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Most of us who have dealt with upgrades in the past know how cumbersome they can be, so it's always been best to do a clean install. Backup your data and settings and you'll be fine... it's best for both performance and clutter to do a clean install.
A surprisingly large number of people seem to be struggling to do a clean install, so I thought I would post up how I did it. I decided to keep this separate from the main Win 10 thread as it will get buried down a couple of pages in a matter of minutes and this seems to be something quite a few people are keen on.
For me, it has been a while since I last had an officially paid-for version of windows. But, there is no way in heck I am paying 150-200 quid for a full retail version of Windows 10. I was burned by Vista Ultimate and never compensated by Microsoft, not even with a free upgrade to 7. So I've been running an "extended trial" ever since.
Following Microsofts reasonable offer of free upgrade to 10 from 7/8/8.1... it is still very easy to get cheap and legitimate oem and retail keys for those operating systems. There is a reputable place selling retail keys for under 23 pounds and oem for under 14. For professional, I didn't check the prices for home.
Given the relatively low cost and the benefit of retail over oem, along with the upgrade honouring the difference between the two, I went ahead and purchased a Windows 8.1 Professional Retail license.
This first install is slightly longer than your original install as you have to either upgrade first or install from scratch first and then install 10 from scratch following this. But from this point on, you can continue to install Windows 10 from scratch without having to follow the upgrade process.
Procedure followed:
- If you have a fully licensed version of Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 then you can start from here and follow the standard microsoft upgrade procedure to version 10.
- If you are currently running an illegitimate version of windows, then you will need to begin by installing a properly licensed version of Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 to begin. I would highly recommend installing all drivers completely in order for the system id to be recognised properly for the upgrade.
- Complete the upgrade procedure to Windows 10, home or pro depending on your version.
- Once this has been completed, make sure that all drivers are installed and functioning properly.
- Activate windows & this will already be linked to the microsoft account you logged into or created during the windows 10 setup procedure.
- Use Magical Jellybean Keyfinder to find your new product key. There may be other software but this is the one I am familiar with. This makes it very easy to find your new Windows 10 product key, then write it down or copy and paste and email it to yourself or similar. This new key will be different from your 7/8/8.1 key. (please be warned, the latest release of this tool tries to install some crapware with it, so be sure to deselect the extra tool it tries to install... although if you miss this, it is not big deal as you are about to re-install the operating system from scratch anyway).
- Once you have this key secure, you can begin the normal install-from-scratch procedure via usb or dvd.
- When you reach the page asking you to enter your product key, enter the new key you have been given after your Windows 10 upgrade.
(this last step appears to be the place most people are getting stuck - the 7/8/8.1 key will not work and quite a few people are having problem with activating windows if they skip this entry and try to activate the trial version, even if it is linked to the same microsoft account they used in their upgrade)
- During the first setup, login with the same microsoft account you used during the upgrade
- Install all drivers
- Reboot PC
- Activate windows
(following this last reboot, windows had activated itself anyway).
- Enjoy clean install of Windows 10
There may be extra steps included here that you don't require... it may be simpler... only quite a few people have been having problems and this procedure worked flawlessly for me the first time around.
A surprisingly large number of people seem to be struggling to do a clean install, so I thought I would post up how I did it. I decided to keep this separate from the main Win 10 thread as it will get buried down a couple of pages in a matter of minutes and this seems to be something quite a few people are keen on.
For me, it has been a while since I last had an officially paid-for version of windows. But, there is no way in heck I am paying 150-200 quid for a full retail version of Windows 10. I was burned by Vista Ultimate and never compensated by Microsoft, not even with a free upgrade to 7. So I've been running an "extended trial" ever since.
Following Microsofts reasonable offer of free upgrade to 10 from 7/8/8.1... it is still very easy to get cheap and legitimate oem and retail keys for those operating systems. There is a reputable place selling retail keys for under 23 pounds and oem for under 14. For professional, I didn't check the prices for home.
Given the relatively low cost and the benefit of retail over oem, along with the upgrade honouring the difference between the two, I went ahead and purchased a Windows 8.1 Professional Retail license.
This first install is slightly longer than your original install as you have to either upgrade first or install from scratch first and then install 10 from scratch following this. But from this point on, you can continue to install Windows 10 from scratch without having to follow the upgrade process.
Procedure followed:
- If you have a fully licensed version of Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 then you can start from here and follow the standard microsoft upgrade procedure to version 10.
- If you are currently running an illegitimate version of windows, then you will need to begin by installing a properly licensed version of Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 to begin. I would highly recommend installing all drivers completely in order for the system id to be recognised properly for the upgrade.
- Complete the upgrade procedure to Windows 10, home or pro depending on your version.
- Once this has been completed, make sure that all drivers are installed and functioning properly.
- Activate windows & this will already be linked to the microsoft account you logged into or created during the windows 10 setup procedure.
- Use Magical Jellybean Keyfinder to find your new product key. There may be other software but this is the one I am familiar with. This makes it very easy to find your new Windows 10 product key, then write it down or copy and paste and email it to yourself or similar. This new key will be different from your 7/8/8.1 key. (please be warned, the latest release of this tool tries to install some crapware with it, so be sure to deselect the extra tool it tries to install... although if you miss this, it is not big deal as you are about to re-install the operating system from scratch anyway).
- Once you have this key secure, you can begin the normal install-from-scratch procedure via usb or dvd.
- When you reach the page asking you to enter your product key, enter the new key you have been given after your Windows 10 upgrade.
(this last step appears to be the place most people are getting stuck - the 7/8/8.1 key will not work and quite a few people are having problem with activating windows if they skip this entry and try to activate the trial version, even if it is linked to the same microsoft account they used in their upgrade)
- During the first setup, login with the same microsoft account you used during the upgrade
- Install all drivers
- Reboot PC
- Activate windows
(following this last reboot, windows had activated itself anyway).
- Enjoy clean install of Windows 10
There may be extra steps included here that you don't require... it may be simpler... only quite a few people have been having problems and this procedure worked flawlessly for me the first time around.
