What do I need to consider when doing a clean install of Win 10?

mishmish · February 22, 2023

Hey All, I just had a question that I'm probably overthinking a little.

I wanted to know what I should consider when doing a clean install of Windows 10. The desktop I have is a prebuilt from 2018, but I've changed out basically all the parts except for the motherboard and gpu, and have never done a clean install with this system, or any recent system. Last time was probably in the Windows XP days, and a few laptops that I did the Windows Reset thing.

Aside from getting programs I use back, I assume I need to get motherboard drivers, amd chipset drivers, and gpu drivers. Anything else I'm not considering? I'm not concerned about documents, those are backed up to multiple internal and external drives on a regular basis and kept pretty current.

Otherwise I guess I just log in with my Microsoft account, I have taken note of my Win 10 key, but not sure if thats really necessary or not. Its still not clear to me how the Microsoft account/Windows key works on OEM systems, I see too much conflicting information.

I know theres some that say they do a clean install every year or so. Do they generally just wipe the drive and start clean, or do they just install Windows to a partition on the drive? I'm not sure of that still a practice or if that was just what I remember back in the day.

Anything else I should take into consideration?

Heres my specs if it matters:

Ryzen 5 3600

MSI B350m

16 GB Ram

MSI RX 580 4GB

500GB SSD
2 TB HDD
4 TB HDD

EVGA 650w G2

GoodBytes · February 22, 2023

Connect a USB Flash drive (faster, the better) that has no files on it.
Download/Run Microsoft's Windows Media Creation Tool for Windows 10. This tool will download the latest version of Windows 10 setup, format your USB flash drive, extract the Windows 10 Setup into it, and make your USB flash drive bootable. https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10
Backup all your personal information outside of your system. Consider that everything on your system will be wiped.
Get all your drivers. Don't forget Networking ones and SATA controller ones.
If you have a SATA drive, make sure you get the SATA INF drivers. Extract them beforehand. Windows Setup might require it to detect your drive(s), and at that stage, as Windows isn't installed you can't extract files or run .exe files. You can only load .inf files from USB flash drive (or disk).
If you have any secondary drives (second SSD or HDD) disconnect them, leaving only the main drive where you want Windows installed to remain (typically your fastest drive is selected). This is not actually required, but the issue is that every motherboard is different. Windows Setup put its boot loader to the first drive that the motherboard reports as primary, and there is no way to define this from the setup GUI. So, just simpler to disconnect those extra drive, force it to use the only drive there is, and once Windows is installed, connect them back (of course while the system is turned off).
Have another PC nearby for troubleshooting in the case something goes wrong, you can search the internet, and download stuff on your USB key (example: missing driver)
Take this opportunity to ensure your BIOS/UEFI is configured properly. Now is the time. Ensure the following:
- UEFI is Enabled (if you don't see this option, assume that it is enabled)
- Secure Boot is enabled.
- CSM is Disabled (If this option was Enabled, note that your current Windows install will most likely not boot anymore, until changed back. This is because the drive format needs to change from MBR to GPT. So, you can convert it using Windows built-in tool: mbr2gpt.exe (the forum has guides), or when comes installing Windows, you'll need to format your drive by selecting the drive you want to install Windows on, delete all partitions and create new ones. If you have more than 1 drive, be sure you pick the right ones. Else, cancel the Windows Setup, turn off the system, and unplug your secondary drives)
- D.O.C.P / XMP is enabled and set to "Profile 1" (or whatever profile that is the fastest) Note: If you have system stability issues, or strange behaviors, restore back the setting. The RAM is not properly compatible with the motherboard. You can set this option after you reinstalled Windows, or before reinstalling if it was not set correctly and you want to run memory stability tests beforehand.
- Fast Boot is enabled.
- POST Delay set to 0sec.
- Memory Context Restore is Enabled (look under DRAM Settings or Memory Settings)
- Disable any feature that you don't use (for example, if you don't use Firewire, and you have/use it, then disable it)
Boot to your USB Flash drive that has Windows on it. If you have the option: "UEFI: <Flash drive name/model>" and "<Flash drive name/model>" in the boot selection menu, pick: the one with "UEFI".

And you are essentially done! Just hollow the Windows setup screen wizrd.

When asked if you want to upgrade or Customer install pick: Custom
When asked about the product key, pick "I don't have one"
When asked which edition you want to install, pick the correct edition that your license is valid too (else Windows won't activate once connected online)
If Windows can't find your SATA drive, hit "Load Drivers" and load your SATA .INF drivers that you got.
If Windows complains about GPT/MBR, then you need to delete all partition of the main drive where you want Windows to be installed, and re-create them (all data will be lost by doing so)

Once Windows setup is done, it should start to Windows first startup screen, called OOBE (Out-Of-Box-Experience) as Microsoft calls it. From there, you can hit CRTL + Shift + F3, to go in Audit Mode. This will create a temporary desktop environment designed for you to update Windows and install all your drivers. Once done, Click on the OK on the message box that appeared on that desktop to get back to the OOBE to finish the setup. (If you closed it by mistake, just do: Win+R and type: sysprep and hit OK, then open the sysprep.exe. If you restart your computer from Windows update or driver or manually, you'll get back to this generated desktop). Note: Once you hit OK on that dialog box, every file, data, settings will be gone. There will be no trace of that account. If you shutdown your system while in that account, you won't be able to login when you turn back on your system. Just restart the system, and you'll be back to it.

Once done, follow the OOBE, and you are ready.

Hope this helps.

v0id · February 25, 2023

On 2/22/2023 at 1:48 PM, mishmish said:

Hey All, I just had a question that I'm probably overthinking a little.

I wanted to know what I should consider when doing a clean install of Windows 10. The desktop I have is a prebuilt from 2018, but I've changed out basically all the parts except for the motherboard and gpu, and have never done a clean install with this system, or any recent system. Last time was probably in the Windows XP days, and a few laptops that I did the Windows Reset thing.

Aside from getting programs I use back, I assume I need to get motherboard drivers, amd chipset drivers, and gpu drivers. Anything else I'm not considering? I'm not concerned about documents, those are backed up to multiple internal and external drives on a regular basis and kept pretty current.

Otherwise I guess I just log in with my Microsoft account, I have taken note of my Win 10 key, but not sure if thats really necessary or not. Its still not clear to me how the Microsoft account/Windows key works on OEM systems, I see too much conflicting information.

I know theres some that say they do a clean install every year or so. Do they generally just wipe the drive and start clean, or do they just install Windows to a partition on the drive? I'm not sure of that still a practice or if that was just what I remember back in the day.

Anything else I should take into consideration?

Heres my specs if it matters:

Ryzen 5 3600

MSI B350m

16 GB Ram

MSI RX 580 4GB

500GB SSD
2 TB HDD
4 TB HDD

EVGA 650w G2

What @GoodBytes said is good info

You can also do a full reset within Windows via the Settings - it'll download the latest version and reinstall it for you, eliminating all apps that didn't come with the PC and resetting the settings to their defaults. Windows Update can take care of most of your updates to your PC's hardware, but you can always override those and fetch them individually from the web (ie GPU). If you're short on time and want to start fresh, I'd say go that route.

Last I heard, your license key should reactivate just fine since you're not updating any hardware, but I think you have an extra layer but having it under your Microsoft account (I personally use a local account)