How To Install Clean Version Of Windows 10

[This mail, originally published in 2022, was updated in March 2022 to reflect contempo changes in Windows 10.]

Among Windows experts, a clean install is a fourth dimension-honored ritual, a fashion to wipe out accumulated cruft and restore an old PC to new life.

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You can find plenty of perfectly proficient reasons to practice a clean install. Y'all might be repurposing an former but withal serviceable PC for apply by someone else in your family or your organization. Mayhap you've decided to replace a conventional hard disk drive drive with a fast solid-country drive to extend the life of an older PC. Or maybe you simply want a fresh start.

The Windows 10 update guide: How to install and manage security and characteristic updates

A clean install is the ultimate troubleshooting technique, virtually guaranteed to eliminate performance or compatibility problems caused past third-party software, temporary files, configuration errors, and garden-diversity malware. Done right, the result is a PC that starts from a known skilful land, with either the default Windows 10 configuration or a previously tested configuration that includes specific third-party software and drivers.

By my count, there are iv ways to do a clean install (short of ownership a new PC). Here are the pros and cons of each method, forth with some communication on when to utilize each ane.

Use a recovery image from the OEM

If y'all purchased a PC with Windows 10 preinstalled, y'all might take the pick to revert to the original image that the manufacturer supplied.

The expert news is that the saved image includes all the drivers, utilities, and hardware back up and then that all your devices piece of work as designed, as before long as yous sign in for the beginning time.

The bad news is that the saved image also includes any crapware the manufacturer was paid to preinstall alongside your otherwise pristine Windows x installation. That might non be a dealbreaker if you accept a business concern-course PC, with minimal unwanted software, merely it can be a regal hurting for a consumer device overstuffed with games and trial versions of software.

As well the aforementioned crapware, the biggest disadvantage of this choice is that you're likely to end up with a Windows installation that's out of date, leading to the need for a tedious full feature update, followed by the latest cumulative update, after your recovery is complete.

This option is preferred if you're getting a machine ready to sell, or if y'all're experiencing hardware issues that require repair or return of a device as part of a warranty claim.

The selection to restore an OEM image might be available from a dedicated partition when you start your PC in recovery mode, or your OEM might include a utility that downloads the latest image from its servers. Equally an culling, your OEM might be able to supply y'all with a bootable recovery image that you tin can install on a USB wink bulldoze. (See "How to get a free Windows (or Linux) recovery image for your OEM PC" for details on where y'all can get recovery images for Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft Surface devices.)

Restore from a fill-in image

Past definition, this choice is simply available if you're a well-prepared person who used the legacy Windows Fill-in plan (Sdclt.exe) or an alternative third-party backup program immediately subsequently setting up your PC when it was brand new.

If you count yourself amidst that pocket-sized group, you are probably reading this article from your lavishly appointed fallout shelter, with a 12-month supply of canned nutrient, medications, and bottled water neatly stacked on the shelves. As a well-prepared person, what you did immediately afterwards setting up your PC was to create a fill-in image of your completed Windows installation, in anticipation of the day when something would caput south and you would want to get-go over.

This choice is specially highly-seasoned if you rely on a big collection of tertiary-party software, including custom device drivers that are non available through Windows Update. Capture that image after completing installation of all those third-party programs but earlier restoring whatsoever personal information files.

The disadvantages of this technique include the extra time and attempt required to create the backup, equally well as the organizational chops required to keep that fill-in safe and hands attainable when it's needed. As with an OEM recovery prototype, the backup doesn't necessarily include the most recent feature update. Withal, if the image reflects a Windows 10 version that y'all want to use while you skip 1 or ii successive feature updates, yous might see this every bit a plus.

Employ the Windows ten Reset This PC option

This feature, which has been significantly refined since its debut in Windows 8, lays down a completely new re-create of your current Windows version, without any tertiary-political party drivers or software that might be causing issues. You lot don't need any installation media or product keys, and yous don't have to adapt firmware settings to boot from an alternative device.

Y'all can't reset your PC by accident. The process involves at least 4 steps that require choices on your role, with one final confirmation that lays out in very clear terms exactly what's about to happen. Yous tin back out at whatsoever time before you click that concluding button.

To start, go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery. Under the Reset This PC heading, click Go Started.

In the commencement prepare of options, choose Continue My Files (best pick if you're planning to reuse the PC yourself) or Remove Everything (if you're selling the PC or turning it over to someone else). If y'all choose to remove all files, the next selection allows yous to wipe the empty space those files occupied so they can't be recovered using disk utility software. (You can skip that step if yous're resetting the PC for your own employ.)

Showtime with Windows 10 version 2004, the Reset This PC feature allows you to choose whether you desire to reinstall Windows using the currently installed copy or download a fresh copy from the deject. (Note that the Cloud Download choice will employ up to iv GB of information.)

The reset procedure is the all-time option if you desire the quickest, least cumbersome way to start fresh. Note that a reset might not work if your system is compromised by malware or if some system files are damaged or corrupted.

Reinstall from bootable Windows 10 recovery media

This option gives you the most control over the clean install process. It besides requires more boilerplate technical skills and, usually, some post-installation futzing to get all hardware working properly and to ensure that the correct features are available.

It'southward a 3-step procedure:

First, use the Media Cosmos Tool to download the latest installation files from the Download Windows 10page and create a bootable USB wink drive. (For details, see my FAQ, "Windows 10 updates: How to install, reinstall, upgrade, and actuate.")
Next, find the right combination of keystrokes and/or incantations to boot direct from that bulldoze into the Windows Setup program. Use the built-in tools to reformat and/or repartition the target drive, if necessary. If you skip the formatting pace, your old files remain on the drive in a Windows.sometime folder.
Finally, install Windows 10. Bold yous're doing and then on hardware that'south previously been activated, y'all can skip past the function where you lot're asked to enter a product key; Windows will actuate automatically afterward you sign in for the commencement time.

After that'south complete, y'all'll need to use Windows Update to install the latest updates, including hardware drivers for devices that aren't included every bit office of a standard Windows setup. If you did the installation without formatting the system drive first, you'll need to clean upwardly the Windows.old folder and then terminate additional setup tasks.