Fresh install vs reset

[YoshyDoshy]

Hi

I'm going to attempt to fix my bsod issues by either resetting or reinstalling windows, and was wondering if a reset would fix issues with things like faulty drivers, or whether I will have to do a fresh install from a USB. 

If I do either of these options, should I also wipe my d drive? 

If I do a fresh install of Windows 10, will I need to buy another key? 

Thanks for any help :) 

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, YoshyDoshy said:

should I also wipe my d drive?

you dont have to

3 minutes ago, YoshyDoshy said:

If I do a fresh install of Windows 10, will I need to buy another key? 

to my knowledge, no

but sometimes you'll have to re-key it in

i heard you can tie it to a microsoft account, and just login that account

 

4 minutes ago, YoshyDoshy said:

I will have to do a fresh install from a USB. 

USB is recommended, because it's the cleanest way to do it

 

why would you rely on something broken to fix itself?

[Uptivuptiz]

As far as I've experienced, resetting let's the drivers remain installed, whereas freshinstalling deletes everything. Usually when trying to fix BSOD issues I go for the clean install.

A couple of things to try before clean installing:

• Running CMD as admin and typing sfc /scannow then restart.
• Running Powershell as admin and typing dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth then if nothing is found replace /checkhealth with /scanhealth. If something is found type dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth then restart.

 

[YoshyDoshy]

Just now, Moonzy said:

you dont have to

to my knowledge, no

but sometimes you'll have to re-key it in

i heard you can tie it to a microsoft account, and just login that account

 

USB is recommended, because it's the cleanest way to do it

 

why would you rely on something broken to fix itself?

Thanks for the info, I'll start testing now

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, YoshyDoshy said:

Thanks for the info, I'll start testing now

might i add, when installing windows, unplug everything except the drive you wish to install windows on, to prevent accidental deletion/partitioning error

[YoshyDoshy]

On 9/7/2020 at 11:30 AM, Moonzy said:

might i add, when installing windows, unplug everything except the drive you wish to install windows on, to prevent accidental deletion/partitioning error

Really sorry to reply so late, but I was wondering - I have files on my d drive that have the nvidia name on them, and was wondering whether they might interfere with trying to solve my bsod issue, but I still don't really want to format it. Do you have any advice on this? 

[Moonzy]

8 minutes ago, YoshyDoshy said:

Really sorry to reply so late, but I was wondering - I have files on my d drive that have the nvidia name on them, and was wondering whether they might interfere with trying to solve my bsod issue, but I still don't really want to format it. Do you have any advice on this? 

Hmm what files are they?

Screenshot?

[YoshyDoshy]

Just now, Moonzy said:

Hmm what files are they?

Screenshot?

Sorry for the poor quality, here are the folders on my d drive, I was mainly concerned about the ones beginning in nvidia (highlighted) 

Thanks for the support

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, YoshyDoshy said:

Sorry for the poor quality, here are the folders on my d drive, I was mainly concerned about the ones beginning in nvidia (highlighted) 

Thanks for the support

Hmm... If they don't have anything you need, should be fine to delete

Though I'm curious why do you have program files on D drive, copied as backup?

Most softwares don't work without a reinstall, but games are fine for the most part

[YoshyDoshy]

Just now, Moonzy said:

Hmm... If they don't have anything you need, should be fine to delete

Though I'm curious why do you have program files on D drive, copied as backup?

Most softwares don't work without a reinstall, but games are fine for the most part

The folder labelled program files is just another set of files (different from ones on c drive) I just labelled it that because I couldn't really think of any other name for it. 

When formatting the d drive, it tells me that the volume is currently in use, even though I am only running disk management, and have removed all of my icons from the desktop. It asks whether I want to force it to format anyway, though it says that this could cause unexpected errors in the application using the volume. Am I alright to format it? 

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, YoshyDoshy said:

Am I alright to format it? 

Do you have anything installed on it?

And that might be running in the background

[YoshyDoshy]

1 minute ago, Moonzy said:

Do you have anything installed on it?

And that might be running in the background

Java is installed on the drive. 

If I reinstalled Windows without wiping it, would there be any drivers or similar things that might cause the BSoDs I was experiencing, or will they all be on the c drive?

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, YoshyDoshy said:

Java is installed on the drive. 

If I reinstalled Windows without wiping it, would there be any drivers or similar things that might cause the BSoDs I was experiencing, or will they all be on the c drive?

Ah that's explains it

You can install windows without wiping it, the Java just won't be used

But they won't magically move to C drive, you'll have to reinstall them there

 

Generally it's recommended to install softwares like Java on C drive, not on D. Games are fine though as they're most likely independent installations (meaning they don't change anything in the OS and would just run if you run the .exe file in the folder, even if it's just copied and pasted)

Though some games do require runtime application like Java or microsoft c++ redistributable

[YoshyDoshy]

Just now, Moonzy said:

Ah that's explains it

You can install windows without wiping it, the Java just won't be used

But they won't magically move to C drive, you'll have to reinstall them there

 

Generally it's recommended to install softwares like Java on C drive, not on D. Games are fine though as they're most likely independent installations (meaning they don't change anything in the OS and would just run if you run the .exe file in the folder, even if it's just copied and pasted)

Though some games do require runtime application like Java or microsoft c++ redistributable

Okay, thanks for the info, I'm just about to reinstall windows, and I'll make sure to install those things on c from now on

 

 

[YoshyDoshy]

@Moonzy

I just got to this screen and was wondering whether I should just delete all of the partitions and start fresh. Would there be any problem with doing that? 

[Moonzy]

4 minutes ago, YoshyDoshy said:

I just got to this screen and was wondering whether I should just delete all of the partitions and start fresh. Would there be any problem with doing that? 

i suggest powering your device off first, unplug non-system drive's SATA power and data cable, then run the installation again (to remove it from the installation process to not accidentally delete it/partitioning error that sometimes occur)

 

then delete the system drive (which i think is Drive 1), delete all partition, and click on New to remake the partitions