How to Clean Install Windows 10 Again

Although the procedure of installing Windows 10 from scratch isn't that much unlike from installing other versions of Windows, there are a few things to go through get-go earlier yous outset. This is largely because about people that have Windows 10 will accept upgraded from a previous installation of Windows (7 or 8) and so won't have the boxed copy with the installation media.

As such, our guide covers everything yous need to know about installing Windows 10 from scratch, including downloading the installation files, creating boot media and how to clean install if you've previously upgraded to the new Os from Windows 7 or Windows 8.

Please note that this article is not an upgrade guide: if you lot're planning to upgrade from Windows vii or 8, follow ourWindows 10 upgrade guide.

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I've split this guide into articulate sections, then it's piece of cake plenty to follow everything. I recommend at least skimming through each section then that you don't miss any important information. This guide assumes you have backed upwardly all the files y'all need and have fabricated a note of whatsoever settings and licence keys for applications you want to reinstall later; y'all'll need to follow the aforementioned procedure as for any operating organisation reinstallation, then if you're non confident doing this, you should perform an in-place upgrade of Windows 10 instead.

Find out virtually all the best Windows ten features and how to use them

Windows 10 is bachelor equally a boxed product, and also on a USB flash drive, for those who want to buy it outright. For those who are entitled to an upgrade from Windows vii or 8, information technology has also been confirmed that they volition be able to install Windows 10 from scratch after they have performed the initial upgrade, by creating installation discs using disc images downloaded from Microsoft. We explain all this in the following article. If you've already got Windows 10 installed, you may be able to make things easy for yourself by reading our first installation annotation.

Windows 10 toll: Is Windows 10 costless?

The gratis upgrade to Windows 10 concluded on the 29 July 2016, which means you lot'll now have to pay for a copy of Windows x. Information technology costs £120 for Windows ten Home and £220 for Windows ten Pro.

If yous've already upgraded your computer to Windows ten prior to 29 July 2022 or your estimator shipped with it, you tin can follow these instructions to clean install the OS at whatever point. Please read the note beneath, equally information technology will give y'all a elementary mode to refresh your figurer without having to go through the full clean install steps.

A note for people with Windows 10 installed

If you've got Windows 10 on your computer already, either because you upgraded or because you've already installed a clean copy before, and yous want to perform a new make clean install, you don't necessarily have to go through the same steps as earlier.

Instead, Windows 10 has a built-in restore selection that can wipe installed applications and files, acting like a clean install in its own correct. Information technology as well has an option to uninstall all applications, only to leave your files alone, letting yous refresh your Bone without having to become back to stage one.

As this tool is built into Windows x (as it was in Windows viii) and already has a copy of all the install files information technology needs to do its task, it's quicker and easier than performing a full, clean installation. For most people, then, this selection is going to be the best i to start off with. It's non hard to use the tool, but there are a few options, and then we've put detailed instructions in our guide on how to reset Windows 10 to factory settings.

The downside of this tool is that it leaves your computer and hard drives in their current land. If you desire to repartition your difficult drive or change which drive you boot from, such as if you've just bought an SSD, so the full make clean installation instructions beneath are the best ones to follow, every bit they requite you finer control over the process.

A note for laptop owners

During our tests, nosotros found that installing Windows ten from scratch was easier on a desktop than on a laptop computer. This is because laptops often have complicated deejay drive structures with several recovery partitions, which can make installing Windows 10 difficult, every bit well as a fussy BIOS which makes information technology catchy to boot from USB.

For instance, a Dell XPS 13 running Windows 8.1 which nosotros were using for testing had no fewer than vii different partitions. It also wouldn't boot from the Windows x USB wink drive we had made until we had gone into the BIOS, disabled Secure Boot and changed from UEFI boot to Legacy.

Unfortunately, equally we were in Legacy boot mode, nosotros then couldn't install to the laptop'south disk as information technology was in GPT format; the only solution was to delete every partition before installing. This is not something y'all desire to do if you'd like to keep your laptop's organisation recovery partitions, in order to make information technology piece of cake to go back to a manufacturing plant-fresh state should you wish.

If you'd like to install Windows 10 on a modern laptop without taking the gamble of destroying all your manufacturer'southward system partitions, you're best off running the installer from within your electric current operating system, and electing to delete all your apps and files. This will requite you a near-clean install with the minimum of fuss.

How to create a Windows ten installation disc or drive

To create installation media, you have 2 options. Beginning, you tin download the ISO file to a figurer and then use our instructions to create kick media. Secondly, you lot tin run the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool and get it to create the boot USB bulldoze for you. The latter choice is the easiest, so that's the method we'll focus on first.

How to create a bootable wink drive using the Windows x Media Creation Tool

These instructions testify you how to create a bootable flash drive merely. If you want to create a DVD, you'll need to follow our instructions below on how to create boot media using the Windows 10 ISO. From a Windows PC download the Windows x Media Creation Tool. If y'all don't have a Windows computer available at the moment, y'all'll demand to follow the instructions below on downloading the ISO file, and follow our culling instructions.

Run the Media Cosmos Tool and select Create installation media for another PC and click Adjacent. On the next screen, select USB flash drive. Insert your USB drive into your computer (information technology needs to exist at least 3GB in size, and you tin buy an 8GB USB wink drive from Amazon for less than £4, and so price isn't a huge issue). Click Next, then choose the linguistic communication, version of Windows (Home or Pro - you lot tin can ignore the N versions) and whether you demand the 32-bit or 64-chip version. Information technology's very of import that you lot get this step right; if you don't, your figurer will non activate, as you will not have the right licence for it.

Click Next and select your flash drive from the list (make certain you become the right i) and click Next. Your computer will download the installation files and write them to your flash drive automatically.

How to create a flash drive or DVD from the Windows 10 ISO

If you lot want to create a bootable DVD drive, yous'll demand to download the Windows 10 ISO file. This file is also useful if you want to create boot media whenever you like. There are ii means to download the file. First, from a non-Windows PC you tin just download the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft. You'll most probable need the standard 'Windows 10' ISO, which includes the installation files for the Home and Pro versions of Windows 10.

If yous're using a Windows PC, you lot'll exist redirected to a page that asks yous to download the Microsoft Media Creation Tool. In one case you lot've downloaded and installed this, you tin can download the ISO file from inside the software: select Create installation media and click Next, select your language, the Habitation or Pro version of Windows 10, 32-bit or 64-bit and click Next. On the next folio select ISO file and click Next, cull where yous desire to put the file in the Explorer dialog box and click Save.

In one case you've downloaded the image you'll need to either burn it to a DVD or install information technology to a USB flash bulldoze (encounter below). You'll be able to install from DVD on any computer with a DVD bulldoze, but you lot'll need to have a DVD writer to create the install disc, and the installation process takes significantly longer than from a USB bulldoze.

Most computers fabricated in the last 10 years or so will support booting from USB flash drives. Windows ten requires a 4GB or larger flash drive to use as the install disk, with an 8GB bulldoze costing from as little as £4. Besides as making the installation process faster, using a flash drive means you'll be able to use the bulldoze for other purposes subsequently yous've installed Windows. There are besides plenty of slimline laptops out there that don't have DVD drives.

How to create a Windows 10 DVD

The only tricky function of creating an installation DVD is making certain you burn the Windows 10 disc image to your DVD as a bootable image rather than as a file. You can employ any disc-burning programme you like, and the steps will be broadly similar, but we've used the free ImgBurn awarding.

Footstep ane - Download ImgBurn for free

Go to ImgBurn's website and click Download. Click the last Mirror link (Mirror 7 - Provided by ImgBurn - other download links are not safe), save the file to your hard disk and run it. Follow the steps to install the program, but make sure y'all deselect both the advertising add-ons the setup program tries to install (you'll need to select 'Custom Install (Avant-garde) to get rid of 1 of them).

Footstep 2 - Write the ISO file to disc

Run ImgBurn, and click 'Write image file to disk'. Click the icon of a folder with a magnifying glass adjacent to 'Source', and browse to the Windows x ISO you downloaded. Double-click the ISO file, put your blank DVD in the drive and click the large write icon at the bottom to brand your DVD.

How to create a Windows ten USB wink bulldoze

This is a bit more than complicated than making a DVD, but the excellent Rufus application simplifies matters somewhat. Retrieve that you need at least a 4GB wink bulldoze, and that all data already on the drive volition be wiped during the process.

Pace one - Download Rufus for complimentary

Become to rufus.akeo.ie, and download the latest version (2.12 at the time of writing). Save it to your calculator and run it. Plug in your flash drive, and information technology will appear at the top under Device. Rufus will show the USB stick's drive letter of the alphabet in brackets afterward the wink bulldoze's name. Check in Calculator/This PC that this is definitely the drive yous want to utilize for your Windows 10 installer disk as call up that it will be entirely and irretrievably wiped during the installation process.

Step 2 - Write the ISO file to the flash drive

Under 'Segmentation scheme and target system blazon' select 'MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI'. Under 'File system' select 'NTFS'. Check that 'Quick format', 'Create a bootable disk using' and 'Create extended label and icon files' are selected, make certain 'ISO image' is selected in the driblet-down next to 'Create a bootable disk using' and click the small icon that looks like a DVD drive with a disc above it. Browse to your ISO and double-click to select information technology, then click Start. Read the warning about flash drive data destruction, then sit down back and wait for your Windows x flash drive to exist created, which will have around 5 minutes depending on the speed of the drive.

Scan to your ISO and double-click to select it, then click Start. Read the alert about flash drive information destruction, then sit back and wait for your Windows 10 flash drive to exist created, which will have around 5 minutes depending on the speed of the drive.

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Source: https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/software/operating-systems/1401617/how-to-clean-install-windows-10-and-create-boot-media

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