How To Clean And Reinstall Windows 10

[This postal service, originally published in 2019, was updated in March 2021 to reflect contempo changes in Windows 10.]

Among Windows experts, a clean install is a fourth dimension-honored ritual, a way to wipe out accumulated cruft and restore an old PC to new life.

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You can discover plenty of perfectly good reasons to do a clean install. You might exist repurposing an sometime just still serviceable PC for use by someone else in your family or your organization. Perhaps yous've decided to replace a conventional hard disk bulldoze with a fast solid-land drive to extend the life of an older PC. Or peradventure you just want a fresh first.

• The Windows ten update guide: How to install and manage security and feature updates

A clean install is the ultimate troubleshooting technique, near guaranteed to eliminate performance or compatibility problems acquired past third-party software, temporary files, configuration errors, and garden-diverseness malware. Done right, the result is a PC that starts from a known skilful state, with either the default Windows 10 configuration or a previously tested configuration that includes specific third-political party software and drivers.

By my count, there are four ways to do a clean install (brusk of buying a new PC). Hither are the pros and cons of each method, forth with some communication on when to employ each one.

Utilise a recovery paradigm from the OEM

If you purchased a PC with Windows 10 preinstalled, you might have the selection to revert to the original paradigm that the manufacturer supplied.

The adept news is that the saved image includes all the drivers, utilities, and hardware support so that all your devices work as designed, as soon as you sign in for the starting time time.

The bad news is that the saved epitome as well includes any crapware the manufacturer was paid to preinstall alongside your otherwise pristine Windows 10 installation. That might not be a dealbreaker if y'all have a business organization-course PC, with minimal unwanted software, but it can be a imperial pain for a consumer device overstuffed with games and trial versions of software.

Besides the aforementioned crapware, the biggest disadvantage of this pick is that you're likely to finish up with a Windows installation that's out of date, leading to the need for a ho-hum full characteristic update, followed past the latest cumulative update, afterward your recovery is complete.

This option is preferred if you're getting a machine set up to sell, or if you're experiencing hardware issues that require repair or return of a device every bit role of a warranty merits.

The option to restore an OEM epitome might be bachelor from a dedicated partition when you outset your PC in recovery mode, or your OEM might include a utility that downloads the latest image from its servers. Equally an culling, your OEM might be able to supply you with a bootable recovery image that you tin can install on a USB wink drive. (Run across "How to get a free Windows (or Linux) recovery paradigm for your OEM PC" for details on where yous tin can get recovery images for Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft Surface devices.)

Restore from a backup paradigm

By definition, this option is simply available if y'all're a well-prepared person who used the legacy Windows Backup program (Sdclt.exe) or an culling third-party fill-in program immediately afterward setting up your PC when it was make new.

If you count yourself amid that small group, you are probably reading this article from your lavishly appointed fallout shelter, with a 12-calendar month supply of canned food, medications, and bottled water neatly stacked on the shelves. Equally a well-prepared person, what y'all did immediately afterward setting up your PC was to create a backup paradigm of your completed Windows installation, in apprehension of the twenty-four hour period when something would head south and you would want to get-go over.

This option is especially appealing if you rely on a large collection of third-political party software, including custom device drivers that are not available through Windows Update. Capture that image subsequently completing installation of all those third-political party programs merely earlier restoring any personal information files.

The disadvantages of this technique include the actress time and try required to create the backup, as well as the organizational chops required to go on that backup safe and easily accessible when information technology's needed. As with an OEM recovery image, the backup doesn't necessarily include the most recent characteristic update. Yet, if the image reflects a Windows 10 version that yous want to use while you skip ane or two successive feature updates, you might meet this every bit a plus.

Apply the Windows 10 Reset This PC pick

This feature, which has been significantly refined since its debut in Windows viii, lays down a completely new copy of your current Windows version, without any tertiary-party drivers or software that might be causing problems. You don't need whatever installation media or product keys, and you lot don't have to adjust firmware settings to boot from an alternative device.

You can't reset your PC by blow. The process involves at to the lowest degree four steps that require choices on your part, with one final confirmation that lays out in very clear terms exactly what'due south about to happen. You can dorsum out at any time before you click that last button.

To start, get to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery. Under the Reset This PC heading, click Get Started.

In the first set of options, cull Keep My Files (best choice if y'all're planning to reuse the PC yourself) or Remove Everything (if you're selling the PC or turning it over to someone else). If you lot choose to remove all files, the next option allows you lot to wipe the empty space those files occupied and then they tin't be recovered using disk utility software. (Yous tin skip that step if you're resetting the PC for your own utilise.)

Get-go with Windows 10 version 2004, the Reset This PC characteristic allows you to cull whether you want to reinstall Windows using the currently installed copy or download a fresh re-create from the cloud. (Note that the Deject Download option will utilise up to 4 GB of data.)

The reset process is the best option if you lot desire the quickest, least cumbersome way to start fresh. Note that a reset might not work if your organization is compromised by malware or if some system files are damaged or corrupted.

Reinstall from bootable Windows 10 recovery media

This option gives you the almost control over the clean install procedure. It also requires more than than boilerplate technical skills and, usually, some mail-installation futzing to get all hardware working properly and to ensure that the right features are bachelor.

It's a three-step procedure:

• First, utilise the Media Creation Tool to download the latest installation files from the Download Windows 10page and create a bootable USB flash drive. (For details, see my FAQ, "Windows 10 updates: How to install, reinstall, upgrade, and activate.")
• Next, find the correct combination of keystrokes and/or incantations to kicking directly from that drive into the Windows Setup program. Use the born tools to reformat and/or repartition the target drive, if necessary. If you skip the formatting step, your former files remain on the drive in a Windows.old folder.
• Finally, install Windows 10. Assuming you're doing so on hardware that'southward previously been activated, you tin can skip by the part where you're asked to enter a production key; Windows will activate automatically after you lot sign in for the beginning fourth dimension.

After that's complete, you'll need to use Windows Update to install the latest updates, including hardware drivers for devices that aren't included as part of a standard Windows setup. If you lot did the installation without formatting the system bulldoze first, yous'll need to clean upwardly the Windows.erstwhile binder and and then finish additional setup tasks.

Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-whats-the-right-way-to-do-a-clean-install/

Posted by: murrayhistoodespil.blogspot.com

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