Clean Install Windows 10  

The one problem you could run into is which option you pick when running the Media Creation tool and you are shown three choices when selecting the edition in the dropdown menu. The combination 32bit or 64bit Pro/Home option will not fit even on a 4gb usb flash drive let alone a blank dvd-r. I found that out fast when I had to grab a 16gb flash drive! Later I downloaded one edition at a time for both the 32bit and 64bit since a few friends are running 8 Home laptops.

Speaking of clean installs I started one here at 11:37pm booted of a USB 2.0 flash drive and waited roughly 8 minutes for the Install Now or repair Windows screen appeared. the desktop was finally reached right about 12:30am EST! The fresh install was to replace the second upgrade which replaced the problematic initial upgrade when the second started seeing File Explore lockups and was starting to be that time for the clean install! Upon reaching the desktop and checking on the system information I found it was activated on the spot while having skipped entering any product key maybe from the trial extension we talked about? used for the temp on the second upgrade since the first was so within the first full day.

That was what I found as soon as the full install was complete and I never saw any activate once online box to even check off. The news section has a report on that however mentioning that the MS activation servers are no long so bogged down from the expected huge demand. Telephone activation as well is being seen for those who call in.

If you are familiar with the manufacturer's support site from previously getting drivers and the apps for the hardwares you can check to see if they have updates for 10 available. At first the sound card here was listed for August and then I go back and it showed September. So you may find one or two up in limbo at the moment. Meanwhile the clean install here that went over the upgrade was done without wiping the drive clean since It had just been wiped in prep for 10 first seeing a clean install of 7. The regular 7 Ultimate drive will be needing a wipe however once I get to that since just about everything I had there is now running on 10!

As far as having little or no space try a VM install sometime! You can't really put much on depending on how large the VM's own drive is, is you see it stored as one large or split up into several, and then you can't really install a great deal since games in particular as far as action 1st shooter or any others that look for graphics will flop. They can be quite limited on a good deal of other things as well. On the 7 drive however the Pro VM went right onto VM Player while on a second mini tower running 7 Pro the installations are hanging up while there is far more then enough space available since hardly anything went onto that build.

The first was to isolate the Home edition since that would be going onto an 8 Home laptop or two if liked. The 7 Pro case can easily see an upgrade since it hasn't been seeing the use for which it was originally intended as a shared pc for people to get online, check the mail, look something up. I would be able to monitor as well as check things remotely as well as keep tabs on others things like people simply downloading anything to it. At the moment however I am watching the progress for 10 Pro on the second VM there to see if that goes on ok. The MC tool was used there for the additional downloads so that hardware config would be recognised later following any activation.

Bing isn't even in the Settings! That's something you have to go for separately while it's still seen as the obvious default search engine being it is MS!

The other settings however like sharing your information and other things with 3rd party seen in the Custom or Express settings during the set up and just before arriving at the desktop for the first time is where I turn all off on the first screen and leave Smartscreen and the rest turned on on the seond and then proceed to the desktop.

It's time to do a clean install for Windows 10 (aka build 10240). I read through the instructions, which seem clear and straight forward (thanks!), but there is one step that I would like to know how important is it to complete.

"2. Temporarily disconnect all non OS hard drives until Windows installation has finished. This is to avoid Windows Setup from installing files on other hard drives by mistake."

I have a drive that I keep a lot of data on, which I have already backed up, but has anyone encountered a problem with installation files installed on other drives? When I did clean installs during the insider program I didn't have any problems.

I'm just curious what kind of land mines I could run into if this step is not completed.

Thanks,
Greg

Hello Greg,

Disconnecting your data drives before starting a clean install is more of a precaution. The problem comes if the data drive is listed as "Disk 0" instead of the OS drive. When this happens Windows could mistakenly place the recovery or boot partition on the data drive.

It's usually best to remove them to avoid that from potentially happening, then connect them back after the installation has finished.

You would still want to leave any drive with an OS on it connected though so they will be included in the boot manager.

I would say THAT IS A MANDATE! From what was seen here clearly explained why the initial upgrade failed numerous times including seeing an error code pop up right before returning to the desktop or upon the first system restart seen you never make it to the last portion of the upgrade but a blank screen right after passing the new logo screen.

10 would not go on until a pair of Sata 3 drives were unplugged while the two OS Sata II drives one being the 7 host/boot drive already unplugged for the planned dual boot and upgrade over the temp install of 7 on the second OS drive while the two Sata 3 drives were not even seen as Disk 0 and Disk 1 but seen as Disk 2 and Disk 3 and yet those two drives saw the boot files placed on one while the $Windows~BT and $Windows~WS folders being referred to were found on the other! SCRAMBLED UP!

Now that was with a simple upgrade not a full clean install where this was first seen. After 10 is on however another test revealed while performing the Upgrade to Repair type of install when the first upgrade can end up being buggy was done with two other Sata II drives being plugged in since the 10 installer could detect which drive has the boot information. For the clean install that was to follow however the new substiture storage drives were still unplugged to prevent any further mishap and why I have to point this type of problem out to people not only seeing a clean install but having problems getting the upgrade to even download and go on! 10 has a new type of installer we are now seeing apparently.

As for the need to leave the second OS drive if planning a dual boot I found after replugging in the 7 drive you could still add a new boot entry for 7 into the 10 BCD store which has remained the same since Vista. Any 3rd party BCD editing program can take care of that for you if wanting to see each drive remain stand alone bootable since some prefer the F key boot menu option rather then seeing only one drive have the boot information.

Brink said:

Hello Greg,

Disconnecting your data drives before starting a clean install is more of a precaution. The problem comes if the data drive is listed as "Disk 0" instead of the OS drive. When this happens Windows could mistakenly place the recovery or boot partition on the data drive.

It's usually best to remove them to avoid that from potentially happening, then connect them back after the installation has finished.

You would still want to leave any drive with an OS on it connected though so they will be included in the boot manager.

Thanks Shawn, I'll play it safe and disconnect the data drive.

I was actually very pleased with the upgrade. No issues, and it still booted very fast, but it doesn't hurt to get a fresh start.

The first upgrade that got repaired ran quite well until I simply decided it was time to get on with the clean install I knew was going to be coming swiftly anyways. I also reversed data cables between the two OS drives here before unplugging the former 7 host drive so the 10 drive would be seen as Disk 0 once everything was set to go as well as wanting both to be stand alone drives.

So far things have been going excellent with the dual boot set up that failed miserably with 8 a few years ago when first adding 8 into the 7 BCD and afterwards 7 was added in automatically when using the PC Refresh 8 brought in with it. Both version suffered numerous disk errors as it was found when you had to boot up in Safe mode to get the DiskCheck tool scheduled in both 7 and the 8 C.Preview! With 10 it has been simply the need to unplug any extra drives and all is well!