Set up Windows 10 from installation media

For Windows 10 Home and Pro, you create the installation media yourself with Microsoft's free tool and use the key from your order. For Enterprise LTSC and LTSB, Lizensa provides its own installer instead; the link follows in your order email and in your account. This guide walks you from the order email to a running Windows 10 desktop. Activation in detail has its own guide: Activate Windows 10.

What you received

Your order confirmation email contains a 25-character product key, shown here as XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. The same key is in your Lizensa account under My Library. Keep it to hand in case Setup asks for it.

How you install depends on the edition in your order:

• Windows 10 Home, Pro, Pro N, Home N and Pro for Workstations. You create the media with Microsoft's Media Creation Tool. Your download link is in your order email and in your account; it opens Microsoft's Windows 10 download page. Product pages: Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Pro N, Pro for Workstations.
• Windows 10 Pro MAK. Same media as Pro. The key is a volume key; this guide skips it during Setup and enters it afterwards.
• Enterprise LTSC and LTSB: Enterprise LTSC 2021 and 2019, Enterprise 2016 and 2015 LTSB, and IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021. Your LTSC installer link follows in your order email and in your account. Do not use the Media Creation Tool for these editions; Microsoft states that it does not contain Windows 10 Enterprise. Details under Enterprise editions below.
• Windows 10 IoT Enterprise (OEM). You receive the key only, with no installer link. Contact our support before you install.
• Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8.1 Pro. You receive the key only, with no download link.

Support status from Microsoft

• Windows 10 Home, Pro and Pro for Workstations reached end of support on 14 October 2025. Version 22H2 is the final version. Your PC keeps working, but Microsoft no longer provides security updates, feature updates or technical assistance. Microsoft's consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) programme can protect a Windows 10 device until 12 October 2027. Support for Windows 10 IoT Enterprise also ended on 14 October 2025.
• Enterprise LTSC editions follow their own dates. LTSC 2021: support ends on 12 January 2027. LTSC 2019: extended support until 9 January 2029. IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021: extended support until 13 January 2032. Support for 2015 LTSB ended on 14 October 2025, and for 2016 LTSB on 13 October 2026.
• Windows 7 support ended on 14 January 2020, and Windows 8.1 support on 10 January 2023. Microsoft offers no Extended Security Updates programme for Windows 8.1.

Before you start

• A PC with internet access to run the Media Creation Tool. It can be the PC you are setting up, if Windows still starts there.
• A blank USB flash drive with at least 8 GB. The tool erases everything on it.
• The target PC needs a 1 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM for 64-bit Windows and 32 GB of storage.
• Back up your files. If you delete or format partitions during Setup, their data is lost.

Get the software

Home, Pro and Pro for Workstations

1. Open the download link from your order. It leads to Microsoft's Windows 10 download page.
2. Under Create Windows 10 installation media, select Download Now and run the tool. You need administrator rights.
3. Accept the licence terms.
4. Choose Create installation media for another PC, then Next.
5. Choose language, edition and architecture. Microsoft asks you to pick 64-bit or 32-bit to match the processor of the target PC.
6. Choose USB flash drive, select your drive and wait until the tool says it is ready.

If you are setting up the PC you are working on, the tool also offers Upgrade this PC now. That option runs Setup directly from Windows.

Pro MAK

Create the same USB drive as above. During Setup you choose Windows 10 Pro and add the volume key afterwards, as shown under Activate.

Enterprise editions

This covers Enterprise LTSC 2021 and 2019, 2016 LTSB, 2015 LTSB and IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021. Your LTSC installer link follows in your order email and in your account under My Library. Until it appears there, contact our support with your order number before you install. Do not create media with the Media Creation Tool for these editions: Microsoft states that Windows 10 Enterprise is not available in it, and its table of edition changes lists no way from Home or Pro to Enterprise LTSC. After installing your LTSC edition, activate it with your own key, as shown under Activate.

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise (OEM) is key only. We provide no installation media for it. Contact our support with your order number before you install.

Windows 7 and Windows 8.1

These products include no installer. Microsoft's software download page no longer offers Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. You need installation media for exactly the edition in your order: Windows 7 Professional or Windows 8.1 Pro. If you have none, contact our support.

Install Windows 10

1. Plug the USB drive into the target PC and switch it on.
2. Start the PC from the USB drive. Your PC maker's documentation explains how to choose the boot device or change the boot order.
3. Windows Setup opens. Choose language, time and keyboard, then select Next and Install now.
4. On Activate Windows, enter your key. For Pro MAK or an edition you want to activate later, select I don't have a product key.
5. If Setup shows a list of editions, choose the one in your order, for example Windows 10 Pro N.
6. Accept the licence terms and select Next.
7. Choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
8. Select the drive for Windows and select Next. If you delete partitions here, their data is gone.
9. Follow the remaining Windows Setup prompts until the desktop appears.

Activate

With a retail key entered during Setup, check the status as described under Check that it worked. To enter a key now:

1. Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Activation.
2. Select Change product key, type your key and follow the prompts.

For Pro MAK and the Enterprise editions you can also use Command Prompt as administrator. First install the key:

slmgr /ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Restart the PC, open Command Prompt as administrator again and activate:

slmgr /ato

Without internet

On a PC that stays offline, use an Installation ID instead. Microsoft asks you not to call the number Windows displays.

1. On the Activation page, select Activate by Phone, pick your country or region and select Next. Note the Installation ID.
2. On a phone or another computer, sign in to Microsoft's Product Activation Portal. Choose Activate a Microsoft Product > Windows > Windows 10 and submit the Installation ID.
3. Back on the PC, select Enter Confirmation ID, type the ID the portal returned and select Activate Windows.

If Activate by Phone does not appear, open Command Prompt as administrator. The first command below displays the Installation ID for the portal. The second takes the Confirmation ID, typed without hyphens or spaces in place of the placeholder:

slmgr /dti
slmgr /atp CONFIRMATIONID

Windows 7 and 8.1 are covered in Activate Windows 10.

Check that it worked

1. Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Activation.
2. Under Windows, compare Edition with your order.
3. Read the activation line. "Windows is activated with a digital license" or "Windows is activated" means you are done.

If the edition is wrong, do not reinstall yet. Some edition changes only need a different key; see the troubleshooting below.

If something goes wrong

The PC starts the old system instead of the USB drive. Choose the USB drive as the boot device again. If it is not offered, change the boot order in the PC's firmware settings, as your PC maker describes. If it is still not listed, ask your PC maker how to start the PC from USB media.

Setup installed Home and never asked for a key. If Setup finds a product key stored in the PC's firmware, it applies that key and skips the key window. If you ordered Pro, leave Windows installed. Enter your Pro key under Change product key on the Activation page and restart the PC; Microsoft supports this change from Home to Pro, and from Pro to Pro for Workstations with a Pro for Workstations key. For Enterprise LTSC or LTSB, use the LTSC installer from your account instead.

Setup does not accept your key. Check that the key belongs to the Windows version and edition you are installing. An Enterprise LTSC or LTSB key needs the LTSC installer from your account, not Media Creation Tool media. If that installer is not in your account yet, or for IoT Enterprise, contact our support. See error 0xC004F050.

Activation reports 0xC004F074 after installation. Microsoft names two causes: an Enterprise key entered on Home or Pro, or a work device that cannot reach its activation server. Check the edition first, then follow error 0xC004F074.

The tool stops while creating the USB drive. Check that the drive is blank and holds at least 8 GB, and that you run the tool as administrator. Then start it again. If it stops a second time, note the exact error message and contact our support.

Windows was activated before, but not after a new mainboard. That is a significant hardware change. See error 0xC004F213 and the activation guide.

Still stuck? Contact our support with your order number and the exact message you see.