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Start fresh with a clean installation of Windows 10.How to perform a clean install of Windows 10 | TechRadar |
How to Download and Clean Install Windows 10 | KeepTheTech.How to Download a Windows 11 ISO File and Do a Clean Install | Tom's Hardware
Please be sure to follow me on Twitter adacosta for the latest tips, tricks and updates in the world of Windows Technical Level : Intermediate Summary If you have installed a recent release of Windows in the past 5 years, you pretty much know what it will be like to install Windows In this article, we take a look at performing a clean install.
Previously, Windows 7, Windows 8. For users who needed to perform a clean install of Windows 10 from the outset, it was a two step process of first validating the machine through the upgrade routine, ensure the Windows 10 Upgrade was activated, then proceed to perform a Reset. Starting with versions Windows 10 or later, users no longer have to go through this process.
When you upgrade from a previous version of Windows, what happens is the hardware, your PC , will get a digital license. This is a unique signature of the computer which is stored on Microsoft Activation Servers. The Windows 7 or Windows 8 genuine license you were previously running will be exchanged for a diagnostics product key.
Anytime you need to reinstall Windows 10 on that machine, just proceed to reinstall Windows It will automatically reactivate. The only exception where this applies is dependent on the license you upgraded from. You will need to purchase a new full version license. So, there is no need to know or get a product key, if you need to reinstall Windows 10, you can use your Windows 7 or Windows 8 product key or use the reset function in Windows Learn more: How to install and activate Windows 10 using your Windows 7 or Windows 8 product key.
Once you have your Windows 10 installation media ready, all you need to do is boot from the disc or USB thumb drive to begin setup. Once your computer is set to boot from the DVD, you should see this option. If you are installing from a retail Windows 10 USB thumb drive, you will be asked to select either 32 or 64 bit Windows Learn more here. The Windows logo will appear on screen, this might be here for a while, as long as you see the animating dots, everything should be ok.
Windows 10 setup will prompt you for a product key during installation a couple times. If you have a Windows 10 product key, you can proceed to enter it. Setup will also prompt you to select the edition you have a license for - Home or Pro. Please make sure you choose the right edition.
If you choose the wrong edition, your only option will be to perform a clean install again. The copy of Windows 10 you download and upgrade from will correspond with the edition of Windows you have installed, if it does not, this is why you might be experiencing problems activating:.
You might get a driver missing error or something to that effect. If you do, restart setup, but this time, when you arrive at the following screen, disconnect your thumb drive then go through Custom options. When setup is ready copy files, it will prompt you to reconnect the installation source your USB.
NOTE : If you have multiple partitions listed, select each one starting at the bottom , then click delete until there is only a single one unallocated drive displayed in the window. Select the unallocated drive listed, click New , click Apply then OK.
This will split the drive into multiple partitions, select the Primary partition then click Next. NOTE: The System Reserved partition is where recovery files are kept for diagnostics and repairing damaged Windows 10 files; or even reinstall Windows When this phase of setup is complete, Windows will automatically restart then reboot into setup again.
Windows is detecting and installing your hardware. After this is complete, Windows will restart one last time. The Out of Box Experience page is where you get to configure detailed settings in Windows, which includes creating a user account, configure privacy, sync PC settings and install modern applications. Install the Latest Windows Updates immediately. Learn how in the following article:.
How to: Create a Recovery Drive for reinstalling Windows If you are running Windows 7 or Windows 8. Depending on the version of Windows 7 installed, , , , you will see different wording beside the activation status:. How To troubleshoot Product Activation in Windows How to: Install and Update drivers in Windows Was this article helpful?
Yes No. Sorry this didn't help. Thanks for your feedback. Fantastic article. Very clear. However, I'm having a problem that is not addressed in your step-by-step guide.
I successfully get to the step right before the OOBE. Doing so gets me back to the setup on the DVD for another install. Not hitting any key causes my PC to just stop. By a combination of doing a PC Cleanup then removing the DVD just after the final setup step, I'm able to boot into the Tech Preview and finish setting up accounts, etc. I'm up and running now. Threats include any threat of suicide, violence, or harm to another. Any content of an adult theme or inappropriate to a community web site.
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Details required : characters remaining Cancel Submit 42 people found this comment helpful. Was this comment helpful? Try making your hard disk be the default boot device in the BIOS and see if allows you to boot into Windows 10 without going into setup again. I'm not sure what you mean by "default boot device". My boot order is DVD then hard drive. The hard drive had an old Windows 8. When I tried to install a bunch of updates, I could no longer boot from the hard drive.
That's when I decided to just scrap 8. But I'm not sure that's my problem. If I pull the DVD and try to boot off the hard drive I get this error, in plain text on a black background:. Details required : characters remaining Cancel Submit 13 people found this comment helpful. If you are in the OOBE for Windows 10, why would you need to be booting from the Windows 10 install media again except for installing Windows 10 again? When this phase of setup is complete, Windows will automatically restart and reboot into setup again.
Which means, all necessary files would have already been copied from the disc to facilitate the installation. As I said, and you quoted, I'm in the step before where I see the "Windows needs to restart..
I now have the Tech Preview running. Thanks for writing this up. Disappointed to hear that I cannot use the upgrade to do a clean install initially. Hope that changes, but probably won't hold my breath.. I did the free upgrade of my Windows 7 and now want to reinstall Windows 10 using a clean install.
I'm a bit anxious from nature so I first looked up whether my installation of Win10 is activated and which product key is used. More curious:. I got even another key which is neither my Win7 key nor the Insider Preview key.
What key should I put in when I'm prompted to activate Windows 10 after the clean install? Details required : characters remaining Cancel Submit 17 people found this comment helpful. What, when my hardware changes?
Yes there's much information about that but only from 3rd-party. Do I need to do the upgrade again? Do I still get the free upgrade?
If not, can I at least use my 'old' Windows which I before used to upgrade to Win10 or is the license not valid anymore you say one can only 'go back' 30days lonng. How's all that with Germany: Here a hardware-change afaik cannot 'invalidate' the license. Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community. What is the Digital Entitlement or Digital License? Learn more here The Windows logo will appear on screen, this might be here for a while, as long as you see the animating dots, everything should be ok.
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