How to Fix the Upgrade Option Isn't Available in Windows 10

User Case

"I have already cleaned my computer and just need to install it now. But every time I try it comes up with text that says 'Compatibility report The upgrade option isn't available if you start your computer using Windows installation media. If a copy of windows is already installed on this computer and you want to upgrade, remove the installation media and restart your computer. After windows has started normally, insert the installation media and run windows setup'

I'm not sure what that means at all. Does anyone else have any idea? Thanks a lot!"

During the process of upgrading and installing Windows 10, many users receive this error message. If you have encountered the same problem, you can read on to learn the reason and how to fix compatibility report in Windows 10.

Why the Upgrade Option Isn't Available in Windows 10?

The reason for this compatibility error is caused by the system not running in the recovery environment. The upgrade option is only available when a supported version of Windows is already running on the computer. That's why Windows will remind you to reinsert the installation disk to start installing Windows 10 while Windows is running properly. 

To fix this error, you can follow the graphic tutorial in the article to clean install Windows 10. We recommend that you backup your files in advance to prevent data loss.

Backup Your Important Files in Advance

You can choose a free and safe backup software to help you backup files, for example, AOMEI Backupper Standard. And it also provides other backup types, including System Backup, Disk Backup and Partition Backup. As a professional backup software, it also has the following advantages.

• It allows you to backup your files with fixed intervals, such as daily, weekly or monthly.
• You can choose a way to perform your scheduled backup, both full backup and incremental backup are available in the free version.
• You can backup your files to different locations, such as local disk, external disk, USB drive, HDD, SSD, network, etc. You can also backup files to AOMEI Cloud if you have an AOMEI account.
• It supports multiple operating systems, such as Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista.

Now, you can follow the steps below to backup your important files.

Step 1. Download AOMEI Backupper, install and open it. Select Backup > File Backup.

Step 2. Click Add File or Add Folder, then choose the files you want to backup.

Step 3. Choose a destination for your backup.

Step 4. Confirm all your operations and click Start Backup to backup your important files.

Notes:

• Options: You can choose the compression level and select splitting ways for the backup. It also allows you to write comments and set notifications.
• Schedule: You can set the file backups to run automatically at the fixed interval as daily, weekly or monthly.
• Scheme: It allows you to select different backup methods according to your own needs and when you enable the scheme feature, it will help you to save disk space by deleting older backups. You can upgrade to the professional version to enjoy it.

Fix the Upgrade Option Isn't Available in Windows 10 via Clean Installation

Many people consider performing Windows 10 custom install or upgrade. If you want to use the clean installation method, you surely already have an installation disk. If you don't, you can download the Media Creation Tool from the Microsoft website to create one. Or you can choose to perform an in-place upgrade.

Step 1. First, insert the installation media into your computer. Then, restart your computer, press F2 or F12 to enter the BIOS and select the installation media as the first option, finally press F10 to exit and reboot.

Step 2. When the computer boots from the installation media, you can see the screen below. You need to select the language and other preferences. Then click Next.

Step 3 . Click Install Now.

Step 4. Input your product key or leave it blank.

Step 5. Select Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).

Step 6. If the hard drive you want to install Windows 10 is a new disk, you’ll see the screen below. Just select Drive 0 Unallocated Space and click Next to start the installation process. 

If the disk which you want to install Windows 10 has many partitions, you need to delete all partitions until the hard drive shows only as Unallocated Space. For example Drive 0, select Drive 0 partition 3, click Delete or Format and click Next.

Then it will install Windows 10 automatically. Once the installation is finished, you can set the username, password, etc. And you can restore files you backed up before.

Summary

This article describes how to fix the upgrade option isn't available in Windows 10 with a clean installation. Since the installation process will delete all data and trigger data loss, you need to backup your important files in advance so that you can restore them directly after installation and then use them normally.

AOMEI Backupper Standard can perform file backup and restore tasks very well. It also provides multiple backup methods and backup features to protect your data in all aspects.

Besides, it is also an excellent cloning software that can help you clone system, disk and partition. After cloning, you can safely boot the computer from the cloned disk, which is very convenient. You can download this software to explore more useful features.