We select and review products independently. My test procedure: 1. I get the same error code after doing an upgrade of my Windows 10 Developer Preview last night. Now, two things could happen at this point. Visit the Download Academic Products page for Education editions product key required. Clear instructions. Or you can set up a new installation after replacing the hard drive.
 
 

Start fresh with a clean installation of Windows 10.How to do a Clean Install of Windows 10 the Easy Way

 

Joinsubscribers and get a daily digest of news, geek trivia, and our feature articles. By submitting your email, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The Windows 10 upgrade process drags old files, settings, and programs from your previous Windows system to your new one.

Microsoft allows you to get an entirely fresh system by performing a clean install. Or, you may need to perform a clean install on a computer without an existing Windows system after installing a new hard drive.

Previously, Microsoft forced users to upgrade to Windows 10 before they could start fresh and do a clean install—which was annoyingly complicated and time-consuming. Now, things are much easier, since you can продолжить чтение Windows 10 with a Windows 7, 8, or 8. The classic method of performing a clean install is still our go-to option with Windows You just need to download and create installation mediaeither on a DVD or a flash drive, and install it from there.

Download the Windows 10 media creation tool from Microsoft. This tool will download the correct Windows 10 installation files for your system, and help you create an installation DVD or flash drive. You should also choose your language and select whether you want the bit or bit version of Windows here.

Most people will want the bit version, but you can create installation media that includes both, and the installer will automatically select the most appropriate one when you use it to install Windows on a computer. Install Windows 10 from the installation media like you would any other operating system. The second situation works because of how Windows 10 activates PCs. Partition your system drive however you like. If you just have a single Windows partition, you can tell the installer to overwrite it.

If you have many partitions, you could delete them all and tell Windows 10 to install itself in the unallocated windows 10 install clean free download. After you log into your new, cleanly installed Windows 10 system, it should automatically activate itself after you connect to the Internet. To ensure it activated correctly, open the Start menu and click on Settings.

When we reinstalled Windows 10 Pro on windows 10 install clean free download computer, it activated immediately. Some people report having to reboot several times, while others have just waited. Type the following command and press Enter:. Many people report having to run this command several times.

You can use windows 10 install clean free download Reset feature to reset your Windows 10 system back to a fresh state. If you installed Windows 10 yourself, this should give you a fresh Windows windows 10 install clean free download in no time.

If you purchased a computer that came with Windows 10, for example, this will likely bring back the bloatware that came with your Windows 10 PC. However, you may have to provide additional information. Image Credit: Brett Morrison on Flickr. We select and review products independently. When you purchase through our links we may earn a commission. Learn more. Windows ». What Is svchost. Best MP3 Players. Best Android Smartwatches. Best Galaxy Z Flip 4 Cases.

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Download Windows 10.Create installation media for Windows

 

Out of Box Experience The Out of Box Experience page is where you get to configure detailed settings in Windows, which includes creating a user account, configure privacy, sync PC settings and install modern applications. This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. How satisfied are you with this article? Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. Previous Next. Andre, Fantastic article. Is the media supposed to be removed prior to this final reboot?

Report abuse. Details required :. Cancel Submit. How satisfied are you with this comment? Andre Da Costa Article Author. In reply to linear 2 ‘s post on February 2, In reply to Andre Da Costa’s post on February 3, In reply to linear 2 ‘s post on February 3, This is right before the OOBE: When this phase of setup is complete, Windows will automatically restart and reboot into setup again.

Do you have more than one hard disk installed in your computer? Do you have external storage devices attached to the system? If you do, disconnect them before running setup. In reply to Andre Da Costa’s post on February 4, Thanks for the article and your help.

Understand but we need a iso or a file that can burn a disk the main operating system. Andre: Thanks for writing this up. Well, I have a question: I did the free upgrade of my Windows 7 and now want to reinstall Windows 10 using a clean install. In reply to LeonardRK’s post on July 29, I have the same problem? The main issue is that if you use your windows 8. If you skip the product key, you’ll have an un-activated version of windows installed. After talking to Microsoft support, they basically want you to buy windows 10 if you truly want to do a clean installl.

Otherwise it’s an upgrade every time. My suggestion is to do a “fresh” install don’t save any previous files and apps. This shoves your old drive into the windows. Then you can run disc cleanup and remove the windows. Then make an image of your drive for future recovery using your favorite imaging tool. I’ve not found any other way that works – and i’ve spent well over 3 days now testing different methods.

Also confirming what everyone else found – the 2 computers i have upgraded to 10 are showing the same generic key and that key will not work for install. It does work. You tried to use your 8. You shouldn’t enter any key at all at any point.

If you upgraded to 10 from 7 or 8. During a clean install of Windows 10 later on the same machine, the request for Windows 10 product key must be skipped an option is available. Otherwise your machine can’t be activated.

Note: you do NOT need your Windows 8. Click SKIP when it asks you for a key, and when you sign in on the PC with your Microsoft account same one you were already using , Windows 10 will activate automatically, no key required. Exactly, 8. After a true upgrade, MS stores your licence on their server along with your hardware info. If you do a clean installation after the upgrade, the whole activation process is automatic.

You just have to wait. No keys required. It seems that you don’t need to sign in with your MSA as you said, a local account should work too. As Zapella said, your hardware info is what matters. Well I didn’t perform a clean installation, I just used the media creation tool to upgrade to windows 10, and everything is working like a charm, expect for my display adapter driver, which gave me a low resolution, but I solved it after many trials and finally used windows update to download the latest driver, after I uninstalled the previous one, and I even got two additional updates for windows 10 pro.

You actually don’t need the product key. The clean install will activate it automatically, provided you don’t change the hardware. This makes sense Why would Microsoft expect users to extract their key with an archaic 3 rd party program, just to make use of their much advertised free upgrade for the entire populace? Should be easy right? And it is. Handy article, however I would say it would’ve been best not to suggest to delete all the partitions off the hard drive lol Just the partition they wish to install on unless they want to clean the hdd “completely”.

That’s the definition of a clean install: deleting absolutely everything, including partitions. Went the manual route for my laptop running Windows 8. Downloaded the ISO – so I can back that up too for later use if needed – loaded onto a USB stick, and used that to do the in-place upgrade. By the time I made it into Windows 10 settings it was already activated.

Then I turned around and did the the clean install – had already fully backed up and was ready, and I had been planning for a clean install anyway – which interestingly went much quicker than the upgrade. Again, activation was already done by the time I checked on it. Pretty good so far, though the system seems a bit sluggish at times. Might just be initial shakedown happening, or maybe I need to verify the drivers are current. The mfr has drivers for 7 and 8.

ISO will work fine, just make sure you get your license upgraded to a Windows 10 license by first updating through Windows Update, as mentioned in the article. In my case, my desktop and laptop currently run W7 Pro 64 bit. Does the USB get tied to that specific machine which a clean install is performed on?

Thanks J! In total my household has 5 pcs to upgrade, I’m glad I won’t have to buy 5 separate USB drive for each pc. And they have to be the same language if I’m not mistaken. Did it thanks!

If you do everything right, you’ll never need to use any key at all. You don’t need to know your windows 10 key. Might as well buy Windows 10 Home. Clean install; all the way. Once I get it clean install only thru gimagex wonder if the media creation tool is like w8’s where it’ll decrypt the install esd as folder windows payload as I hate being bored with the long drawn out process that the setup app uses.

Hi All, I did a clean install in the same way as its mentioned in the post except taking the key with Magical Jelly Bean, but after the clean install my Windows is not getting activated. I contacted MS team and got the reply as its due to server slowness issue, but I’m not convinenced becuase its alredy two days my lap in this mode Anyone faced the same issue and got it resolved please post your comments below. As long as you upgraded to W10 first and it showed as activated.

If you tried straight clean install without first doing an upgrade, then the only way I’ve come across for it to work is to rebuild to a clean version of whatever the machine came with don’t waste time on the updates for it either, literally bang on the upgrade from a USB as soon as it’s activated , then upgrade, then clean install at which point it doesn’t need a key as the hwid is registered with MS.

I get the same error code after doing an upgrade of my Windows 10 Developer Preview last night. It was fully updated and activated before I did the upgrade. I upgraded to my own language and it kept only my personal files. The error code means that the key has been blocked. Same here. Did an upgrade from Win 8. This morning massage pops out that Windows is not activated. It’s must be noted that the requirement to get Windows 10 through Windows Update is only if you want to perform a clean install.

If you use the ISO tool to install it, you just skip the cd-key and upgrade the installed OS, then it activates itself from within Windows So it’s safe and fast to just update it with the ISO tool. Is there any way to recover the Insider activation or something?

Exact same issue here. Same with DVDs, is it more than one disc? It does as it has the directories for both. Download it if you need both, and just check the size before dumping to a USB. Upgrade to win 10 then do a reset Or, you can skip all this, go into the new recovery settings and do a full reset and reinstall Windows 10 automatically Does anyone know if I can upgrade to windows 10 from vista using a clean installation?

You can, but your license won’t be upgraded. You will be running a non-Genuine copy of Windows unless you purchase a Windows 10 license key or sign up for the Windows Insider program.

The licence wouldn’t matter in this case anyway – it’s Vista so doesn’t get a free upgrade. So purchase a new licence key or have MSDN or go the insider path, and do a clean install from there. Doesn’t Windows, since Windows 8, have built in Refresh and Restore options, the latter of which basically formats the hard drive and reinstall Windows automatically? Correct me if I’m wrong.

Definitely a fresh install for me. New components may be on the cards too. While this is closer to a clean install I don’t consider it completely clean. I don’t lik my OS drives to be quick formatted.

I have not seen that anybody mentioned it, but for all students that have access to free Microsoft software via Dreamspark, you can download Win10 iso, put it on the USB or DVD and install clean copy on your system, like usually You will get a new serial key, independent of your previous downloads Win 7 or 8. During clean install, we would definitely format the previous partition then why we need to first upgrade previous version to Windows 10? It means during clean install you don’t need to give installation key and windows will be activated by itself.

First sorry for my english-I’m from Poland. I done clean installation exactly like you, but I don’t downloaded Windows 10 twice, I only downloaded once and check prepare pendrive.

Why did Edge disappear? Taskbar was unresponsive and I fixed that, but Edge disappeared? It looks like it just uninstalled. I can find the shortcut but it doesn’t open anything.

Please help! So what if I have windows XP. Can’t I install windows 10 by just purchasing windows 10 and installing it after a format of the hard drive. Does an upgrade write this over? Doesn’t matter in my case, yet wondering.

The product key is tied to the motherboard bios right? So if I clean install Windows 10 on a new hard drive will it find the product key? How to download “get windows 10 app”.

I upgraded to Windows 10 via Windows update but I performed the reinstallation of windows 10 from the settings app and selecting the restore option, choosing to delete everything. Is this thing giving the same result of the formatting option said in the article?

Or maybe there is still some windows 8. Once i upgraded my network connection didn’t work perfectly I try to install the new versions of the drivers for my mother board but it didn’t work Officially I don have internet connection on Windows That’s easy enough BUT what are you all doing about booting off of a thumb drive on a surface pro? Mine isn’t doing it. For devices with UEFI security you have to set up your usb stick in a different way.

Have a look on Google. Even specific ones for the SP3. Sent from mobile. Im interested to know how to clean install win 10 on surface 3 and pro 3. I called ms and they didnt really provide a solution. I’d like to of course have everything intact so when I do a reset it still works perfectly. Windows 11 Then select Download tool now. Important: Back up your files before you install or reinstall Windows on your PC. Learn how for Windows 10 and Windows 11 or for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

A PC with a reliable internet connection. The download time will vary, depending on your internet connection. A product key. Your character product key not required for digital licenses. Our tips and tricks are in line with Microsoft’s terms, too. This means you don’t have to worry about if it is legal to get Windows 10 for free.

And, if you’re worried about if you can upgrade to Windows 11 if you already got WIndows 10 for free, well, it’s just as easy and painless. Your upgrade to Windows 10 will give you a digital entitlement to Windows, which means if your hardware fits Microsoft’s requirements to run Windows 11, you can download Windows 11 at any time for no extra cost.

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