Windows 10: Clean Install

Hi

I'm planning a clean install of windows 10.

I am an insider on the slow ring, and I understand that because widows 10 is already activated on my hardware, it will activate by itself after the install. A question or 2 - what about drivers like sound, WiFi, etc.? I assume these will be downloaded and installed as part of the setup. I also assume that rejoining the insider program is as simple as going to the relevant place in settings and clicking the button and entering the Microsoft account details.

Another question - In the past I have not been able to get a vm going, if I can then I would like to install windows 10 on the hard disk (stable copy) and in the vm I would like to install an insider copy from the slow ring. My question is how do I go about this - Ive never used a vm before? Also the activation, will it auto activate because it (the vm) is using the same hardware as the main windows installation? I just don't join the insider program on the main installation and do join the insider program on the vm?

Nick


:)

 

To Clean Install...Or Not To Clean Install

A "clean install" by definition deletes all content of your drive, that's what the "clean" means. If you want to keep things it can't be a clean install, you have to upgrade.

Personally, I recommend you first update and get all the correct drivers for your devices and chase down the media to re-install your applications. Then save them on an external drive and do a clean install. You will have to re-install all software and re-configure,
but you end up with a lot less problems going forward.

The cost is greater but so is the reward.

A large proportion of the issues people report here seem to be due to not doing clean installs. My own experience is that a clean install with the new drivers works well. My PC respondes better than it did on Windows 7. Although it has a normal hard drive,
it boots as fast as my Notebook which has an SSD and is still on Windows 7.

Good Luck

 

To Clean Install...Or Not To Clean Install

Hi Michael,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I understand that you wish to do a clean install but I would suggest you not to do so until you have upgraded to Windows 10 and it has been activated.

Therefore, make sure you first upgrade to Windows 10 using the Get Windows 10 App or the .ISO image. Make sure the Windows 10 is Activated.

Please do not attempt a clean install if you haven't activated Windows 10 on your system.

Once you have successfully activated Windows 10 you can perform a clean install.

Hope this helps. Please respond if you have further related queries.

Regards,

 

Yes. That is true. If you have a valid activation, you can clean install as often as you like/need.

Drivers *should* be automatically installed by the OS. However, if there's any doubt, you might want to back them up first, just to be on the safe side.

Please read here - MS have made them available now for download.
Windows 10 virtual machines now available on Microsoft Edge Dev - Windows 10 Forums

Hope that helps! *Smile

EDIT: and here:
Hyper-V virtualization - Setup and Use in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

.

 

Thank you simrick

I do not understand what the first link you posted is all about, but I assume the second one is what I need.
By backup the drivers, do you mean just coping them (the downloaded installation files of the drivers) to a flash drive or an external hard disk or something?

The activation of the windows 10 in the vm - will it take on my "activation status" of the clean install?

 

The first link is a post by Brink on the MS VMs now available for download direct from MS.
Virtual Machine (VM), Windows Virtual PC BrowserStack

For the drivers, if you have the downloads/exe installation files, yes, you could just copy them to a flash or other external drive in case they need to be reinstalled after your clean install of W10. Or, you could use something like Driver Magician Lite to back up drivers too.

The VMs (either W10 Stable or W10 Preview) can be downloaded and used in Hyper-V, Virtual Box, Vagrant, or VMWare; all are available from MS to download. They are 90-day previews, without activation.

It is my understanding that, a VM is a whole separate machine from your host, and would need it's own keycode, were you to clean install W10 on it. Someone will correct me on that if I am wrong, I'm sure.

 

Thank you

So it is your understanding that running windows 10 - a stable installation and another one in a vm is like having 2 copies of windows 10 running when you (me) only have a license to run one of the installations. Makes sense to me and I do tend to agree with you, however I hope that you are wrong.

Also I don't see any problem in dropping out of the windows insider program. I would rather leave the slider control on release previews or whatever the option is called that slower than the slow ring or just not even rejoin the insider program, Ive grown tired of helping to identify problems - not that I don't think its a great idea to involve consumers in the production of windows 10.

 

You're welcome. Yes, two installs, two keys; that's my understanding.

Actually, with Redstone right around the corner, (first year anniversary update), I think it might be interesting to have the 90-day Insider running on the VM, to test out before it's released to the general public. *Wink

 

There is a built in Windows command to backup third party drivers. From an elevated ("run as administrator") command prompt, just run:

dism /online /export-driver /destination:E:\DriversW10

The path in red is to a folder you create to hold the exported drivers.