Re-installing Win 10, can we trust WinToHDD Professional 5?

pintree3 · 24 Jul 2021

It's been a while that I've been wanting to reinstall Windows 10 and having no time I was thinking of letting the feature within W10 itself do it for me. And then I ended up getting the Pro version for free (a giveaway) however I could not find any serious reviews and pages of other sites mentioning the free version, including some offering the free Pro version. Does anyone have any advice regarding this? Should I use it or am I better off using the feature that is already inside W10? (I'm also wondering if I can hang on and just wait until October for Win 11). Any advice would be appreciated.

dalchina · 24 Jul 2021

Hi, there's no guarantee that Win 11 will be released in October- could be later.
Personally I find Win 11 more restrictive. Have you actually tried it?

Bear in mind Win 10 support continues until October 14th, 2025. Bearing in mind MS's history with releases, you might want to hang back a little. You could stay with Win 10, then upgrade at a time of your choosing.

Nominally your processor is not supported for Win 11
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...tel-processors

- although in practice there are ways of installing Win 11 on many systems- the installer imposes the limits, rather than Windows itself.

Also your Acer Aspire E1-532P will not support DirectX 12, assuming that's the device you're referring to.

Can My PC Run Windows 11?

NavyLCDR · 24 Jul 2021

@pintree3,

When I reinstall Windows I normally do it from a Windows 10 USB flash drive created with Microsoft's Media Creation Tool.

pintree3 · 24 Jul 2021

Thanks all for the quick reply. Yeah about waiting for W11--it was just a thought and not really important. On the other hand You guys just made me realize that I have not updated my PC specs, which is now 10 months old (except for my video card) or so. Will do so immediately

- - - Updated - - -

OK Specs updated

What of my initial question regarding WinToHDD 5. ?
(yes, I am aware of the Microsoft's Media Creation Tool -thnx)

AddRAM · 24 Jul 2021

Never heard of it.

Why do you want to reinstall W10 ?

Are you having a problem ?

Just do a repair install instead

pintree3 · 25 Jul 2021

AddRAM said:

Never heard of it.
Why do you want to reinstall W10 ? Are you having a problem ?Just do a repair install instead

Why? For the same reasons one does such things: Because it has slowed down to a trickle (it takes seconds instead of a fraction of a second for me to see things on Explorer) and because it's good to do a cleanup once in a while, don't you agree?

My original message stopped here but I keep on getting a pop up window saying my message is too short. What? Too short, really? I don't get it. How long is it supposed to be?
And even after the above I got the same message. A c'mon, really???

Paul Black · 25 Jul 2021

Hello @pintree3,

pintree3 said:

And even after the above I got the same message.

I am a bit confused from your post above.
Are you saying that you have performed an In-Place-Upgrade - Repair Install?
If NOT, this may be useful . . .

In-Place-Upgrade - Repair Install

Information & Tutorials:

This is a Non-Destructive Process which keeps ALL your Apps, Programs, and Personal Data etc Intact . . .

IMPORTANT: This is an extract from the Tutorial below . . .

You will only be able to do a repair install of Windows 10 from within Windows 10. You will not be able to do a repair install at boot or in Safe Mode.
You will need at least around 10 GB + what Windows is currently using of free space available on the Windows drive.
The installation media (ex: ISO or USB) must be the same edition and same or newer build as your currently installed Windows 10. If it's not, then the repair install will fail.
The installation media (ex: ISO or USB) must be the same base language (aka: system default language) as your currently installed Windows 10. If it's not, then you will not keep anything.
If you have a 32-bit Windows 10, then you must use a 32-bit ISO or USB.
If you have a 64-bit Windows 10, then you must use a 64-bit ISO or USB.

> How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

Basically . . .

[1] Download the ISO to the Desktop.
[2] Right-click the ISO > Mount.
[3] Open File Explorer.
[4] Double-click the Mounted Drive to open it.
[5] Double-click setup.exe.
[6] Choose the Upgrade option.
[7] Select Change what to keep.
[8] Select One of the following . . .

Keep Personal Files and Apps.
Keep Personal Files Only.
Nothing.

[9] Unmount the ISO by right-clicking the Mounted Drive > Eject.

The only downside is that you could POSSIBLY lose some of your personalizations.

Recommendations:

DISABLE:

ANY Non-Microsoft . . .

Temporarily Disable Secure Boot before performing the In-Place-Upgrade - Repair Install to be on the safe side.

Antivirus Software.
Firewall software.
Drive Encryption Software.

I hope this helps.

dalchina · 25 Jul 2021

It seems one advantage claimed by the Hasleo tool is:

WinToHDD can image and install or reinstall your Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP without a CD/DVD or USB drive.

(There is a tenforums tutorial on doing this, which is a little involved)

It does a few other things:

Re-installing Win 10, can we trust WinToHDD Professional 5?-untitled.png

It's hosted by e.g.
Drive Cloning & Imaging - MajorGeeks

so is reputable, but for routine purposes just do things the normal Windows way.

There are various options for refresh and reset if you feel that's necessary, as well as an in-place repair install (which won't resolve issues related to 3rd party tools or installed programs, or failing disks...) and clean installing Win 10.

My two Win 10 installations have existed since 1803 and 1511- no real noticeable change in responsiveness.

As for explorer opening slowly, check the background activity as shown by task manager before you try to open it (is there low CPU usage, and minimal disk usage e.g.), and consider disabling any shell extensions to check the effect.