxxx....
If you can't find it there is a small chance that such key is stored in the bios chip of the computer itself.

Acer customer support of looking in forums may help you to see if your computer had the key on a sticker or in the bios.

A few years back, MS replaced those stickers with the product key with storing it in the bios chip of the computer itself.

My previous laptop was from 2015 and had the key in the bios. I think they started doing that even before that year.

In one occasion , I had to reinstall windows 10 and used what they called a window media creation tool. I think a got it from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Basically you use it to reinstall windows 10 . Make sure you are installing same version you had (home, professional, etc) and same architecture, 32 or 64 bit.
At some point during installation, you may need connect to internet , so MS can see if your product key is in the bios. If not you need to supply one, like the one on the sticker that came with your computer.

If there is no product key in bios, there may be a recovery partition in the hard drive, assuming it did not get wiped out when you installed linux. Even if the partition is there the boot sector may have been changed or altered by linux, so probably you cannot access their programs right off the bat.

I think the windows usb installation tool from microsoft I mention above had repair utilities that may help you to fix boot sector. They may be able to detect if there is that recovery partition. Sorry, it has been a while since I have done all this.

If you are able to do that and the recovery partition is still there, then you can reinstall windows using the recovery partition. You need check manuals about how to access and start the recovery process.

 

[nikipari]

Need to spice up your account security?
Enable Two-Factor Authentication on Windows 10
* Step 1: check in to Your Microsoft Account
* Step 2: Move to the protection Page
* Step 3: outline ways to Prove Your Identity
* Step 4: activate ballroom dance Verification
* Step 5: Generate Recovery code

 

[longshort]

For the average folks Linux is a pure plague.

Average folks are already using Linux/Unix more than Windows. The world's 6+ billion smart phones are based on either Linux (72% market share) or iOS/Unix. All smart TVs run Linux/Unix. All modern car operating systems are based on it. Most game consoles like Switch, PlayStation use it and games run natively.

 

[themickey]

Average folks are already using Linux/Unix more than Windows. The world's 6+ billion smart phones are based on either Linux (72% market share) or iOS/Unix. All smart TVs run Linux/Unix. All modern car operating systems are based on it. Most game consoles like Switch, PlayStation use it and games run natively.

(Google's) Chromebooks run on a Linux based system.