Best way to reinstall windows

[Hunlight]

Hello,

So Im having issues with few games/apps as Im using enterprise. Now need to reinstall either pro or maybe upgrade to win 11, buy new key for it too.

 

So question. what in your experience is the best way to go for it. How to save the most of data/apps/password etc as lots and lots of setting and needed stuff are there and can take days and days to restore it all. All tips are appreciated.

 

Also what is the best way to update drivers after fresh install nowadays?

[Plermpel]

I just note all programs I use, to reinstall them later.

And copy/paste the userfiles from C to the new windows install, sort it out manually a bit, to prevent carrieng over spam.

[Hunlight]

12 minutes ago, Plermpel said:

I just note all programs I use, to reinstall them later.

And copy/paste the userfiles from C to the new windows install, sort it out manually a bit, to prevent carrieng over spam.

Eh usually takes me few days to set everything up, all the apps, settings, configs, files, browsers etc. have limited time every day thats why so long. Was wondering if theres any more convenient options nowadays.

 

What about win versions? do I still go with 10 pro or 11 is more or less okay now?

[Stahlmann]

I pesonally have anything that i can't lose saved in the cloud. Then i just reinstall without making additional backups. Most important data when it comes to games is tied to some account either way. For example savegames that are in the Steam cloud, passwords in a password manager, etc.

[Stahlmann]

3 minutes ago, Hunlight said:

What about win versions? do I still go with 10 pro or 11 is more or less okay now?

For me W11 works like a charm, but i know it's not like that for everyone. Seems to still be a mixed bag. If you want to go safe then use W10 pro.

[Hunlight]

3 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

For me W11 works like a charm, but i know it's not like that for everyone. Seems to still be a mixed bag. If you want to go safe then use W10 pro.

hmm I checked compatibility says TPM missing for win 11. It is just supper annoying to manual enter website passwords as usually not all of them works (with auto fill, so need to find them and enter manually) also updating drivers is still a nightmare Idk why it is so hard for me these days xD

 

Thing is not even sure reinstall will solve my main problem which was Halo infnite wont pass - click enter to continue, screen  will be super annoying if it does not.

[Stahlmann]

3 minutes ago, Hunlight said:

hmm I checked compatibility says TPM missing for win 11. It is just supper annoying to manual enter website passwords as usually not all of them works (with auto fill, so need to find them and enter manually) also updating drivers is still a nightmare Idk why it is so hard for me these days xD

 

Thing is not even sure reinstall will solve my main problem which was Halo infnite wont pass - click enter to continue, screen  will be super annoying if it does not.

You can likely just enable TPM in your BIOS. I strongly suggest using a password manager either way, doesn't matter if you plan on reinstalling or not. What's the problem with updating drivers? You only need 10 minutes or so to download and install GPU, chipset and maybe audio drivers.

 

But you can also reinstall windows and select "keep my data". But i never used this myself, so i cannot say what exactly is being kept and what not.

[aDoomGuy]

8 minutes ago, Hunlight said:

Eh usually takes me few days to set everything up, all the apps, settings, configs, files, browsers etc. have limited time every day thats why so long. Was wondering if theres any more convenient options nowadays.

 

What about win versions? do I still go with 10 pro or 11 is more or less okay now?

Well what I do is I have all my documents and pictures on OneDrive so that is accessible even after reinstall, I just have to tell the new Windows to always keep on this device but even if you don't it will download automatically if it needs to.

 

Steam/Origin/Blizzard games I mostly got on other drives so I just point their respective launchers to their respective libraries.

 

Setting things up still takes some time, yeah but that's just how it is. I'm still not fully completed my Win 11 migration but mostly there.

 

As for Windows versions.. Windows 11 have worked fine for me after reinstall and I must say I quite like it. It's not perfect I guess but I haven't used a Windows that is. Still, can't really complain about anything that I can think of.

[Hunlight]

4 minutes ago, aDoomGuy said:

Well what I do is I have all my documents and pictures on OneDrive so that is accessible even after reinstall, I just have to tell the new Windows to always keep on this device but even if you don't it will download automatically if it needs to.

 

Steam/Origin/Blizzard games I mostly got on other drives so I just point their respective launchers to their respective libraries.

 

Setting things up still takes some time, yeah but that's just how it is. I'm still not fully completed my Win 11 migration but mostly there.

 

As for Windows versions.. Windows 11 have worked fine for me after reinstall and I must say I quite like it. It's not perfect I guess but I haven't used a Windows that is. Still, can't really complain about anything that I can think of.

 

4 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

You can likely just enable TPM in your BIOS. I strongly suggest using a password manager either way, doesn't matter if you plan on reinstalling or not. What's the problem with updating drivers? You only need 10 minutes or so to download and install GPU, chipset and maybe audio drivers.

 

But you can also reinstall windows and select "keep my data". But i never used this myself, so i cannot say what exactly is being kept and what not.

hmm everyone suggest to use password manager Im using that LastPAss, but it seems to malfunction sometimes, have different/duplicate passwords, or doesnt save correctly. what password manager are u guys using? Also onedrive.. never used it, what about it? smth like a googledrive ye just drop and drag thing?

 

And how do I proceed with win 11 then, same as 10 download from ms and launch app? and specific things need to know? Also regarding drivers, usually there much more stuff to download like, lan drivers, bios, peripherals etc etc. any tips on those or everyone still doing it manualy. I remember using iobit driver updater before, seemed to be worked well, any tips on it?

[Stahlmann]

1 minute ago, Hunlight said:

hmm everyone suggest to use password manager Im using that LastPAss, but it seems to malfunction sometimes, have different/duplicate passwords, or doesnt save correctly. what password manager are u guys using? Also onedrive.. never used it, what about it? smth like a googledrive ye just drop and drag thing?

I do use LastPass and i'm generally pretty happy with it. But everytime i save a password or change on i check if it saved correctly. It happened once or twice that it saved incorrectly essentially locking me out of an account. I could recover it every time but now i just check if the saved password is the same as i set.

 

1 minute ago, Hunlight said:

And how do I proceed with win 11 then, same as 10 download from ms and launch app? and specific things need to know? Also regarding drivers, usually there much more stuff to download like, lan drivers, bios, peripherals etc etc. any tips on those or everyone still doing it manualy.

Just use the W11 media creation tool and create a bootable USB stick just like with W10. BIOS has nothing to do with windows. Lan or Wifi drivers were never needed in my case. It was always plug and play and installing the respective drivers never changed anything. For peripherals you don't need any drivers, just the apps for RGB controls, macros, etc.

 

1 minute ago, Hunlight said:

I remember using iobit driver updater before, seemed to be worked well, any tips on it?

I personally don't use these driver updaters. They often use older versions and even then don't really work that well. I just keep the 3 or 4 drivers i need up to date with periodical checks.

[aDoomGuy]

Just now, Hunlight said:

 

hmm everyone suggest to use password manager Im using that LastPAss, but it seems to malfunction sometimes, have different/duplicate passwords, or doesnt save correctly. what password manager are u guys using? Also onedrive.. never used it, what about it? smth like a googledrive ye just drop and drag thing?

 

And how do I proceed with win 11 then, same as 10 download from ms and launch app? and specific things need to know? Also regarding drivers, usually there much more stuff to download like, lan drivers, bios, peripherals etc etc. any tips on those or everyone still doing it manualy. I remember using iobit driver updater before, seemed to be worked well, any tips on it?

Well I've been using using Roboform for years, never had any issue or heard about any hack incidents. All good bro. 

 

OneDrive is included with Windows 10 and later so you just log in. What I did was I set the location of my Documents folder to be inside OneDrive as a result I can never move it out of it again but hey. That's fine lol.

Well I guess I could back up everything manually and nuke my entire OneDrive but just guessing...

 

Anyway when I save something in there it automatically uploads it to the cloud and it's safy kepty and I can access it from other devices and share/send it to people.

 

I tried the upgrade method but it didn't go well, so I made the usb install media from the thing from MS (upgrade assistant) and installed fresh. Smooth sailing.

 

I never use any driver updaters. If my system works adequately I just check for driver updates when I can be bothered to. If I need a driver fix I will check more regularly. I don't need that many drivers. I got a dock with a link to the Asus website where I can get most of my driver software so I just click on that and if I'm logged into their site I can see my registered products and the date for the last update to their respective product pages.

So just clicking here

 

Takes me here

 

 

Click those links I should get all the drivers for each, but clicking on the mobo takes me to the start page because of a bug I guess so that's annoying.

 

Note that some boards like mine, it is recommended to install chipset drivers from the manufacturer first and then download the latest from AMD/Intel if you wish to update it.

[Altecice]

Backup what you need to the cloud/USB/External drive then do a fresh install of 11. Just go download the drivers you may need (most get installed automatically now but things like graphics card drivers are a must). I use Bitwarden rather than LastPass myself as I find it better (and open source).

[Hunlight]

1 hour ago, aDoomGuy said:

Well I've been using using Roboform for years, never had any issue or heard about any hack incidents. All good bro. 

 

OneDrive is included with Windows 10 and later so you just log in. What I did was I set the location of my Documents folder to be inside OneDrive as a result I can never move it out of it again but hey. That's fine lol.

Well I guess I could back up everything manually and nuke my entire OneDrive but just guessing...

 

Anyway when I save something in there it automatically uploads it to the cloud and it's safy kepty and I can access it from other devices and share/send it to people.

 

I tried the upgrade method but it didn't go well, so I made the usb install media from the thing from MS (upgrade assistant) and installed fresh. Smooth sailing.

 

I never use any driver updaters. If my system works adequately I just check for driver updates when I can be bothered to. If I need a driver fix I will check more regularly. I don't need that many drivers. I got a dock with a link to the Asus website where I can get most of my driver software so I just click on that and if I'm logged into their site I can see my registered products and the date for the last update to their respective product pages.

So just clicking here

 

Takes me here

 

 

Click those links I should get all the drivers for each, but clicking on the mobo takes me to the start page because of a bug I guess so that's annoying.

 

Note that some boards like mine, it is recommended to install chipset drivers from the manufacturer first and then download the latest from AMD/Intel if you wish to update it.

damn that doc looks nice to have.

 

regarding pass managers u mentioned Roboform and next person mentioned different one, any tips on whichever I use as first timer for them ?

[aDoomGuy]

28 minutes ago, Hunlight said:

damn that doc looks nice to have.

 

regarding pass managers u mentioned Roboform and next person mentioned different one, any tips on whichever I use as first timer for them ?

I only used Roboform so I can only speak for it... I have no need to try other password managers.

You can try it for free, I think you can use the free version as long as you like as well. It also works on Android so there is also that.

 

EDIT: That Dock is Nexus Dock.by the way. Very nice to have, and it lets me back it up so I can restore it after reinstalling Windows.. Which I found very useful a little while ago. 

 

 

Expanded drawer on monitor 2

 

 

Expanded games drawer

[Hunlight]

35 minutes ago, aDoomGuy said:

I only used Roboform so I can only speak for it... I have no need to try other password managers.

You can try it for free, I think you can use the free version as long as you like as well. It also works on Android so there is also that.

 

EDIT: That Dock is Nexus Dock.by the way. Very nice to have, and it lets me back it up so I can restore it after reinstalling Windows.. Which I found very useful a little while ago. 

 

 

Expanded drawer on monitor 2

 

 

Expanded games drawer

okay that is actually feels like next gen windows  will check the roboform and maybe plan for the wind 11 upgrade if I wont find a way to fix Halo Infinite otherway around.

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Windows

[Hunlight]

oh there was an sub for windows, my bad.

 

Back to topic: Any specifics of Win 11 I need to know also some tips and tricks for any fancy visual setups is appreciated if someone setup something interesting.

[aDoomGuy]

Explore some Rainmeter skins.  

 

Rainmeter, desktop customization tool

[Hunlight]

1 minute ago, aDoomGuy said:

Explore some Rainmeter skins.  

 

Rainmeter, desktop customization tool

eh. Pretty sure will be reinstalling at this point just to check out smth new in win 11 and fresh. but will try to find solution for my issue mby will save me from reinstalling.

[DynamiteOnFire]

On 12/6/2021 at 2:08 AM, Hunlight said:

Hello,

So Im having issues with few games/apps as Im using enterprise. Now need to reinstall either pro or maybe upgrade to win 11, buy new key for it too.

 

So question. what in your experience is the best way to go for it. How to save the most of data/apps/password etc as lots and lots of setting and needed stuff are there and can take days and days to restore it all. All tips are appreciated.

 

Also what is the best way to update drivers after fresh install nowadays?

Your Windows 10 license will work for activating Windows 11 as well. I think now is a good time to try Win 11, it's finally really stable in my tests, and brings some very pleasing gui changes throughout.

 

It's tough to make sure you have everything important backed up, if you're doing a clean install, but in the future, what I'd recommend you try, is set up a small partition on your HDD for your OS installation, then just install all your apps, (and try to use portable ones if possible), and save all your important data to the storage parition (D:) instead of the C: Windows OS partition.

 

This makes wiping that OS partition and clean installing a new one relatively easy, because all your data is already 'backed up' on your storage partition. And if you use mainly portable apps when possible, you don't have to re-install them after a Clean Install.

[DynamiteOnFire]

Oh! and the other part of your question, best method for drivers, if you need them, is to get them directly from the MFG website. Don't rely on  software to try to do this for you, and you'll generally have better luck getting the best drivers for your Hardware.

 

But, Windows will automatically start downloading drivers for you, if you have metered connection off, and Windows Update Service On (which is the default) As soon as you're connected to the internet, Windows will immediately check for updates, including drivers, so you probably won't have to worry about drivers, but you'll have to download GPU control panels from the MS Store most likely.