Clean Install Windows 10 on NVMe SSD

Greasy Gorilla said:

Oh yes, that's what I was intending to do:

1. Insert a blank USB drive in my computer.
2. Use the Media Creation Tool to download Windows 10 Home 64-bit installation files and install them onto the USB drive.
3. Reboot my computer with the USB drive plugged in and boot from it (just like I was installing Windows on an empty drive, which I've done before).

I envision that during the setup I'll have the option to wipe the drive and any partitions, so I'll take that option. And I do have a 16 GB USB drive.

This won't work unless you're going to use a third party Boot creation tool using the Windows ISO. I'd stick with using Media Creation Tool to create your Boot USB drive. Since I'm not sure if you've done an install before, here is a good tutorial on this site.
Clean Install Windows 10

idgat said:

Nope, won't work.

What you need to do (and I've done it plenty of times)

- use the MCT to create a boot USB
- swap out the existing drive (leave intact) for the blank drive
- boot into the computer with the boot USB and install Win 10 on the blank drive (Note : do not have the internet connected. Connect only after full installation is completed, never during (even if asked).
- swap over the drives

You can then boot from the (new) drive. Windows 10 is very forgiving with hardware changes from computer to computer, provided the internet is connected. It will update drivers on the "portable" drive for the computer it is attached to.

Oh, well that's weird. What I'd done in the past was to just use the MCT to create a bootable USB stick (or get an ISO and burn it using Rufus), insert it into computer, restart the computer, and then tell the BIOS to boot from the USB. Then at the "Where do you want to install Windows" screen during installation, I'd just delete/format any partitions and reinstall.

Apparently that won't work anymore?

What do you mean by "swap out the existing drive (leave intact) for the blank drive" and "install Win 10 on the blank drive" in the process you described above? I don't have a second drive; I'm on a laptop with only 1 NVMe SSD, which is the same one I want to clean install Windows 10 onto.

This won't work unless you're going to use a third party Boot creation tool using the Windows ISO. I'd stick with using Media Creation Tool to create your Boot USB drive. Since I'm not sure if you've done an install before, here is a good tutorial on this site.
Clean Install Windows 10

Thanks for linking that tutorial. But it looks like that particular tutorial is for installing on a blank drive. I'd like to reinstall Windows 10 on my NVMe SSD that I'm currently using (i.e. the one I'm currently using to type this message). It's my only drive. I did look through some of the related tutorials at the bottom of that post, though.

Greasy Gorilla said:

Oh, well that's weird. What I'd done in the past was to just use the MCT to create a bootable USB stick (or get an ISO and burn it using Rufus), insert it into computer, restart the computer, and then tell the BIOS to boot from the USB. Then at the "Where do you want to install Windows" screen during installation, I'd just delete/format any partitions and reinstall.

Apparently that won't work anymore?

Certainly, this will work! In fact, it's what I was intending to direct you to do. Just not to create your Bootable USB with anything but the MCT. It's the easiest way to do so, IMO.

Greasy Gorilla said:

Thanks for linking that tutorial. But it looks like that particular tutorial is for installing on a blank drive. I'd like to reinstall Windows 10 on my NVMe SSD that I'm currently using (i.e. the one I'm currently using to type this message). It's my only drive. I did look through some of the related tutorials at the bottom of that post, though.

Admittedly I didn't read it through thoroughly yet. As you stated, just erase your partitions and format when you get to that point. Use Quick Format to minimize writes to the NVMe drive. And of course, backup what you need to keep beforehand.

PCPartsGuy said:

Admittedly I didn't read it through thoroughly yet. As you stated, just erase your partitions and format when you get to that point. Use Quick Format to minimize writes to the NVMe drive. And of course, backup what you need to keep beforehand.

Actually you do not format. Erase the partitions on the drive, then select the resulting unallocated space and click next. This whole processes has gotten a lot more mucked up then it needs to be:

1. Use the Media Creation Tool to create the USB flash drive.
2. Boot the computer from the USB flash drive
3. Select the custom install option.
4. Delete every partition existing of the drive (assuming there are no data only partitions with user files the need to be kept)
5. Highlight the resulting unallocated space and click next.

Greasy Gorilla said:

Oh yes, that's what I was intending to do:

1. Insert a blank USB drive in my computer.
2. Use the Media Creation Tool to download Windows 10 Home 64-bit installation files and install them onto the USB drive.
3. Reboot my computer with the USB drive plugged in and boot from it (just like I was installing Windows on an empty drive, which I've done before).

I envision that during the setup I'll have the option to wipe the drive and any partitions, so I'll take that option. And I do have a 16 GB USB drive.

If you have a UEFI BIOS, make sure you boot the USB drive as UEFI, not legacy so It will install Win 10 as UEFI-GPT

Megahertz said:

If you have a UEFI BIOS, make sure you boot the USB drive as UEFI, not legacy so It will install Win 10 as UEFI-GPT

Yep, will do! Thanks for the reminder.

PCPartsGuy said:

Certainly, this will work! In fact, it's what I was intending to direct you to do. Just not to create your Bootable USB with anything but the MCT. It's the easiest way to do so, IMO.

NavyLCDR said:

Actually you do not format. Erase the partitions on the drive, then select the resulting unallocated space and click next. This whole processes has gotten a lot more mucked up then it needs to be:

1. Use the Media Creation Tool to create the USB flash drive.
2. Boot the computer from the USB flash drive
3. Select the custom install option.
4. Delete every partition existing of the drive (assuming there are no data only partitions with user files the need to be kept)
5. Highlight the resulting unallocated space and click next.

Yea, that process is very similar to what I had in mind, and how I'd do things in the past: just create a bootable USB using MCT and use that to install or reinstall. Thanks for the clarification!

Regarding MBR or GPT, as far as I know most systems don't support booting from an NVMe SSD formatted as MBR. Windows Setup will popup a message that cannot install Windows there because your system won't boot from that. So I guess your only option is to go for GPT UEFI mode. As for wiping the disk why is that necessary? Just boot in Windows Setup, delete ALL partitions from the disk and click Next to proceed.