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I have a Lenovo Z510 laptop which came with windows 8 ( or 8.1 I can't remember) and I upgraded to windows 10 but after that booting up got very slow then I decided to refresh the OS after looking it up online.

After refreshing I got a blue screen with an INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE error message and it restarts and it just loops with that blue screen again.

This is where I decided to use One Key`s System recovery to restore the system to factory settings but after that it still fails to boot up.

So I decided to just reinstall windows 8 since I saw that I can't install windows 10 directly because it won`t be activated.

I heard that to activate my OS I should install the version of windows that it came with. First question: How do I determine what was the version?

I'm not sure if it was 8 or 8.1 or if it is standard or pro. and would it automatically activate and I won`t need to type in a serial number?

To test if I needed a serial code I made a bootable usb drive with windows 8.1 (not sure if it's pro version or not) using the windows 7 USB/DVD download tool. When I tried to use it, it doesn't show up in the boot list.

I searched online and some say that it could be that it's because I used a USB 3.0 and some say that I should set the boot mode to legacy. I tried that and now it sees the bootable usb drive and it asks me for a serial code during installation so I cancelled.

but it seemed that some people didn't want to install win8 while in legacy mode so what would happen if I did and how to avoid it?

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  • Actually since you performed the upgrade, you could go directly to Windows 10 if you wanted, I have done it on dozens of machines for sanity purposes.
    – Ramhound
    Aug 4, 2015 at 10:43
  • I have merged my previous, lengthy comments to form an answer.
    – Samir
    Aug 4, 2015 at 12:35

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How do I determine what was the version?

Take a look inside the user's manual for your laptop model. If you don't know what model it is, take a look at the purchase receipt, or try to locate a white label on the laptop itself.

[Will] it automatically activate and [will] I need to type in a [product key]?

In case of Windows 8 or 8.1 laptops, you will not be asked for a key during the installation. The key is embedded inside the laptop firmware. The setup program will locate it and read it. Internet connection is needed for activation, so you will need to connect first. If you don't have Internet access, then you can call Microsoft on the phone to activate.

It [seems] that some people [don't] want to install [Windows 8] while in legacy mode so what would happen if I did and how to avoid it?

This is a bit confusing question. The easiest way to avoid it is not to do it! Now, the reason people don't want to use legacy mode when installing Windows 8 is because the Windows setup program would configure the Windows boot loader for BIOS compatibility, while the computer is UEFI capable.

Once installed, the user can't (easily) switch to UEFI, without breaking their Windows installation. The reason they want UEFI is because it is believed to carry more benefits over the more simple BIOS system, or BIOS legacy mode. So for ease of mind, and smooth installation, they want UEFI enabled from step one, and the Windows setup program will then configure the computer accordingly. Hence, they want BIOS legacy mode disabled.

[...]

You are essentially asking how to resolve the "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" issue, and you have already answered your own question. One way of doing it, without having to spend a lot of time on troubleshooting, analyzing, investigating and researching the error, is to simply start over by reinstalling Windows altogether. That's the easy way out. But it seems you don't know how to do that. If so, maybe you could rephrase your question to ask just this?

Head over to this site for help identifying the laptop: https://support.lenovo.com/au/en/find-product-name

Once you know the model number, you can try locating the manual for it. There, you will find what version of Windows came with it. But it looks like Z510 shares the manual with Z510 Touch and Z410. It also looks like all three models came with Windows 8, otherwise known as Windows 8 Core.

You will find the complete manual here: https://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles_pub/lenovo_z410z510z510touch_hmm.pdf

If you have a recovery partition on your system, you can use that to restore the laptop to its factory settings. This will effectively reinstall Windows 8 for you. If this partition has become corrupted or wiped out, you will have to obtain a new Windows 8 installation media.

If you need installation media to reinstall and you don't have it

If you call Lenovo technical support, they can send you a replacement DVD with Windows 8, and any additional discs with drivers. If your laptop is out of warranty, or for some other reason they don't comply with your wishes, you can call Microsoft Direct Services and ask for a replacement DVD.

Another option is to obtain an ISO image file, which you can then use to write a copy of Windows 8 to a blank DVD. To obtain the ISO file, you can use the media creation tool from Microsoft. Have a look at the two pages below.

Make sure you select to download the tool for Windows 8 (direct link), and not Windows 8.1. You don't want Windows 8.1 because your laptop came with Windows 8. For this reason, you won't be able to install Windows 8.1 cleanly, because your firmware has the product key for Windows 8 embedded in it and Windows 8 keys can't be used for Windows 8.1. So you won't be able to install unless you select Windows 8, and not Windows 8.1.

Once you have installed Windows 8, you can then download and upgrade to Windows 8.1. The computer will do this automatically if it's set to update automatically, but it may take a few days before it has all the updates. Once you reach this point, you can even go ahead and upgrade to Windows 10 if you want to. There is a good chance that Windows 10 will work better for you this time, because you have just removed all the bloatware and garbage files from your previous installation.

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  • I'm glad that worked out for you.
    – Samir
    Aug 23, 2015 at 10:11

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