Is installing a clean windows 10 on OEM laptops impossible [discuss.]

WhyMe said:

But what is the value of an oem recovery partition if your hard disk fails? It is just a token effort from the OEMs when really they should be providing the proper installation disks (which is what they used to do).

I believe folks need to understand just how useless a recovery partition is at protecting from data loss and look for alternatives.

I agree with you. I long ago graduated to Macrium, but the OP had a specific question so I answered that rather than expound on the advantages of imaging and offsite backups.

However, I tell you what. For doing a clean install, the OEM partition saved me quite a bit of time. I had win 8.1 on the drive and did not want to update to Win 10 with 8.1. So I just used the recovery partition to reinstall win 7, then upgraded, then clean installed from a CD.

As an aside, I am having a dual boot problem I think has to do with my misunderstanding of how Macrium works. Maybe you can help me out with that. I'll post in a different thread, so as not to hijack the OP's thread here.

Edit:
Win 8.1 dual boot no longer works. - Windows 10 Forums

alphanumeric said:

I ditched mine long ago, along with all the OEM bloat, with a nice clean install.

That is the first I do when I buy a new laptop. Immediately wipe the partitions, install my preferred edition of Windows and Linux and be done with it. No bloatware, no recovery partition, no Norton or whatever. Just what I want and need.