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Windows 10 clean install partition problem free
Since Microsoft launched its next operating system on July 29th to the world, millions of computers are already running Windows 10 , and millions more are expected to follow.
In fact, Microsoft hopes to upgrade over one billion devices in the next years, and at this rate, chances look promising. Although Windows 10 is packed with new features, such as the return of the Start menu, a new Action Center, new security features like Windows Hello, and Cortana, there is another good reason why people are upgrading so quickly.
It’s because the company is making Windows 10 a free upgrade to every computer running a genuine copy of Windows 7 and Windows 8. If you haven’t upgraded, you probably are still wondering, what is the best option to upgrade to Windows 10? It’s possible to do an in-place upgrade via Windows Update, or you can also do a clean installation of the operating system.
To clear things up a bit and help you decide what’s the best option for you, we’ll go through benefits and disadvantages between a clean install and an in-place upgrade of Windows One of the most common methods to move from one version of Windows to another is by doing an in-place upgrade. The major advantage of doing an in-place upgrade is that you don’t have to reformat your hard drive. The new operating system will simply replace your previous installation, and you’ll be able to keep all of your files and programs.
This process takes the least amount of time, as technically you’re not required to do a backup though it’s highly recommended you do. Also, you’re not prompted to enter a product key, at least for those users upgrading from Windows 7 or Windows 8. Choosing the upgrade path using the “Get Windows 10” app over the clean install will also help users to install the right edition of the operating system. A clean installation requires to manually download the correct version of Windows 10 that will upgrade your system.
Technically, upgrading through Windows Update should be the easiest and safest way to make the move to Windows However, performing an upgrade can also be problematic. You can stumble upon errors caused by pre-existing issues in your system. After the upgrade, there are chances that applications and peripherals may not work correctly, and it could result on additional time trying to troubleshoot and fix the problems. Quick tip: If you’re planning to upgrade, make sure to uninstall any security software, such as antivirus, and software you don’t need.
Take the time and check online to verify your hardware and software are compatible with Windows Also, make sure to disconnect any peripherals, such as printers, scanners, and USB devices to avoid possible errors. Another advantage worth to point out is that performing an upgrade will also allow you to roll back to Windows 7 or Windows 8.
You can’t do this if you perform a clean install by booting from the Windows 10 installation media. If you have a custom computer or you want to start from scratch with a clean installation of Windows 10, you can opt to format the hard drive and start with a clean install of Windows There are many advantages performing a clean install of Windows For example, a clean install is an opportunity to start fresh from scratch without any bloatware and trial software that might have come pre-installed with your system.
You will also regain control over your apps, as you can now install only the applications you need, and you’ll also start with a brand new and clean Windows Registry. Also, your chances of running into errors and other issues will significantly be reduced. If your PC had any software or hardware issues, doing a clean install likely resolves any problems.
While a clean install is always the way to go for many technical users, upgrading to Windows 10 can be tricky. Microsoft is allowing users to perform a clean install of the operating system when upgrading from Windows 7 or Windows 8. However, it requires users to upgrade before the product keys can work on a clean install of Windows Otherwise, chances are, your installation won’t activate correctly. Starting from scratch also takes longer than doing a plain in-place upgrade because you’ll need to reinstall and reconfigure any software you previously had.
It also requires that you have the applications installation files and products keys. If the Windows setup can’t recognize different hardware in your computer, you’ll have to manually find and install all the necessary drivers. Sometimes, it’s not an easy task. Besides deleting all your applications and settings, performing a clean installation of Windows will delete all your files. Make sure you backup all your data before using the upgrade path. Microsoft doesn’t offer an option to do a clean install if you’re upgrading using Windows Update.
The only way to perform a clean install is by manually downloading the Windows 10 installation files. Choosing the “Upgrade this PC now” will give you the choice to keep all of your files and apps. If you choose to keep your files and apps, you will be doing an in-place upgrade. Choosing not to keep your files and apps can be considered as the option to do a clean install.
Personally, I like to create an installation media. This way I can have a better control on how Windows 10 will install, as I can reorganize the hard drive partitions as well. It’s worth noting that doing a clean install will prompt users to enter their product key.
It’s not a big deal, but it’s something to keep in mind. Also, performing a clean install with a bootable media won’t offer the option to roll back. In practice, it’s always better to start fresh with a clean install of Windows, even more if you’ve been running the same installation for quite some time. While there are multiple methods to upgrade to Windows 10, both in-place upgrade and clean install have their benefits and disadvantages. Microsoft has been making various improvements in the upgrade process to the point that an in-place upgrade looks like a true solution for most users, but it all comes down to what you feel more comfortable doing.
Microsoft wants and recommends users to upgrade to Windows 10 by reserving their copies using the “Get Windows 10” app, which only offers the option of an in-place upgrade. This way allows users to keep their files and apps, which is a great choice for regular users.
I like to do a clean install of the operating system even though it takes more time and more work. Also, knowing that Microsoft is offering Windows as a Service, I will probably be avoiding some upgrade issues in the early days.
Mauro Huculak is technical writer for WindowsCentral. His primary focus is to write comprehensive how-tos to help users get the most out of Windows 10 and its many related technologies. Windows Central Windows Central. Mauro Huculak. Topics Windows. See all comments I made an upgrade and choose to keep nothing.
It was almost the same thing to me as a clean one, Windows 10 started as a pretty new OS installed. How did you manage to put an emoji in your comment? Too Windows XPish lol I definitely gonna miss that all night formating and installing Windows through a CD drive, installing a million of drivers and programs and one month later do it all over again lol good old times. But seriously this upgrade option works perfectly, practically removes everything. I did the upgrade and keep everything. I do installs every day!
So I was lazy and did the upgrade, glad I did. I second to that! I did my upgrade to win 10, it’s great. Why it’s so huge in size, 57Gb? If i have to do a clean upgrade, how can i do it without entering the product key as i don’t have it.
My pc came preinstalled with the windows 7 and an image back-up on my HDD. You need to run disk cleanup to remove the windows. Hi Arthur, I dont know if you are still interested in dooing a clean install of windows 10 or not but if you still want to do it here is the solution to your lost windows key, this helped me to get my lenovo preinstalled windows key from the hard drive before I did a clean install. Download a third party app that can find and view your windows, office, etc product keys, it basically dig these info from inside the system files.
Copy the key s you need, preferably email a copy to yourself, this way you can do a fresh install without fear of being stuck with an unactivated windows or the need to buy a new windows licnese, BUT you need to know that before freshly install windows 10, you need to upgrade first and when that is done which you already did then and only then you can do a clean install and Microsoft will accept your old windows Key for the clean install of windows 10, otherwise it will force you to buy a new license key.
There are many third party key finder apps: 1. Yeah using the download tool and choosing to upgrade now BUT delete all files and programs option seems pretty legit. No need to go thru the trouble of burning the boot media.
You can even choose to just keep your files and only delete programs. Just be sure once you’re activated and everything’s good, run disk cleaner and delete old windows install and temp windows install files.
There is a third option. Use disk clean up on c drive. It will remove the Windows old folder and give you at least 50 gb of space. How about Reset option in Settings, doesn’t it works as reset works in phone and can replaces the need for doing clean installation of Windows Where can I find that? Alternatively, is there any reason not to do the upgrade, keeping everything, but if there’s an issue just use the refresh or reset option?
Many ppl did not notice this but doing a clean install gave windows a mb reserve drive, upgrade doesnt change the size of the drive. There must be a reason they increase the size from win7-win8-win Icyasd in fact there are two now, and i’ve noticed them since the first install of the technical p.
The mb is still there and they made another mb which i find kind of funny, i like to have full control over my stuff and this new added mb reserve i don’t like. But there’s a windows. That cannot be gotten rid of easily. Although it will be deleted by itself within 30 days. I’ve never seen an. One of the main things I hate about windows is the object security settings.
Perform clean install Windows 10 on SSD from USB, ISO, boot, recovery image – Pureinfotech – Forum Article Info
As known, SSDs are generally smaller than HDDs at the same price, so it’s recommended to free up space on HDD by deleting the backed up personal data, removing useless files with Disk Cleanup , uninstalling useless programs, etc. A clean install gives you a brand new operating system just like the computer you first started – it only has all the bloatware installed by manufacturer.
And the process will remove the current Windows operating system and user files during the installation. Besides, all the personal data on the system hard disk will be wiped out. You can backup Windows 10 to USB drive or external hard drive in advance. After creating Windows 10 installation media, shut down your computer to replace the old hard drive with the new SSD. If your computer has extra slot, you can also keep the old drive as the second storage afterwards , and connect the SSD alongside it.
Select installation type ” Custom “. Then, select the new partition on SSD disk and click Next. Wait until the process ends and set preferences as you like. If your SSD has installed Windows 10 already, you can skip to next step, Windows 10 will get activated after fresh installation. Fresh install Windows 10 will erase all your data on the computer. Besides, it is time-consuming and troublesome. The software is running in ” Intelligent Clone ” mode by default, which will only clone the used sectors to save space.
Optionally, you can also create an intact copy with sector-by-sector mode. You could find the free trial below. Click ” Clone” , then select ” System Clone ” in the main page. To clone entire disk, click “Disk Clone” instead. Just select the SSD as the new location, and then click “Next” to continue. Because the program is designed to automatically select system partition and boot related partitions for you.
To avoid data leakage, it’s suggested to wipe system partition, or clean a hard drive in Windows 10 completely. After the system clone finishes, shut down the computer. And then disconnect the source disk and connect the destination disk to the socket of the source disk. The source disk could be plugged into another socket as a secondary storage device.
Go to the Boot tab and change the first boot option to new SSD. At last press “F10” to save changes and boot your computer. Sometimes, you will receive error messages like “Windows cannot be installed to this disk.
The selected disk is of the GPT partition style”, “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The computer’s hardware may not support booting to this disk” when you reinstall SSD in laptop or desktop Windows 10 using installation media. How to solve it? For the first error, it may be caused by a wrong boot mode. For the second error, there are two possible reasons. If, and only if, you’re installing Windows 7 on a new hard drive, which of course does not have an operating system on it to remove, you can skip directly to Step 15!
Windows 7 setup considers partition management as an advanced task, so you’ll need to select the Drive options advanced link to make those options available. In the next few steps, you’ll delete the partitions containing the operating system you’re replacing with Windows 7, be it Windows Vista, Windows XP, a previous installation of Windows 7, etc.
Now that all available drive options are listed, you can delete any operating system related partitions from your existing hard drive s. Before continuing, please be aware that deleting a partition will permanently erase all data from that drive.
By all data I mean the operating system that’s installed, all programs, all data saved by those programs, all music, all video, all documents, etc. Highlight the partition you want to delete and then select the Delete link. Your list of partitions may differ considerably from mine shown above.
On my computer, I am performing a clean install of Windows 7 on a computer with a small 30 GB hard drive that has previously had Windows 7 installed. Many people, for example, have second hard drives or partitions that act as backup drives. That’s certainly not a drive you want to be deleting. After deleting the partition, Windows 7 setup will prompt you to confirm the deletion.
The message says “The partition might contain recovery files, system files, or important software from your computer manufacturer. If you delete this partition, any data stored on it will be lost.
Choose OK. As I spelled out in the last step, please be aware that all the data stored on that drive will be lost. If you have not backed up everything you want to keep, select Cancel , end the Windows 7 clean install process, restart your computer to boot back into whatever operating system you have installed, and back up everything you want to keep.
To be clear: This is the point of no return! There’s no reason to be scared, I just want it to be very clear that you can’t undo the deletion of the drive you selected after you choose this OK button. If there are any other partitions that need to be deleted, you can do so at this time. For example, the Windows 7 installation I had on my PC previously created this special MB very small partition to store system data in.
This is most definitely related to the operating system that I’m trying to completely remove from my computer, so I’ll delete this as well. Highlight the partition and select the Delete link.
As you can see, the partition we deleted in the last step is gone. It may appear like it’s still there but if you look closely, you’ll see that that same Just as in Step 12, Windows 7 setup will prompt you to confirm the deletion of this partition. Select OK to confirm. As you can now see, all the space on the installed hard drive is unallocated. No partitions exist on this computer. The number of partitions displayed and whether those partitions are unallocated portions of a hard drive, previously partitioned spaces, or previously formatted and blank partitions, will depend on your specific system and which partitions you deleted in the last several steps.
If you’re installing Windows 7 on a computer with a single hard drive on which you’ve just deleted all the partitions from, your screen should look like the one above, aside from your hard drive being a different size. Choose the appropriate unallocated space to install Windows 7 on and then select Next. You do not need to manually create a new partition nor are you required to manually format a new partition.
Windows 7 Setup will do this automatically. Windows 7 Setup will now install a clean copy of Windows 7 to the location you chose in the previous step.
You don’t need to do anything here but wait. This is the most time consuming of any of the 34 steps. Depending on the speed of your computer, this process could take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. Now that the Windows 7 clean install process is nearly complete, you need to restart your computer. If you do nothing, your computer will reset automatically after 10 seconds or so.
If you’d rather not wait, you can select Restart now at the bottom of the Windows needs to restart to continue screen. The Windows 7 clean install is now continuing. You don’t need to do anything here. There are a few more automatic Windows 7 setup steps to come. Windows 7 Setup is now updating registry settings in preparation for the final stages of the operating system clean install. Wait while Windows 7 Setup starts various necessary services. This starting of services will occur during every Windows 7 boot as well but you won’t see it like this again.
Services start in the background during a normal Windows 7 startup. This last Windows 7 Setup screen says “Completing installation” and may take several minutes. All you need to do is wait—everything is automatic. If the Windows 7 Setup process is complete, why are we only on step 21 of 34? The remainder of the steps in this clean install process include several easy but important configurations that need to take place before you can use Windows 7.
Wait while the Windows 7 setup process automatically restarts your computer. Do not restart your computer manually at this point. Windows 7 Setup will restart your PC for you. If you interrupt the setup process by restarting manually, the clean install process may fail. You may then need to start the Windows 7 setup over again from the beginning. Wait while Windows 7 starts. No user intervention is required here. Windows 7 Setup is now preparing your computer for “first use.
Windows 7 is now loading drivers , checking to make sure everything has been setup properly, removing temporary files , etc. Remember, this clean install of Windows 7 has completely removed your old operating system.
Windows 7 is being installed and configured just as it would on a brand new computer. Wait while Windows 7 checks the video performance of your computer. Windows 7 needs to know how well your video card and related hardware works so it can properly adjust performance options for your computer.
For example, if your video system is too slow, Windows 7 may disable features like Aero Peek, translucent windows, and other graphically intense features of the operating system.
Windows 7 needs to know what user name you’d like to use and how you’d like your computer to be identified on your local network. In the Type a user name for example, John : text box, enter your name. You can enter a single name, your first and last name, or any other identifiable text you like. This is the name you’ll be identified by in Windows 7. You’re more than welcome to use the same user name that you used in your old operating system installation. In the Type a computer name: text box, enter the name you’d like your computer to have when being viewed by other computers on your network.
If it makes sense in your specific situation, I recommend using the same computer name you used in the operating system installation you’ve deleted as part of this clean install, especially if any other computers on your network connect to resources on your PC. You get the idea. Anything identifiable that makes sense to you will work. Select Next when you’re done entering both the user name and computer name. Planning on having more than one user on your computer?
Don’t worry—you can set up more users inside Windows 7 later. Microsoft recommends that you choose a password that will be required when starting Windows 7 before access to your user account will be allowed. Don’t treat this as a recommendation—consider it a requirement. In the Type a password recommended : text box, enter a complicated but easy-for-YOU-to-remember password. Retype the same password in the Retype your password: text box. Type a hint to give yourself in the Type a password hint required : text box.
This hint will display if you enter the wrong password when logging on to Windows 7. As you can see in the example above, the hint I entered was What is my favorite food?
The password I entered which you can’t see above was applesauce. Feel free to use the same password as you used in the operating system you’ve just removed from your computer as part of this Windows 7 clean install. However, this is as good a time as any to choose a stronger password than you might have used before. Enter the product key that came with your retail purchase or legal download of Windows 7. If Windows 7 came as part of your complete computer system, enter the product key you were given as part of that purchase.
If Windows originally came preinstalled on your computer, your product key is probably located on a sticker attached to the side, back, or bottom of your computer’s case. You may be able to avoid entering a product key at this point but you will eventually need to do so in order to continue using Windows 7. I highly advise that you enter your product key here and choose to Automatically activate Windows when I’m online.
On this Help protect your computer and improve Windows automatically screen, Windows 7 is asking you to choose how you want to automatically install updates from Microsoft’s Windows Update service.
Windows 10 clean install partition problem free. How to do a clean installation of Windows 10
Have a look on Google. I had to do a PC refresh.