The Windows 10 Clean Install Thread

[a5cent]

I did 2b with my Razer Blade. Used magic jellybean to find out what my "new" key is in Windows 10 after the upgrade. After that I did a clean install and used the "new" key from my Win 10 upgrade. Windows 10 will not activate after the clean install, and apparently they key I extracted from my Windows 10 upgrade is a generic key. This is just ridiculous.

If you did 2b you shouldn't be using any key at all!

As I previously explained, your key is stored in the cloud. The whole idea of extracting an updated W10 key and providing it to W10 during a clean-install is useless busy-work that serves no purpose other than to introduce more steps where mistakes can be made. Bad idea. Don't do it.

That being said, MS is currently experiencing problems with overloading activation servers. If you're experiencing issue #5 in the FAQ you likely need only wait.

 

[Dos101]

If you did 2b you shouldn't be using any key at all!

As I previously explained, your key is stored in the cloud. The whole idea of extracting an updated W10 key and providing it to W10 during a clean-install is useless busy-work that serves no purpose other than to introduce more steps where mistakes can be made. Bad idea. Don't do it.

That being said, MS is currently experiencing problems with overloading activation servers. If you're experiencing issue #5 in the FAQ you likely need only wait.

Well that's the process I followed, and I was prompted for a key, so I'm not sure what I could have done differently that would have avoided that. I may just have to wait then and see if it eventually activates. Microsoft definitely could have communicated this more clearly though. I know they want people to upgrade and just let Windows do it's thing, but there are many people who prefer clean installs.

 

[a5cent]

If I reset the PC and choose the option to delete all my files AND clean the drive, is this basically the same as a clean install...from a performance standpoint? I just want my PC's to run as if they have a fresh copy of Windows installed...I don't care about the time it takes to redownload all the apps and programs and all my files from onedrive. I am currently trying this now on a laptop that had insider preview build 10240 installed on it. Based on your information it should remain activated. If it does ill try it on the surface pro 2.

If not, what would you suggest I do to achieve those results (fresh copy of win10) for a laptop running build 10240 upgraded from 10166<10162<8.1Pro and a Surface Pro 2 upgraded to Windows 10 from 8.1 Pro. SP2 went through the online upgrade process already.

To be honest, I wouldn't be trying anything like that right now. There are more people trying to get their hands on W10 than MS' infrastructure can currently handle. If you do encounter activation problems it's not easy to tell if the problem is on your end or if MS' servers are just knocked out.

If you do have issues, your best bet is to wait for a day or two until things settle down. I suspect you'll be fine after that.

In theory a PC reset on W10 (not the same as a PC reset on W8) should provide you the same experience as if you installed a fresh copy of Windows. Since PC Reset has been completely overhauled in W10, I'm not sure if we can actually believe that. We've just not had enough experience with it yet. Based on my current understanding I'm sceptical of that claim, and will prefer an install from ISO onto a freshly formatted drive over any other method.

 

[a5cent]

Well that's the process I followed, and I was prompted for a key, so I'm not sure what I could have done differently that would have avoided that. I may just have to wait then and see if it eventually activates. Microsoft definitely could have communicated this more clearly though. I know they want people to upgrade and just let Windows do it's thing, but there are many people who prefer clean installs.

It should be possible to skip all the prompts to enter a key during installation.

I agree with you. I feel MS has generally been ignoring the clean-install crowd for quite some time now. It was a major pain during the W8.1 upgrade too, where it was almost impossible to even get an ISO.

But even without the clean-install issues, I still feel the entire upgrade process is far too convoluted. It shouldn't require this much information and clarification just to understand how to upgrade correctly.

 

[deezus]

I just did a clean install from the ISO images. I have had a Surface Pro 3 with Windows Insider preview 10240 installed on it. I wasn't sure if there was an official update that would be installed or if I already had the latest with 10240 and there wouldn’t be a major update.
This is my secondary computer so I decided to take a chance and do a clean install with the ISO images they provided today. I copied the files to a USB drive and booted to it. It went through the normal clean install steps but then asked for a key. I had my Windows 8.1 key for my Surface Pro 3 and tried to use that but it wouldn't take it. So I just skipped it. It asked one more time at the end of the installation and I skipped it again. The computer rebooted and I logged in with my outlook email and checked the activation status and it said it was activated.
So it looks like if you had the 10240 insider preview build installed it upgrades your key automatically. During installation it wouldn’t take the key but once you log in with your Microsoft ID and have internet connection it will take the key that is in the BIOS and activate it. I never had to enter a key so it looks like once you log in it uses the key that’s in the BIOS and automatically activates it. So I have successfully installed a clean version of Windows 10 Pro using the ISO images and it activated successfully. I think the important part is that you have either had the 10240 build installed by upgrading so that your Windows 7 or 8 key is updated to a Windows 10 before you do a clean install. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

What partition did you​ install it on? I see 3 spots and did you format it?

 

[Dos101]

It should be possible to skip all the prompts to enter a key during installation.

I agree with you. I feel MS has generally been ignoring the clean-install crowd for quite some time now. It was a major pain during the W8.1 upgrade too, where it was almost impossible to even get an ISO.

But even without the clean-install issues, I still feel the entire upgrade process is far too convoluted. It shouldn't require this much information and clarification just to understand how to upgrade correctly.

There was a skip option, but at the time I assumed I had a legitimate key, so I didn't think much of it. Oh well. I genuinely hope Microsoft listens to everyone's feedback, this could and should have been a lot simpler.

In troubleshooting my issue, it seems that Microsoft does indeed recommend selecting skip. I did a second clean install using this method but still didn't activate. Of course, I might have messed it up by inputting a key the first time I did the clean install. Installing Windows 10 using the media creation tool - Windows Help

 

[anon(8032808)]

So I

1. Was already upgraded to Windows 10240 through the technical program. Under activation it said my license was activated.
2. Downloaded the ISO, put it on a USB, and then installed through that.
3. Had my new install of Windows 10. BUT, my license now says its not activated.

With that said, many people are reporting this same issue, and many believe it is because of an overload of the servers and that eventually these keys will be activated. You can even try forcing it (spam if you want) by typing slmgr.vbs /ato in the command prompt.

I'm a little worried though because my 'upgrade' to WIndows 10 was via the Insider program, not from the normal way people are all upgrading today. I really haven't seen any official clarification from Microsoft regarding the Insiders.

 

[ncbartschi]

Microsoft should just allow Windows 7 & 8 keys to be entered and activated within Windows 10 for 1 year, period. This would eliminate the issue the clean install group is experiencing.

All this nonsense of needing to upgrade first then doing a clean install is just an added step to an already convoluted process.

 

[Grimlock]

What confused the hell out of me is that I downloaded the ISO and used the same method on 2 desktops and a surface pro 3, and it only successfully activated one of the desktops and the surface pro 3. All three devices had reserved W10 through the icon and all that, but none were downloading so I opted for the ISO.

 

[iamtim]

All three devices had reserved W10 through the icon and all that, but none were downloading so I opted for the ISO.

It doesn't matter if they were reserved or not, it only matters if they were upgraded. If you didn't do the in-place upgrade through the icon on a given machine, Windows 10 won't activate on that machine. Once you do the in-place upgrade through the icon, then Windows 10 will activate.

 

[AndresFelipe38]

I had Windows 8.1 with an original purchased key, I just updated today to Windows 10 (I was not an Insider) and as expected, Windows 10 is activated.
I want to do a clean install of Windows 10, I already have the ISO burned. Will I have it activated by just logging in after I erase everything in the system partition and then installing it again? Or should I do anything else?

 

[DarthHater]

This really pisses me off. Microsoft really dropped the ball. Activating with Win 7 or Win 8 product key would have eliminated much of the hassle. Now, I have to reinstall Win7 on another machine, upgrade win7, update to win 10 just to get the Win 10 key. This is ridiculous.

 

[Isror]

This really pisses me off. Microsoft really dropped the ball. Activating with Win 7 or Win 8 product key would have eliminated much of the hassle. Now, I have to reinstall Win7 on another machine, upgrade win7, update to win 10 just to get the Win 10 key. This is ridiculous.

But at least its a solution that you don't have to wait days for to resolve I'm taking the win and moving on haha

 

[ncbartschi]

Indeed, or providing a web-based utility to manually let us upgrade our keys to W10. The current system makes it a real headache to run a clean install if you haven't upgraded.

 

[Guzzler3]

Third Option:
Upgrade from W7, W8.x to W10. Then create a recovery drive, use recovery drive to do a clean install.
EDIT: Nope, don't do this. I did this and ended up with a W8.1 recovery disk.

Fourth Option.
Upgrade from W7, W8.x to W10. Then do a 'reset' to get a clean install.

Fifth Option:
Upgrade from W7, W8.1 to W10. Use KeyFinder to get your new W10 key. Use that key to install from the downloaded ISO during a clean install.

 

[Viktar H]

Looks like this won't work.
After upgrading you only get generic blocked W10 key that won't help you to activate clean installed OS, so you do not really get a valid W10 license.
After a year you won't be able to get activated W10 having a win7-8 licence.
HUGE disappointment after all the official statements.

 

[Viktar H]

Use KeyFinder to get your new W10 key. Use that key to install from the downloaded ISO during a clean install.

You are not getting unique valid W10 licence key after updating.
The key that you get is a generic common key that is already blocked to activate. Activation is just transferred from previous version.

So people upgrading are not getting W10, they just get their w7-8.1 in upgraded state.
And this procedure would not be possible after a year.

Huge disappointment after all the official statements.

Once your device upgrades to Windows 10 using the free upgrade offer it will activate online automatically. This information will be stored as a record so when you perform subsequent installations, the activation code will be automatically applied, as long as it’s the same computer and the exact same Windows 10 edition.

This was clamed before july 29 but not working as of now and it looks like cloud activation is only for W10 buyers, but not for upgraders

 

[iamtim]

After upgrading you only get generic blocked W10 key that won't help you to activate clean installed OS, so you do not really get a valid W10 license.

I don't think that's right... once I did the upgrade, I used the Microsoft Media Creator application to download an ISO which I burned to a DVD. I then booted from that DVD, did a fresh, clean install (which included deleting all the partitions on my drive and creating a new partition). It installed and activated without a problem, because all my activation information was stored in the cloud. I'm typing this right now from my fresh, clean install of Windows 10.

 

[scumdogmillionaire]

Trying to do a clean install on the Surface Pro 3 was a pain. Hopefully they release an updated Recovery Image with 10 on it. That would be nice.

I'm about to go the super long way around which is restore from the 8.1 Recovery Image. Upgrade to 10. Then to a system reset, which should leave behind a nice clean Windows 10 install

 

[Prathameshk]

guys today i install windows 10 by clean install i have Samsung series 3 laptop because of the clean install it didn't activated my windows copy i used the product key which is on the label under the laptop i don't know what should i do.while installing i used [shift+F10] button which opens command prompt...after i typed 'disk part' then i saw there were 2 dics in ,first where all windows files and my files were stored and another partition is about of 29 gb which contains recovery part of my windows 7 home basic i selected my 1st partition and installed windows 10 but it is still not activated please help me guys i don't know what to do now and also the recovery partition is still there but i cant access it using F4 key (which is normally recovery key used for Samsung laptop)what should i do
I've messed up all the nothings i've lost my activation and also w7 home basic...:crying:
Yes my account was reserved