Windows 10: Is installing a clean windows 10 on OEM laptops impossible [discuss.]

Yes. Yes. Yes. I know that Windows 10 had to be installed and activated first. I thought I just said that.
And than you go for the clean install. Hmmmm. I guess perhaps my message was not all that clear.

Yes. I had upgraded using the free install of Windows 10. I did that. And than using the USB stick I went for the Clean install.
I ended up with newly formatted drives and a new/clean install of Windows 10 and it was NOT activated.

What did I miss??

 

Did you write down the Product ID when you upgraded to Win 10?

 

Okay then. And you confirmed the upgrade had activated correctly yes? (You haven't actually said)

If so, what is the error code on the activation page of your clean install please.

 

I have successfully clean installed on a HP dv6 and kept the OEM recovery partition.

When you clean install Win10 it asks you where you want to put it, and whether you would like to format the partition you want to put it on IIRC. You tell it where you want it to go, and it does it without overwriting any other partitions (with the exception of the system reserved partition).

There's no need to do away with your OEM recovery partition, or to completely wipe the drive. All that needs wiping is the partition where you intend to install Win10. And it really doesn't need "wiping". A quick format will be good enough.

 

Well originally you said, "my existing operation system was Windows 7 Pro and it was activated." You didn't state that you actually did the free upgrade? Not clearly anyway? What version of Windows 10 did you get with the free upgrade, and what version did you clean install? They have to be the same version for it to activate.

 

But what is the value of an oem recovery partition if your hard disk fails? It is just a token effort from the OEMs when really they should be providing the proper installation disks (which is what they used to do).

I believe folks need to understand just how useless a recovery partition is at protecting from data loss and look for alternatives. I just wish I had dollar for every time someone has said something like "My hard drive has failed and I can't access my recovery partition. How do I retrieve my family photos, wedding snaps, videos and files?". I'd probably own a little island and have a yacht for fishing from the money accrued!

 

*Ditto Even if you leave it there, the link to access it and make us of it on boot up will be broken when you install a new OS. Even if it works, it will take you back to the old OS and wipe everything out. I ditched mine long ago, along with all the OEM bloat, with a nice clean install.

 

I agree with you. I long ago graduated to Macrium, but the OP had a specific question so I answered that rather than expound on the advantages of imaging and offsite backups.

However, I tell you what. For doing a clean install, the OEM partition saved me quite a bit of time. I had win 8.1 on the drive and did not want to update to Win 10 with 8.1. So I just used the recovery partition to reinstall win 7, then upgraded, then clean installed from a CD.

As an aside, I am having a dual boot problem I think has to do with my misunderstanding of how Macrium works. Maybe you can help me out with that. I'll post in a different thread, so as not to hijack the OP's thread here.

Edit:
Win 8.1 dual boot no longer works. - Windows 10 Forums

 

That is the first I do when I buy a new laptop. Immediately wipe the partitions, install my preferred edition of Windows and Linux and be done with it. No bloatware, no recovery partition, no Norton or whatever. Just what I want and need.