Clean install windows 10

TheRandomBrian · 23 Oct 2017

I switched to pc recently and I want to do a clean install of windows 10. I read somewhere on reddit or elsewhere that explains how to do clean install. My concern is in the pics that shows lots of partitions. I do not know what to delete and what to keep. And if I do a clean install of windows 10, do I need a new product key or need to remember it before wiping the hard drive clean?

UPDATE - for some reason I can't upload pictures on here?

On pics, it shows the information on the window where i was trying to install windows.
Name / Total Size / Free Space / Type
Drive 0 Partition 1 - 128.0 MB 128.0 MB MSR (reserved)
Drive 0 Partition 2: New Volume - 931.4 GB 931.4 GB Primary
Drive 1 Partition 1: Recovery - 450 MB 436.0 MB Recovery
Drive 1 Partition 2 - 99.0 MB 69.0 MB System
Drive 1 Partition 3 - 16.0 MB 16.0 MB MSR (reserved)
Drive 1 Partition 4 - 231.4 GB 88.3 GB Primary
Drive 1 Partition 5 - 905.0 MB 352.0 MB Recovery

I assume Drive 0 is the 1TB 7200 RPM HDD and Drive 1 is the samsung m.2 nvme ssd 250gb.
I plan on replacing the 1TB drive for a SSD samsung 850 evo in a few days. I guess my main drive is the m.2 ssd with the OS. I want to wipe everything but keep the recovery partition and whatever partition that shouldn't be deleted. Tips? I haven't done this in years when i switched to Mac 5 years ago.

dalchina · 23 Oct 2017

Hi,
1. Activation is automatic if you have previously installed Win 10.
2. Partitions - simple rule- delete all partitions but data partitions. Data partitions are the ones you personally have created and have labelled (hopefully!). You have some system partitions replicated. Delete all system partitions.

(You may prefer to use a partition manager to delete partitions)

3. SSD: Do your clean onto your SSD so you use AHCI protocol not IDE (faster), otherwise you will be faced with a conversion if you want to swap from HDD to SSD later. (There's a tutorial on that in the Tutorial section).

Best just do it when you have the right SSD.

4. It may be wiser only to have your system disk connected when you install the OS. Your system disk should be Disk 0 as seen when installing Windows.

5. Before deleting partitions, make sure you have backed up or extracted any data you need.

6. I don't know what Recovery partition you are thinking of keeping.. the only one that would possibly be of interest would be one that came with your PC when bought so you could restore it as new - that would be perhaps 4-8Gb. The Recovery partition created by Windows supports automatic repair and the Advanced Startup options.

7. Image
To add a screenshot here, click the Insert Image button above your post to the left of the video icon, browse to your image, upload it. png, jpg accepted e.g.

Clean Install Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials
Download Windows 10 ISO File Installation Upgrade Tutorials
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials
(or burn it to a DVD if you have a DVD drive)

Please note that by default you will now get build 1709 - the 'Fall/Autumn Creator's Build' - very recently released. Some people are experiencing some difficulties, as you can read in the forum, and some minor bugs are appearing.

Once you do have your new sparkly Win 10 installed and running satisfactorily, before installing more or configuring it, start routinely creating and updating a disk image to a large enough external drive or other storage. We recommend Macrium reflect (free) - there are others. This helps you rescue yourself from difficulties by restoring your Windows and other disks and partitions to a previous working state, quickly and without technical help.