Windows 10: Question about Windows 10 Reset Feature

I was wondering...if i say, bought a new toshiba laptop (for example) with windows 10 pre-installed on it by toshiba,
and then let is say i used the windows 10 "reset" feature and had it do a totally clean re-install without saving anything,
well what would the result be?

Would i have a clean fresh copy of windows 10 WITH all the original toshiba added "crapware" (lol)
Or, would i have a PURE copy of windows 10 without that stuff on it (you know, as if i had purchased a copy of windows 10 and installed it which of course would not have any toshiba related stuff the laptop came with).

I was just curious....so that i will know when i buy my next toshiba laptop with 10 already installed on it...
(I am currently using one that is a few years old which is both upgraded and then clean installed 10 on, and that of course does have a pure windows 10 install now)....

Thanks *Smile

:)

 

Question about reset to Windows 10

Thanks for the quick reply.

So If I do a full reset I will not be able to obtain the Windows key?

I have Windows 10 Pro

Pls clarify, so I can proceed to prepare the reset.

 

Question about reset to Windows 10

Jukka,

1 Are there any Admin accounts on the computer? Find out using section 1 of
If the Admin prompt has a greyed out or missing Yes button but no password entry box, use the Built-In Admin account in Safe mode to create two new Admin accounts - Wiki

[while you are doing it, check whether or not the Admin account that has the username
Administrator is enabled or not. They should not have left your computers in this condition but it is possible that they did so]

2 If there are no Admin accounts on the computer then you can use the rest of the procedure in that Wiki article to add some.

3 If there are Admin accounts on the computer but you do not have their passwords and if, as should be the case, the Admin account that has the username
Administrator is not enabled then reinstalling Windows 10 Pro is the only recommendation we are allowed to make in this forum.

4 If, as should not be the case, the Admin account that has the username
Administrator is already enabled then you can log into that to create new Admin accounts [see section 4 of the Wiki article].

• By default, the Admin account that has the username Administrator has no password.
  
• When you have finished and have tested the new user accounts, including their Admin status, you can disable the Admin account that has the username
  Administrator using para 5.5 of the Wiki article.
• If the IT company put a password on this account then this procedure is not open to you.

5 Since you should not be required to give an Admin password merely to download anything [rather than installing software], you should consider reinstalling anyway because you do not know what else has been constrained by that original IT support company.

Denis

 

Pretty sure that Resetting is pretty much the same thing as doing a factory restore. So, yes all the bloatware will still be there. I would think you can just make a Windows 10 disc and do a clean install yourself. Microsoft should still activate it.

 

You get what you buy! After a reset you have a "clean" fresh copy of windows 10 WITH all the original toshiba added "crapware" . It`s only a factory reset.

 

I think this would be the way forward, although I'd make sure I had a backup first.

 

Thanks for the input guys...I would also make a set of toshiba install discs first of course (always like to have a back up as David mentioned)....

How would you make a windows 10 disc that would give you a clean install on a new windows 10 computer?
And do you mean you would be able to activate using the key assigned to the toshiba installed image?

 

I don't know that a reinstall from a downloaded Win10 would actually activate. What you have currently is an OEM version of Win10. What you will be downloading will not be an OEM version. I've been told that, starting with Win8, the versions (OEM vs. Retail) don't matter and you can install a Retail version on an OEM machine and it will still activate with the OEM info -- presumably because the product key is embedded in the hardware. But -- I don't know this to be true (the activation part).

If I were you, I would wait for someone to reply to your thread with confirmation that installing a retail version over OEM will still activate without problems.

 

You have a Windows 10 sticker on your Toshiba? You can use that for a clean install. OEM just means that license is only good for that PC and if the hardware changed you would need a new license. All you are doing by making your own disc is avoiding the crap that the manufacturer put on it. All that matters is that you are installing the same version, which in your case is probably the HOME version. If it is a Pro by some chance then you want to install that. The Windows Activation server SHOULD already have registered your device and you shouldn't need to add a product key.

As far as how to make the disc, you need to download the Windows 10 Media Creator. It will download an ISO for you that you can burn to disc or even make a bootable USB out of.

 

Thanks Chris...i didn't buy the new windows 10 laptop as of yet....may even wait for a few months when they run sales and you get more bang for the buck, as it were...

Appreciate you letting me know how one would make the windows 10 disc to do a clean install (without the toshiba stuff)...i find from my old laptop which has the upgraded and then clean installed version, that it's very nice to have a CLEAN and PURE windows install *Smile

I forgot that since windows 8 installed hardware came out, that the license key is actually recorded into the computer's bios and that once the device has been initially registered (when you first set up the computer) that the microsoft servers already recognize the hardware and no product key needs to be used...a very nice change, for sure...

 

1. Do an image backup of the entire drive, all partitions.
2. Do the Reset.

My belief is you will end up with with the equivalent of a Clean Install. This article says the same: How to Clean Install Windows 10

If not, restore the image or do the Clean Install.

 

If the OEM puts their software into a custom Provisioning Package, then the software will be re-installed by a Reset. So it may not be the same as a Clean Install.

 

I am 99.99 percent sure that just doing a reset will bring the computer back to the way it was out of box. Why would it give you a clean/pure install of Windows? That is the goal in this case, but some others might actually want the software that comes with the computer. A reset is the equivalent of pressing a special function key at boot and starting the Factory restore process. The difference here is it also gives you the option of doing it from within Windows(more user friendly) and it lets you save your files if you want. It really is nothing special. The reset function is using an image stored on the system, and that image is custom made by the manufacturer and is what was initially installed on the system. There is a way of adding your own image and assigning the reset function to that image instead, but I do not remember what that involved.

I think the only way you get in trouble with a clean install is if there is hardware on the system and it needs special drivers that Windows doesn't already have. In that case, something might not work right until you can download the drivers and install it.

 

Seems you're right. I didn't read enough of the article I linked to. It says:

Edit: Please make the image then try it. I'd really like to know what happens. *Biggrin*Biggrin

 

Exactly, and my goal would be have a clean install of windows 10 without the bloatware that came with the new computer...

For my older laptop upgraded from windows 7 to windows 10 computer that i am currently using, after doing the upgrade (which brought the bloatware with it) using the upgrade tool, i downloaded and burned a windows 10 iso using the upgrade tool, and installed a totally clean "windows pure" version with it (i have none of the toshiba bloatware on it)...

That is easy to do with the upgrade path but i was referring to how to accomplish it on a new computer that has "10" pre-installed...*Wink