Windows 10: How to do clean install without upgrading 7 / 8.1 first

I haven't tried it myself (as I upgraded THEN did a clean install before this article appeared) but assuming it works this can be a big time saver.

How to clean install Windows 10 directly without upgrade - gHacks Tech News

:)

 

How to Activate Windows 10 Home/Pro (Clean Install)

Hello one question to ask. What if your computer needs to be reformatted then how does one go about re-installing Windows 10 ? Do you have to install Windows 7/8/8.1 first and then go about the upgrade without going through a clean install ?

 

i need the product key to activate windows 10

Unless you purchased Win 10 then there's no key, you need to run the upgrade & once activated then you can do a clean install of Win 10 if you wish & just skip the activation part as it will be auto activated later. I've heard that the latest version you
can do a clean install without upgrading first which you activate with a genuine product key from Win 7 or 8/8.1.

 

Joy buzzer sounds off! While the article points to the MS page where you download the Media Creation Tool from in either 32bi or 64bit you still need to see an upgrade from the valid installation of a previous version for the free upgrade to work as far as seeing 10 activated! Simply putting any clean install will not see that happen!

To put that to the test the second 7 build here with one drive saw that split up into two with 10 going onto second brand new primary with "3 days left to activate Windows" in plain sight! Once I upgraded over the original "Validated" 7 Pro install the clean install as well as the upgrade install was subsequently found activated since the MS activation servers now had a snapshot of the hardware profile ID created when 10 was installed as part of the upgrade install itself.

 

Paul Thurrott points out that you can get a nearly clean install in one step, by selecting 'Keep Nothing' when you run Setup.

It isn't quite as clean but it's a supported route and therefore safer in my view.

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/win...all-windows-10

 

Upgrade and then use windows 10 RESET feature . and select keep nothing..

 

If you get the chance that is to uncheck the keep all files or uncheck the option? Here it automatically created the Windows.old and on the first system that needed a repair install over the initial upgrade ended up seeing a second Windows.old00 folder added next to the first! The only folders actually put in there are the Program Files, Program FIles(x886) if running the 64bit Windows, and the users folders. You no longer see the ProgramData or Perflog folders as you expect to see with 7. So if the drive looks lighter by chance don't be concerned over those two.