Clean install Windows 10, preserving the EFI partition

topgundcp said:

If you wish to fresh install Windows 10. Here's a little program I wrote, just copy the executable to the root folder of the installation media then run. Answer 3 questions: Windows Edition, Mode (gpt/mbr), disk # to install on. Take about 5 min. Once done, reboot.

You can also install Windows on another disk while Windows is running without having to disconnect anything.

Attachment 266949

Thank you Dino.
Great work! I'll give it a try.
If everything goes wrong... I always have the Reflect image to go back to!!! hahaha

Yes but you can remove any unwanted drivers prior to integration..
As you PC will Export All 3rd party Drivers - even those that where superseded...
You would just integrate the current driver into Install.wim...
Just a suggestion....

Or export the drivers - but do not integrate...
Install windows and use Device Manager to install missing Driver - by pointing to exported Drivers Folder
Windows will select most current driver to install for that device

Kyhi said:

Yes but you can remove any unwanted drivers prior to integration..
As you PC will Export All 3rd party Drivers - even those that where superseded...
You would just integrate the current driver into Install.wim...
Just a suggestion....

Or export the drivers - but do not integrate...
Install windows and use Device Manager to install missing Driver - by pointing to exported Drivers Folder
Windows will select most current driver to install for that device

Yep...thanks.
I was just reading the help file to see what is the magic you do, and I noticed that I can skip all driver integration.

Just a final question. Can I try the approach I mentioned, before with your Rescue Media. Will it work?

Yes, you can format and resize existing partition with Minitool or Aomie...
Mount your install media ISO and run Sources\Setup.exe
Or use DISM to apply the wim index..

I use a prepped image and always Apply the image with Dism...
It is a lot faster then running setup

I noticed that I can skip all driver integration.

Yes you can - and you can just save the "Drivers" & "Images" Folder for future use

Great Jimmy.
Thanks a million mate, both you and Dino for your great help!

I get a Message on Dino's exe - to buy pro to distribute

Kyhi said:

OR Manually Delete the 3 Partitions - Keeping the EFI

Code:

rem ================ Disk preparation =================
select disk 0

rem ====== 2. Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition ======
create partition msr size=16

rem ============== 3. Windows partition ===============
create partition primary
shrink minimum=950
format quick fs=ntfs
assign letter="W"

rem =============== 4. WinRE partition ================
create partition primary
 format quick fs=ntfs label="WinRE"
set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"

That's the approach I followed and worked like a charm!
Booted to my Rescue Media, as @Kyhi proposed.
Used minitool partition wizard and deleted the three partitions, leaving EFI and the rest of the disk as unallocated space.

Rebooted to the Windows installation media (UEFI gave me an error, asking me to designate the boot drive, as there was no boot partition present) and used the above diskpart script to create the three new partitions.
Exited command prompt and when asked, I told Windows in which partition to install and....voila! New installation with EFI preserved.
The only drawback was a second boot option kept in the boot menu, with the Windows installation USB, which I deleted from msconfig, as I didn't need it any more!

Again my sincere thanks to Jimmy and Dino for their help!

zbook said:

Please check to see whether this clean install method allowed or did not allow the creation of the new 7 GB reserved storage:
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/...ge/ba-p/428327

Nope...no Reserved storage.



In my previous laptop, this reserved storage (8 GB) was created when I enabled Windows Sandbox!!!
Since I haven't enabled it yet in this new one, no reserved space has been allocated.