Windows 10: Upgrade or clean install - what do you use?

After my upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 I was very happy with the new OS on my Acer Aspire M3920 desktop. Everything worked perfect, no hardware or software problems at all.

Then I read on several tech forums that many or mayby most people did prefer a clean install of Windows 10. So, I decided to make a try. I wiped all my partitions on my HDD and installed Win 10. Then the problem started with computer that won't shut down completely, and computer that would not wake up from sleep or hibernate mode. Like the problem many other Win 10 users have experienced. Had to use forced shutdown and bla bla .......

I had to reinstall Windows 7 again because of this shutdown problem, and yes, I have tried almost every solutions suggested on most tech forums, but none have fixed the problem. I will try Win 10 again after next big update and see what happens. Have to say that my new ASUS laptop works perfect with clean install of Win 10, but not my desktop.

Which version of Windows 10 do most people on Tenforum use, the upgrade or clean install?

:)

 

The free upgrade lets you do a clean install on a blank Hard Drive, YES or NO?

Andre Da Costa wrote:

You need to start the upgrade from within a qualifying version of Windows 7 or Windows 8 whether you user the reservation app or download the .ISO.

You can't do a clean install with it on a blank SSD or hard disk.

Can we somehow do a clean install with the free upgrade of Windows 10 on a new blank SSD ?

YES or NO ?

How about this:

• Start upgrade process by getting the ISO on a qualified Windows machine
• Format the computer
• Reinstall using the downloaded iso

?

 

The free upgrade lets you do a clean install on a blank Hard Drive, YES or NO?

No.

 

Well, if everything worked perfectly from an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, but did not work with a clean install of Windows 10 - then I would stay with a clean install of Windows 7 followed by an upgrade to Windows 10. Obviously there were registry settings or files that carried over that kept everything working. Otherwise, I always prefer a clean install when I can.

 

I am always in favor of a clean install. This way, I know nothing was left behind, and I'm able to make sure I'm using the latest drivers and software.

 

I have 2 Acer Aspire M3995,and I did the clean install, but I went from 8-10 first ,activated win10 and then did the clean install on C:\ drive partition ,but I did not delete all partitions on one of them , saved the recovery partition just in case, the 2nd one the hdd was dead ,so added new hdd , it was 1 partition any way , I experienced no issues so far .

when you did the upgrade did select to check for updates at the first part of the upgrade ,,,

 

caperjack

Yes, I did select the "check for updates" before the installation started.

Maybe I will try a new clean install this weekend and just format the partition I will install Win 10 on and see if this could get rid of the shutdown problem.

What I have been reading on most tech forums most expert's thinks the shutdown problem is a combination of drivers and the OS.
I don't know, I'm just an average joe on computers. *Smile

 

good luck ,
and i'm just a average jack [of all trades master of none ],including computers ,,trial and error kind of guy

 

Upgrade from 8.1 to 10 also worked very fine and fast on my Acer i5 5600U 4-in-one and has been doing good since then, and is now Permanently Activated. All appears to be good, and I am ready to add a 500GB SSD witin the next few days. I believe the speed of my Win 10 is as good as my old 8.1.... anyway fast enough and I will keep my win 10.
All be safe.. ..and thanks for all the help I have received.. Cliff M.

 

Prefer clean install, it is is an opportunity to start fresh from scratch without any bloatware and trial software that might have come pre-installed with your system.

 

I prefer the path of least resistance and effort *Smile . I upgraded my Lenovo K450 from 8.1 Pro, Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872 from earlier IP build to 10240 and Dell Inspiron 15R 5520 from earlier IP build to 10240.

All work great so I see no need to clean install any of them. There was no crapware/cramware/forceware on any of them as I cleaned tha out a long time ago.

 

My HP Laptop contains an OEM version of Windows 8.1 that has been fully updated and eligible for a free Windows 10 upgrade as notified by MS, so would be contacted further by e-mail with regards to this.
Not wishing to wait for this I decided to partition in half my 1TB HD and create a dual boot installing Windows 10 ISO via a bootable DVD. All went well and Windows 10 up and running except will not activate with the ID Windows 10 product key displayed in the Settings? Settings gives an error message code and states I need to go to the store and make a purchase of Windows 10?
I am reading that I should have first installed Windows 10 by overwriting my existing verified copy of Windows 8.1 and then would have received a key. Is this correct because I did not want to overwrite my many Windows 8.1 applications (some of which are incompatible with Windows 10)?
Is there any other way to activate my clean install of Windows 10?
Many thanks.

 

I did a clean as possible upgrade. First I wiped my hard drive and did a clean install of Windows 7 Pro x64. After that I verified all drivers were loaded and no yellow flags in Device Manager. I made sure all Windows 7 updates were loaded, until it stated no more updates available.

Then I performed a Windows 10 Pro x64 upgrade and told the system to keep nothing. Been working great since July 29.

 

Antilope

I think I will try your way of updating Windows 10.
After having trouble with shutting down my computer after my first clean install of Win 10 (deleted all partitions on my HDD), the next best thing to a clean install is to use "Upgrade", and then "Keep nothing" (files, apps and settings). This alternative is as clean as possible.

And I think this will keep the drivers from previous Windows installation. Driver's where most likely the reason I could not get a real clean installation of Windows 10 to work on my computer.