Questions about doing a reset to my OEM Win 10

NavyLCDR said:

Once you get into setup, here we go!

1. Enter your language preferences, click next.
2. Click Install Now.
3. Now, if the next screen you get asks for a Product Key, then Windows Setup did not find an edition of Windows 10 in the install image that matches the product key in your UEFI firmware. You can continue, but you will end up back with a Windows 10 that is not activated. You should NOT see any screen asking for a product key or which version to install. The next screen should be:
4. Accept the license terms and next.
5. Click on Custom: Install Windows Only (Advanced) and next.
6. The next screen shows drives and partitions. Only drive 0 should be shown. If your external hard drive is showing as drive 1 - leave it alone! (I mean just drive 1, not the entire window). If drive 0 looks like your installed hard drive with Windows on it, click on each partition and click on Delete. Repeat until it shows nothing left on Drive 0 except for unallocated space. Yes, delete System, Reserved, and recovery partitions! You need to be down to only unallocated space on Drive 0 (or the drive that contained your old Windows, but it should be Drive 0)
7. Click on the unallocated space, and then click on next.
8. Windows should now install and the computer should eventually end up at the fresh out of the factory box screen asking you create an account.
9. If by some chance the computer reboots back into the first Windows setup screen, unplug the USB connector for the external hard drive and reboot the computer.
10. Once you get to a Windows desktop, your computer might not connect to the internet. If you can't connect to your WiFi or the internet, you will need to open device manager. You need to have your USB hard drive connected. Look for devices with excamation points inside triangles or unknown devices. RIght click on each one. Then update driver, then browse my computer for driver software. In the browse box enter Z:\Drivers. NOTE! Your external hard drive won't have the same letter Z:. Change the letter to match the drive letter containing the Drivers folder you created! Make sure the check box for subdirectories is checked and click next. Eventually one of those non-functioning devices will be the WiFi or other network adapter and you can connect then.

Run Windows Update from settings and manually check for and install updates.

Post back here how things went!

NavyLCDR said:

So, I just ran through setup on my computer and my external drive was showing up in step 6. above. So yours probably will too. Drive 0 is more than likely the drive containing your old Windows install. That will be what you want to delete all the partitions on.

Thanks SO MUCH Navy! I highly appreciate the ultra-thorough explanations, as I needed just that!
I will do all the steps tomorrow as it's already 5:15am and I need to get up for work in 5 hours... :)
Actually can't wait to do it and hope everything goes as it should! Of course I'll let you know the result the minute I finish.

See ya tomorrow!

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NavyLCDR said:

Stage 2: Let's prepare you USB External Hard Drive. Plug it in and open File Explorer (Used to be Windows Explorer). In the left column, right click on This PC. Select Manage. Answer the prompt about administrative priveleges if you get one. In the Computer Management window that opens, in the middle section double click on Storage. Then double click on Disk Management(Local). You get a disk management window that opens. Here is mine, my USB external hard drive is Disk 5:

Attachment 236827

Right click on the largest (and maybe only) partition on the hard drive. Mine is drive letter I:. Select Shrink Volume. In the space for "Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB", enter 32768 (that's 32 GB). Click the Shrink button. After a while, 32 GB unallocated space will show up in Disk Management. Right click on it, select "New Simple Volume". In the Size block, change it to 32768, click Next. Assign the following drive letter: Z. I already have an R: drive (for recovery). You can assign whatever drive letter you want. Just realize, I'm going to use Z: so change all the following instructions to whatever drive letter you choose. Click Next. Format the volume with the following settings: change file system to FAT32. Volume Label: ESD-USB. Make sure Perform a quick format is checked:

Attachment 236828

Click Next, then Finish. Now you have a Z: drive located on your external USB hard drive.

So I'm doing it all now :)
Just a note: I typed as you told me - 32768, but then in the next screen, for "New Simple Volume" it only allowed me to write a max of 32767... So that's what I did. Hope that's OK too.
I am now in the Drivers copying stage, and will continue from there. Hope everything goes perfect! :)

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@NavyLCDR , YOU ARE A GENIUS!!

Finally!! Everything went perfect, exactly like your brilliant guidance, and now I have a NEW Windows 10 Home and in English, and ACTIVATED again!
I can't thank you enough, really. I wouldn't know how to do it without your thorough, yet simple-to-understand guidance and dedication!

I'm now installing all the updates Windows 10 suggests in the Windows Update settings, and then see if I need some more ASUS drivers/addons to be installed too.

Thank you SO much.

And I want to also thank @Megahertz and @Word Man for their efforts and willingness!

Great to hear, naknir!