Reinstall W10 without my user account

I have a 10 year old laptop running Win 10 Pro. Don't really have any use for it any longer and would like to give it to someone who may have, but when I do a clean install my MS account address and account username are all too evident. This is because the system has a digital licence and can only be clean installed and activated using my MS account details. Ideally I would like to hand over a clean Windows system for the next user to personalise, but is this actually possible?

Fixer said:

This is because the system has a digital licence and can only be clean installed and activated using my MS account details.

Not true at all. Where did you get that information from?

Do the clean install of Windows 10. When the system reboots and you get to the first screen asking for Region, press Ctrl + Shift + F3. The computer will boot into Audit mode. Do what you want to do. To activate Windows in audit mode, make sure you are connected to the internet and open a command prompt, then:

Code:

slmgr /ato

When you are done in audit mode, set the Sysprep options to boot into OOBE, and shutdown the computer. The next time computer starts it will boot into the window that asks for Region again, just like you were never on the computer.

Windows 10/11 does not need your Microsoft account to activate.

Many thanks - I'll have another go. I've also been looking at Brink's tutorial which says if you have a digital licence to disconnect from internet first, which I did not do.

- - - Updated - - -

That seems to have worked. Many thanks.

You're welcome!

Thank you both for the question and the answer as that was the exact same problem I have. At the OOBE point in the Clean-Install-Windows-10 tutorial from a USB drive it says to do the following 2 steps:

1. Press the Shift + F10 keys when you see the screenshot below to open a command prompt.
2. Type C:\Windows\System32\shutdown -s -t 0 -f

Instead of doing step 1. I skip it and do CTRL + SHIFT + F3 then then perform the audit mode license command you gave.

I'm a little confused what you mean by SYSPREP? Do I just do step 2. above from the tutorial and I'm all set to give my pc to a worthy cause?

Thanks

Qwazid10 said:

Thank you both for the question and the answer as that was the exact same problem I have. At the OOBE point in the Clean-Install-Windows-10 tutorial from a USB drive it says to do the following 2 steps:

1. Press the Shift + F10 keys when you see the screenshot below to open a command prompt.
2. Type C:\Windows\System32\shutdown -s -t 0 -f

Instead of doing step 1. I skip it and do CTRL + SHIFT + F3 then then perform the audit mode license command you gave.

I'm a little confused what you mean by SYSPREP? Do I just do step 2. above from the tutorial and I'm all set to give my pc to a worthy cause?

Thanks

When you enter audit mode, a little window with sysprep options will appear. When you are ready to give away the PC, select the options to Boot to OOBE, and Shutdown in that little Sysprep window.

Thanks to everybody for their assistance. I was able to successfully complete my process to that point because of it. Case now closed for me.