How To Perform a Clean Install of Windows 10

Having a clean install of Windows 10 is the best feeling ever. It’s as if you just decided to run out to an electronics store and purchase a new PC. Everything is back to its default. There’s no sign of your old troublesome apps or battery draining programs.

Why you would want to perform a clean install of Windows 10 varies. For most, new operating systems are a great time to blow away the cruft and files that can build up in Windows installations over time. For others, it’s not a choice. Due to upgrade issues, some people find themselves with Windows 10 laptops, desktops and tablets that are buggier than they should be.

Here’s how to perform a clean install of Windows 10.

Before We Begin

A sample Windows 7 product sticker from Bloom Biz.

For this tutorial, you might need your Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 product key, but only if you never activated Windows 10 on your system before. If you purchased a boxed copy of these operating systems, look for that box and there should be a product code inside. If you purchased a PC with Windows 7 on it, look for the Authenticity sticker that Microsoft had your device maker attach to your PC or the information cards that the PC came with.

If Windows 10 was installed on your machine by your PC maker already, you shouldn’t need a product key at all.

Download Windows 10 Using the Media Creation Tools

To start the process you’ll need to download a copy of Windows 10. The Media Creation Tool allows you to create a bootable flash drive or DVD of Windows 10. You’ll want to be sure that the version of Windows 10 that you download is the right one you’re looking for.

Read: How to Get Windows 10

For example, Windows 10 Professional is only something that you want to install if you had a previous version of Professional. Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Pro are all upgrades for Windows 10 Pro. Windows 10 Home is for Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

Be sure to know what PC architecture you need too. The Media Creation Tool lets you create 64-bit and 32-bit installations. Consult your PC’s specifications sheet or list of internals to figure out which you need.

Once the download is done, create your media. It’s best to go with a bootable flash drive that has 8GB of space or more. You’ll want to make sure that no information you care about is already on it. If your desktop or laptop has a DVD burner, you can use that too.

Restart your PC and boot from the flash drive or disc that you’ve created.  If you’re asked to provide a product key by Windows 10’s setup process, choose “I don’t have a product key.” Again, only people who have never upgraded to Windows 10 before on their machines should be prompted to provide a key, according to ZDNet.

Clean Install of Windows 10 Back Up Plans

There are two other ways to get a clean install of Windows 10. One of these methods takes a lot of time but costs users with a genuine version of Windows 10 absolutely nothing. The other involves spending money on the operating system upgrade.

Reset Your PC

You can always manually reset your PC. Resetting your PC restores everything back to factory settings, but keeps the files stored on your PC in the same place. Options to Reset a PC are available in Windows 10 from within the Settings app under Updates & Security and Recovery. Note, that this method will definitely take some time. Be careful to back up every file on your device that you’d like to keep.

Read: How to Reset Your Windows 10 PC

If you’ve already tried Reset your PC and it hasn’t helped, you’ll definitely want to try deleting everything and installing the latest version of Windows 10. Microsoft offers a tool for doing this here. Note that using this tool deletes everything on your PC.

Buy Windows 10

The second extra way to do a clean install of Windows 10 is only for those that didn’t take advantage of the Windows 10 Upgrade Offer or don’t have Windows 10 installed already.

Simply purchase a copy of the operating system at a retail store. It’ll come with a flash drive and the code you need to get going. You’ll be able to format your device’s drive and rebuild it completely from scratch. Windows 10 Home costs $119 from Amazon. Windows 10 Pro is $199.

Good luck with your clean install of Windows 10.

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