Reinstall windows on PC that doesn't run 2004 yet

[Mr Technician]

I'm going to help one of my friends reinstall windows on her PC before she moves for college and intend to walk her through the process of installing it from a thumbdrive. However, the windows installer exe from microsoft is for 2004, and her computer says 2004 will be coming soon to her device but is not yet supported. Will this be problematic? I didn't see an option to select an older version of windows 10.

[Electronics Wizardy]

what device?

 

A clean install will work on most hardware, unless there is a known issue.

 

Id try 2004 first

[Mr Technician]

It's a dell XPS 15 with a 9th gen intel chip.

[homeap5]

If you have that type of questions, do not try to made fresh install. Try to check current installation IF something is wrong. And do not made "fresh" install just in case, it's pointless.

[Mr Technician]

The install is to remove bloatware that came from the factory, so it's not pointless imo.

[Alan G]

2004 has not been out long enough to say whether it is totally bug free.  If her PC is running 1909 just keep it there.  I don't even contemplate updating until at least three months have passed since introduction; I've seen too many reports of problems.  Same thing with the monthly updates, they don't get installed for 15 days.  If there is bloatware, can't she just uninstall through the normal route?

[homeap5]

12 minutes ago, ThatFlashCat said:

The install is to remove bloatware that came from the factory, so it's not pointless imo.

First of all - it's not always bloatware. It's software that is made for handle specific laptop functions. If you don't use it - just uninstall them. No need for installing Windows from zero if all you need is uninstall - if you know what you need to uninstall of course. If you're familiar with software like Autoruns, you may detect which programs runs with system, if you think that it slows down computer.

 

If your friend needs working laptop afer moving to college, the worst you can do is to install fresh system and then answering questions like "I had that tool xxx and is not there" or "why my Fn+yyy key doesn't work?".

 

Don't try to fix anything if you have so limited knowledge. You made it worse, not better. I fixed computers of people who had helpful friends that wants to improve their computers too many times..

[Mr Technician]

4 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

First of all - it's not always bloatware. It's software that is made for handle specific laptop functions. If you don't use it - just uninstall them. No need for installing Windows from zero if all you need is uninstall - if you know what you need to uninstall of course. If you're familiar with software like Autoruns, you may detect which programs runs with system, if you think that it slows down computer.

 

If your friend needs working laptop afer moving to college, the worst you can do is to install fresh system and then answering questions like "I had that tool xxx and is not there" or "why my Fn+yyy key doesn't work?".

 

Don't try to fix anything if you have so limited knowledge. You made it worse, not better.

Maybe, but I've reinstalled windows several times on laptops and never missed any of the associated software. In this case, the reinstall is probably overkill to begin with. I've installed and reinstalled windows more times than I can count but rarely on laptops, hence my question.

[homeap5]

6 minutes ago, ThatFlashCat said:

Maybe, but I've reinstalled windows several times on laptops and never missed any of the associated software. In this case, the reinstall is probably overkill to begin with. I've installed and reinstalled windows more times than I can count but rarely on laptops, hence my question.

High number of reinstallations is not something you should be proud of. It basically means that you can't fix problems other way. I don't remember when last time I reinstalled Windows (maybe somewhere in XP era) and I fixed lot of computers.

 

You can do whatever you want, but if you really want to know how it will work, you should use some spare drive to install system just in case you fail. Or image current system so you can revert bad installation.

[Mr Technician]

4 hours ago, homeap5 said:

High number of reinstallations is not something you should be proud of. It basically means that you can't fix problems other way. I don't remember when last time I reinstalled Windows (maybe somewhere in XP era) and I fixed lot of computers.

 

You can do whatever you want, but if you really want to know how it will work, you should use some spare drive to install system just in case you fail. Or image current system so you can revert bad installation.

I was primarily speaking of initial install count as I've done quite a few PC builds. I've rarely reinstalled windows to fix problems, but it's the first thing I do if I ever buy an OEM machine.

 

I'm opting not to do a reinstall in this case because I don't have physical access to my friend's computer as she is living in a different country.