Ordered new latop. Should i update to 1903 first?

Berton · 20 Aug 2019

mikelferdinan said:

To be honest. I really want to clean install to 1903 but i am afraid I will lost the original windows 10 home.

Once you've started the computer and set it up you will have a Digital License, lots of things you can do such as a Reset, Reinstall or Clean install and still have that license so you shouldn't lose anything except bloatware and things you've done after the setup. Most new off-the-shelf computers are seriously out of date, sellers don't take the labor-intensive time to keep them up-to-date. I'd have no issue with the update, actually have several computers with it and no problems.

I use the MCT/Media Creation Tool to download the software for a clean install.

mikelferdinan · 20 Aug 2019

I also ask this question in another forum, and they also suggest me to clean install. Also someone suggest me to update my bios first before performing clean install. And i am decided to update my bios first then clean install it with MCT. About manufacturer's recovery partition, is it safe to delete ? What's in it and why do we need that?

dalchina · 20 Aug 2019

The manufacturer's recovery partition is there to recover your PC to the state as delivered from the manufacturer.

Google is great with factual questions like that:

Ordered new latop. Should i update to 1903 first?-snap-2019-08-20-16.25.04.png

Please have a look at the search results.

mikelferdinan · 20 Aug 2019

dalchina said:

The manufacturer's recovery partition is there to recover your PC to the state as delivered from the manufacturer.
Google is great with factual questions like that:

Please have a look at the search results.

So its like factory reset on the phone.
And about the driver for my laptop, should i let windows update download and install it automatically or i have to download and install it manually from the site ? Tbh i prefer to download and install manually for graphic driver, because last time windows update download the old one not the latest one and also they just installing the graphic driver without installing geforce experience for my NVIDIA GPU.

NavyLCDR · 20 Aug 2019

On every off-the-shelf retail computer I have ever purchased, I have done the following:
1. Make a backup image of the HDD/SSD using Macrium Reflect, storing it on my NAS.
2. Make a bootable USB flash drive of the latest Windows 10 available directly from Microsoft.
3. Use DISM /export-driver command to save drivers to the USB flash drive created in step 2.
4. Re-install Windows by booting from the flash drive created in Step 2, wiping the HDD/SSD in the process.
5. Re-install any special drivers needed from those saved to the USB flash drive in step 3.

On the one HP laptop with a fingerprint reader I used to have, I did re-install the HP software for saving passwords which I downloaded from HP's support website so I could swipe my finger to enter website passwords.

bro67 · 20 Aug 2019

You are overthinking this. The laptop should come with the latest build. As for a "Factory Reset", it would return it back to how it was when you first turned it on out of the box or OOBE.

retexan599 · 20 Aug 2019

Can't speak for others but....whenever I buy a new computer, I buy it with whatever Windows OS and version is provided by the manufacturer. I just simply considered that to be the 'latest and greatest'; have done that successfully with Win98, XP, Vista, 8.1, and 10. Yes, all those getting started steps like removing bloatware, etc., I do that after I get it and am setting it up. Have never had a problem.

Berton · 20 Aug 2019

bro67 said:

You are overthinking this. The laptop should come with the latest build. As for a "Factory Reset", it would return it back to how it was when you first turned it on out of the box or OOBE.

Sorry, but the more than a dozen new Win10 computers I've helped clients set up in the last couple of years did not come with the latest Version and Build, were 2 to 4 Versions old. Sellers/Retailers will not expend their work force doing it, may not even trust the knowledge of them to do it correctly. Wal*Mart won't even remove the store password when selling display models, have to do the Factory Reset before they can be used.

NavyLCDR · 20 Aug 2019

bro67 said:

You are overthinking this. The laptop should come with the latest build. As for a "Factory Reset", it would return it back to how it was when you first turned it on out of the box or OOBE.

I've never had an off-the-shelf retail computer come with the latest build of Windows.

Steve C · 21 Aug 2019

I've just bought and configured a new HP laptop.

It was supplied with v1809 Pro. I won't be upgrading to v1903 straightaway since I prefer to defer MS feature updates by 6 months to allow time to iron out the inevitable bugs.

I highly recommend you take regular backups (I use Reflect) as you configure the PC and archive the backup when the PC first boots to Windows. I let my PC use the online HP driver check utility which trashed my PC by turning off the firewall and other issues. Fortunately I had a Reflect backup taken only an hour before so I was able to recover.

My PC did come with the usual bloatware which I uninstalled but various HP services remain set to automatic. A clean install would be a good way of avoiding this but I can control what's going on using Autoruns so I'll probably keep the PC in its current running state.