Windows 10: Clean Install of Windows 10

Some weeks ago I did a clean install of Windows 10 and everything seemed to be OK. However, I recently ran into s few problems and now want to redo the clean install. I have the necessary USB stick which I used to do the first installation and I am now trying to use it again by changing the boot options on starting up my pc. Each time that I have tried this within the last half an hour, as the machine starts up it opens up a version of Macrium Reflect which is a bought and paid for version on my pc. I don't know why this is happening and so I have uninstalled the programme for the time being but, despite the fact that I have removed it, the same thing keeps happening. Interestingly, when it does open up, the on screen image is in large type just like when you have loaded Windows but before you have amended the screen resolution. Also for some reason, a couple of times when I have pressed F12 to get at the boot options, it hasn't let me in to make the changes and the machine has just booted up in the normal way and so I have just kept trying and eventually it does allow me to make the change but then I get the aforementioned problem with Macrium Reflect appearing. Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you.

:)

 

Clean install of Windows 10

Eeschwar , Thanks for the fast reply and the link you refered me to Windows 10 herunterladen
it explained everything I needed.

Again thanks very much ...Dan

 

Clean install of Windows 10

Original Title: Win 10 upgrade

Now that I have upgraded my windows 7 to windows 10

I see by right clicking "This PC" it shows a win 10 product ID number.

Does this mean now that I have upgraded Win 7 and have a product

ID number that I can reinstall on a clean drive (same computer)?

My Win 7 install was a little buggy before the upgrade and I would like

a fresh install on an SSD drive. I was told win 7 would no longer work

after the upgrade so reinstalling win 7 before win 10 may not be possible.

 

Make sure you are using the right USB flash drive. It sounds like you are booting a Macrium Reflect rescue drive.

If you can boot normally, insert the flash drive and look at it, contents should be similar to this:





dates and times will be different of course.

 

Thank you for coming in on my problem, much appreciated.

I am hoping that I have managed to attach an image of what is on the USB stick. If it doesn't appear correctly, I can tell you that it is very similar to what you have shown in your reply.

 

WinKey + r
[ msconfig ]

On the Services tab: Hide all MS services, disable all non-MS Services
On the Startup Tab / TaskMgr: Disable all except Antivirus

Then cold start the machine - shutdown, not restart

 

Is there an install.wim file in the sources folder on the USB flash drive? That certainly does NOT appear to be a standard Windows 10 installation flash drive.

I came within a few NM of becoming a bluenose in the 90's but they wouldn't give us permission to cross over :-<

 

Hello folks, would it be easier for me to sort this if I download the Media Creation Tool again and start from scratch?

 

Probably! I notice you have a drivers folder on your USB flash drive - you might want to copy that to your hard drive. After the Media Creation Tool creates a new Windows 10 USB flash drive - copy that back to it. It won't affect the Windows 10 installation booting, but it might have drivers you need for your computer after Windows 10 installs.

Oh...make sure to download the latest version of the media creation tool so you also get the latest download of Windows 10...

Windows 10

The Media Creation Tool does not "auto update" itself.

 

Thank you so much for all this info. Sorry to appear dim, but how can I ensure that I am getting the latest media creation tool and the most recent issue of Windows 10

 

Download a new Media Creation Tool from the website linked to.

 

In my Download file I have two items, one is the Media Creation Tool and the other is Windows. When I open the Creation Tool and I tell it that I want the USB option, a message tells me that it can't find a USB and yet it is showing in the directory tree as drive M. What is the best way to transfer the Media Creation Tool to the USB stick? I did think that I could just copy and paste it. Any ideas please?

 

I would install MiniTool Partition Wizard and use that to examine the USB flash drive. You will want to delete all partitions on the flash drive, make sure it is set for MBR type partitioning, and create 1 FAT32, primary partition on it. You will also want to right click on the new partition and click "Set Active." Make sure to click the apply button in MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

After doing the above, the Media Creation Tool should see the USB flash drive. You say you have the Media Creation Tool downloaded and Windows. Is the Windows that you have downloaded the ISO file that the latest Media Creation Tool just downloaded? If it is, then you do not need to download another copy of Windows just to make the USB flash drive. Just right click on the Windows ISO file, select Mount. A new virtual DVD drive will open, with it's own drive letter. Copy all the files and folders from the virtual DVD drive to the USB flash drive. That will recreate it for you without having to download a whole new Windows 10 at 3.5 GB every time you download it.

 

Hi again, thanks for being so helpful. This morning I downloaded the Media Creation Tool and it seems that the Windows file also came with it. I then went back to the Microsoft site and downloaded just the ISO File.

Hopefully you will be able to see the image that I have attached below which shows what I have in my 'Download' file at the moment. You will see that the ISO file that I downloaded is bigger than the one that came with the Media Creation Tool.





I have formatted the USB drive and so there is nothing on it at the moment but the system still isn't seeing it.

 

Is it plugged into a black USB 2.0 port and not a blue USB 3.0 port? What part of "the system" still isn't seeing it? If it just isn't showing up in file explorer - that was probably my mistake, go back to MiniTool Partition Wizard or disk management and right click on the partition on the USB flash drive and assign a drive letter to it. Again, don't forget to click apply.