Clean installing windows 10 from within windows [Without CD or USB]

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  1. Posts : 324
    Windows 10 Pro 64bit
       #1

    Clean installing windows 10 from within windows [Without CD or USB]


    I am asking this to help a friend remotely. I have personally done this before with older versions of windows (probably win 95 or 98) by copying the content of the iso on a drive (Not system drive C: , But on D: for example ) and run setup.exe from windows. Dose anyone know if this will still work and if it is OK to do it this way ?

    Reason is my friend is not able to make his bios boot with usb stick!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 43,019
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #2

    Hi,
    run setup.exe from windows.
    - that sounds like an in-place upgrade repair install (download a matching iso file, rt click it, Mount it, run setup.exe
    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

    That keeps everything- programs and data.

    But your title is 'clean installing Windows 10 from within Windows' - which sounds more like
    Reset Windows 10

    my friend is not able to make his bios boot with usb stick!
    Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10
    Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC

    The Tutorials section can be very helpful:
    Windows 10 Tutorial Index
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  3. Posts : 30,196
    Windows 11 Pro x64 Version 23H2
       #3

    Strange device will not boot from USB, make sure USB key is formatted FAT32 and in BIOS shut off Fast boot.

    How was USB key created?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 324
    Windows 10 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    @dalchina

    Thanks a lot. The problem is that he has windows 8.1 installed. So maybe windows will simply get updated to 10 and then we can perform a reset windows!?

    @Caledon Ken
    the guy is old and totally non skilled with computers. He is not able to get to bios menu !
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 43,019
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #5

    Windows 8 - there is eightforums

    Windows 8 Help Forums
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 14,046
    Windows 11 Pro X64 22H2 22621.1848
       #6

    Since he has Windows 8.1 installed, he can simply right click on the Windows 10 ISO after you download it and select Mount. That will load it to a virtual DVD drive and get assigned a letter. Run setup.exe from that drive and upgrade to Windows 10.

    Are there any backups for his system? If not then there is a risk he can lose all his data. Risk may be small but it's still real. Are you familiar with Macrium Reflect (Free or Home version)? If yes then you can talk him through making a backup, all he needs is an external USB hard drive to backup to:

    The best way to do this is to use Macrium Reflect Free to make an image backup to an external hard drive. If you don't have an external hard drive now is a good time to get one as regular backup should be a part of your normal process. You can get a 1TB external hard drive for $60 (less if on sale).

    There are other backup programs available but Macrium is the one I use and recommend.


    • Acronis True Image. A full featured backup solution. ...
    • EaseUS ToDo Backup. A flexible solution in the backup arena. ...
    • Paragon Backup & Recovery. Enterprise options for home backup. ...
    • NovaBackup. Does the basics well, but only the basics.


    Once this is done then proceed to upgrade to Windows 10. It will most likely proceed without any problems but if things do go bad, the backup can be restored in 20-30 minutes.

    Don't forget to create the Macrium Rescue USB Flash drive. Macrium does this for you, it's easy.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 6,357
    Windows 11 Pro - Windows 7 HP - Lubuntu
       #7

    You can do a clean install by booting WinRE (repair) and then go to the Win 10 installation files and run setup.
    - Create a small (8G) partition at the end of the disk and assign a letter to it.
    - Download Win 10 iso. Mount it and extract all files and folders to a folder in the partition created above.
    - Restart the computer and during POST hit F8 to enter Boot options and select repair and launch a CMD window.
    - Navigate to the folder with the Win 10 files you extracted from iso.
    - Run setup.
    - Delete all partitions except the with Win 10 installation files (last partition) and proceed.

    If you want to upgrade from win8.x to Win 10, run setup from running Windows.
    Last edited by Megahertz; 13 Jul 2020 at 08:04.
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 324
    Windows 10 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Thanks a lot Ztruker,

    Very good advice. I am going to do it for him remotely (Using anydesk). So I will make a backup first and see what happens :)

    Ztruker said:
    Since he has Windows 8.1 installed, he can simply right click on the Windows 10 ISO after you download it and select Mount. That will load it to a virtual DVD drive and get assigned a letter. Run setup.exe from that drive and upgrade to Windows 10.

    Are there any backups for his system? If not then there is a risk he can lose all his data. Risk may be small but it's still real. Are you familiar with Macrium Reflect (Free or Home version)? If yes then you can talk him through making a backup, all he needs is an external USB hard drive to backup to:

    The best way to do this is to use Macrium Reflect Free to make an image backup to an external hard drive. If you don't have an external hard drive now is a good time to get one as regular backup should be a part of your normal process. You can get a 1TB external hard drive for $60 (less if on sale).

    There are other backup programs available but Macrium is the one I use and recommend.


    • Acronis True Image. A full featured backup solution. ...
    • EaseUS ToDo Backup. A flexible solution in the backup arena. ...
    • Paragon Backup & Recovery. Enterprise options for home backup. ...
    • NovaBackup. Does the basics well, but only the basics.


    Once this is done then proceed to upgrade to Windows 10. It will most likely proceed without any problems but if things do go bad, the backup can be restored in 20-30 minutes.

    Don't forget to create the Macrium Rescue USB Flash drive. Macrium does this for you, it's easy.
    - - - Updated - - -

    Thanks a lot. This is what i will try first.
    Megahertz said:
    You can do a clean install by booting WinRE (repair) and then go to the Win 10 installation files and run setup.
    - Download Win 10 iso. Mount it and extract all files to a folder.
    - Restart the computer and during POST hit F8 to enter Boot options and select repair and launch a CMD window.
    - Navigate to the folder with the Win 10 files you extracted from iso.
    - Run setup.

    If you want to upgrade from win8.x to Win 10, run setup from running Windows.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 43,019
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #9

    Please beware the following the procedure to upgrade Windows to Win 10 will give build 2004.

    This is not without its problems. Some have reverted because of that.

    Known and Resolved issues for Windows 10 May 2020 Update version 2004

    Upgrading is a significant procedure. Upgrade failures are not uncommon, and exeedingly hard to resolve.

    Be very sure you really want to ask someone to do this remotely, and create a degree of unfamiliarity. Your friend could end up with an unusable PC, worst case.

    It was not at all clear from your first post you were talking about upgrading to Win 10- is that really what you want to do?
      My Computers


  10. Posts : 14,046
    Windows 11 Pro X64 22H2 22621.1848
       #10

    The title of the thread is pretty specific: Clean installing windows 10 from within windows [Without CD or USB]

    That's what I was going on.
      My Computers


 

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