How To Boot Clean Install Windows 10

[This post, originally published in 2019, was updated in March 2021 to reflect recent changes in Windows 10.]

Among Windows experts, a clean install is a time-honored ritual, a way to wipe out accumulated cruft and restore an one-time PC to new life.

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You lot can observe plenty of perfectly adept reasons to do a clean install. You might be repurposing an onetime but still serviceable PC for use by someone else in your family or your organization. Perhaps you lot've decided to replace a conventional hard disk with a fast solid-state drive to extend the life of an older PC. Or peradventure you lot just want a fresh start.

The Windows ten update guide: How to install and manage security and feature updates

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

Past my count, there are iv ways to do a make clean install (short of ownership a new PC). Hither are the pros and cons of each method, along with some advice on when to employ each one.

Use a recovery image from the OEM

If yous purchased a PC with Windows x preinstalled, y'all might have the option to revert to the original paradigm that the manufacturer supplied.

The good news is that the saved image includes all the drivers, utilities, and hardware support so that all your devices work equally designed, as before long as you sign in for the outset time.

The bad news is that the saved image also includes whatever crapware the manufacturer was paid to preinstall alongside your otherwise pristine Windows 10 installation. That might not be a dealbreaker if you accept a business-grade PC, with minimal unwanted software, but it can be a royal pain for a consumer device overstuffed with games and trial versions of software.

Besides the same crapware, the biggest disadvantage of this option is that you're likely to end up with a Windows installation that's out of date, leading to the need for a slow total characteristic update, followed by the latest cumulative update, after your recovery is consummate.

This option is preferred if you're getting a machine ready to sell, or if you're experiencing hardware issues that crave repair or return of a device equally part of a warranty merits.

The pick to restore an OEM paradigm might be available from a dedicated sectionalization when you outset your PC in recovery mode, or your OEM might include a utility that downloads the latest prototype from its servers. As an alternative, your OEM might be able to supply you with a bootable recovery paradigm that you can install on a USB flash drive. (Meet "How to get a free Windows (or Linux) recovery image for your OEM PC" for details on where you can get recovery images for Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft Surface devices.)

Restore from a backup image

By definition, this option is only bachelor if yous're a well-prepared person who used the legacy Windows Fill-in program (Sdclt.exe) or an culling tertiary-political party backup program immediately after setting up your PC when it was brand new.

If you count yourself among that pocket-size grouping, y'all are probably reading this article from your lavishly appointed fallout shelter, with a 12-month supply of canned food, medications, and bottled water neatly stacked on the shelves. As a well-prepared person, what you did immediately after setting up your PC was to create a fill-in image of your completed Windows installation, in apprehension of the solar day when something would caput southward and you would desire to start over.

This option is specially appealing if you rely on a large collection of third-party software, including custom device drivers that are not available through Windows Update. Capture that image afterwards completing installation of all those third-party programs but before restoring any personal data files.

The disadvantages of this technique include the extra time and effort required to create the backup, as well as the organizational chops required to continue that fill-in rubber and easily accessible when it's needed. Equally with an OEM recovery image, the backup doesn't necessarily include the most recent characteristic update. However, if the image reflects a Windows ten version that yous want to apply while you lot skip ane or ii successive feature updates, you might run into this as a plus.

Use the Windows 10 Reset This PC option

This feature, which has been significantly refined since its debut in Windows 8, lays down a completely new copy of your current Windows version, without whatsoever 3rd-party drivers or software that might be causing problems. You don't need whatsoever installation media or product keys, and yous don't take to adjust firmware settings to boot from an alternative device.

Y'all can't reset your PC by accident. The process involves at to the lowest degree four steps that crave choices on your part, with one last confirmation that lays out in very clear terms exactly what's about to happen. You tin dorsum out at any fourth dimension earlier y'all click that final button.

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

In the first gear up of options, choose Keep My Files (all-time choice 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 you choose to remove all files, the side by side choice allows you to wipe the empty infinite those files occupied so they can't be recovered using disk utility software. (Yous can skip that pace if you lot're resetting the PC for your own utilise.)

Commencement with Windows ten version 2004, the Reset This PC feature allows y'all to choose whether you lot want to reinstall Windows using the currently installed copy or download a fresh copy from the cloud. (Note that the Cloud Download choice will use up to 4 GB of data.)

The reset process is the best choice if you want the quickest, least cumbersome way to start fresh. Note that a reset might not work if your system is compromised past malware or if some system files are damaged or corrupted.

Reinstall from bootable Windows 10 recovery media

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

It's a iii-step process:

First, employ the Media Creation Tool to download the latest installation files from the Download Windows 10folio and create a bootable USB flash drive. (For details, see my FAQ, "Windows 10 updates: How to install, reinstall, upgrade, and actuate.")
Next, observe the correct combination of keystrokes and/or incantations to boot directly from that bulldoze into the Windows Setup program. Apply the built-in tools to reformat and/or repartition the target drive, if necessary. If you skip the formatting step, your quondam files remain on the drive in a Windows.old folder.
Finally, install Windows 10. Assuming y'all're doing so on hardware that's previously been activated, you tin skip past the role where yous're asked to enter a production key; Windows will activate automatically subsequently yous sign in for the first time.

After that'south complete, you'll need to use Windows Update to install the latest updates, including hardware drivers for devices that aren't included as part of a standard Windows setup. If yous did the installation without formatting the organisation drive get-go, you'll need to clean up the Windows.old folder and then finish boosted setup tasks.