Windows 10 clean install keep files free download.Windows 10 clean install but save personal files

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
An internet connection to download the tool and the Windows 10 image. Internet service provider fees may apply. Sufficient available data storage on the computer you are clean installing. Note that the download and image is over 3 GB. Check these things on the PC on which you want to clean install Windows Feb 04,  · At the point of where Windows 10 is, I would be terrified to trust Windows 10 updates, upgrade and clean install and possibly lose all my data. Myself and many others probably have backups on external devices, but for those who do not, Very scary and risky. An internet connection to download the tool and the Windows 10 image. Internet service provider fees may apply. Sufficient data storage available on the computer you are clean installing. Note that the download and image is over 3GB. Check these things on the PC where you want to clean install Windows
 
 

Windows 10 clean install keep files free download. How to reinstall Windows 10 without losing data

You don’t need to know your windows 10 key. Might as well buy Windows 10 Home. Clean install; all the way. Once I get it clean install only thru gimagex wonder if the media creation tool is like w8’s where it’ll decrypt the install esd as folder windows payload as I hate being bored with the long drawn out process that the setup app uses.

Hi All, I did a clean install in the same way as its mentioned in the post except taking the key with Magical Jelly Bean, but after the clean install my Windows is not getting activated.

I contacted MS team and got the reply as its due to server slowness issue, but I’m not convinenced becuase its alredy two days my lap in this mode Anyone faced the same issue and got it resolved please post your comments below.

As long as you upgraded to W10 first and it showed as activated. If you tried straight clean install without first doing an upgrade, then the only way I’ve come across for it to work is to rebuild to a clean version of whatever the machine came with don’t waste time on the updates for it either, literally bang on the upgrade from a USB as soon as it’s activated , then upgrade, then clean install at which point it doesn’t need a key as the hwid is registered with MS.

I get the same error code after doing an upgrade of my Windows 10 Developer Preview last night. It was fully updated and activated before I did the upgrade. I upgraded to my own language and it kept only my personal files. The error code means that the key has been blocked.

Same here. Did an upgrade from Win 8. This morning massage pops out that Windows is not activated. It’s must be noted that the requirement to get Windows 10 through Windows Update is only if you want to perform a clean install.

If you use the ISO tool to install it, you just skip the cd-key and upgrade the installed OS, then it activates itself from within Windows So it’s safe and fast to just update it with the ISO tool. Is there any way to recover the Insider activation or something? Exact same issue here. Same with DVDs, is it more than one disc? It does as it has the directories for both. Download it if you need both, and just check the size before dumping to a USB.

Upgrade to win 10 then do a reset Or, you can skip all this, go into the new recovery settings and do a full reset and reinstall Windows 10 automatically Does anyone know if I can upgrade to windows 10 from vista using a clean installation? You can, but your license won’t be upgraded. You will be running a non-Genuine copy of Windows unless you purchase a Windows 10 license key or sign up for the Windows Insider program.

The licence wouldn’t matter in this case anyway – it’s Vista so doesn’t get a free upgrade. So purchase a new licence key or have MSDN or go the insider path, and do a clean install from there. Doesn’t Windows, since Windows 8, have built in Refresh and Restore options, the latter of which basically formats the hard drive and reinstall Windows automatically? Correct me if I’m wrong. Definitely a fresh install for me. New components may be on the cards too. While this is closer to a clean install I don’t consider it completely clean.

I don’t lik my OS drives to be quick formatted. I have not seen that anybody mentioned it, but for all students that have access to free Microsoft software via Dreamspark, you can download Win10 iso, put it on the USB or DVD and install clean copy on your system, like usually You will get a new serial key, independent of your previous downloads Win 7 or 8.

During clean install, we would definitely format the previous partition then why we need to first upgrade previous version to Windows 10? It means during clean install you don’t need to give installation key and windows will be activated by itself. First sorry for my english-I’m from Poland.

I done clean installation exactly like you, but I don’t downloaded Windows 10 twice, I only downloaded once and check prepare pendrive. Why did Edge disappear? Taskbar was unresponsive and I fixed that, but Edge disappeared? It looks like it just uninstalled. I can find the shortcut but it doesn’t open anything. Please help! So what if I have windows XP. Can’t I install windows 10 by just purchasing windows 10 and installing it after a format of the hard drive. Does an upgrade write this over?

Doesn’t matter in my case, yet wondering. The product key is tied to the motherboard bios right? So if I clean install Windows 10 on a new hard drive will it find the product key? How to download “get windows 10 app”. I upgraded to Windows 10 via Windows update but I performed the reinstallation of windows 10 from the settings app and selecting the restore option, choosing to delete everything.

Is this thing giving the same result of the formatting option said in the article? Or maybe there is still some windows 8. Once i upgraded my network connection didn’t work perfectly I try to install the new versions of the drivers for my mother board but it didn’t work Officially I don have internet connection on Windows That’s easy enough BUT what are you all doing about booting off of a thumb drive on a surface pro?

Mine isn’t doing it. For devices with UEFI security you have to set up your usb stick in a different way. Have a look on Google. Even specific ones for the SP3. Sent from mobile. Im interested to know how to clean install win 10 on surface 3 and pro 3. I called ms and they didnt really provide a solution. I’d like to of course have everything intact so when I do a reset it still works perfectly. Can I use my windows 7 product key, after upgrading and then doing a clean install for win 10?

As mentioned by several users above, you don’t need to enter the product key during the clean install after you have performed the upgrade first. Microsoft may have associated you’re hardware information as licensed. My test procedure: 1. Clean install a Windows 7 with OEM product key on my machine label 2.

Upgrade activated Win7 to Win10 using the Windows update method 3. Format already installed Win10 4. Perform a clean install of Windows 10 with USB 5. Do not enter skip any product key during the installation process 6. After the installation is completed, Windows 10 is already activated. I already did an upgrade of my Windows 8. So if I do a fresh install of Windows 10 in this machine, I need to use my key for Windows 8.

Can I also use this new cd key to make a fresh installation of Windows 10? You do not use your key from 8. After the upgrade, make sure that the upgraded W10 is activated.

Once activated, you can then do a clean install of W10, and when asked for a key simply skip entering it. Once the clean install is completed, it should already be activated. Because the activation server will recognize your hardware and activate it. Changed your hardware? I just did a factory reset and windows 10 upgrade was automatic. Works perfectly I dnt get update but tray r showing. My windows 10 desktop update is stuck on “preparing for installation..

It has been stuck there for over half an hour. Can anyone help me? What could be the issue? I think during installation you can choose to download updates for the installer or not. Try ‘don’ t download updates’? What helped me was disabling the network adapter or turning off and on your wireless connection it should resolve the issue.

This article is hugely confusing. So, you have to upgrade to windows 10 first via windows update, then download the ISO and select ‘ upgrade this pc’. That’s not what the article says. Step 1: you need a win8 or win7 installation with a valid key Step2: you update through windows update to win Step 3: win 10 will then activate and your win10 activation will be linked to your hardware you can forget about your win7 or win8 key Step 4 optional : if you want to do a clean installation, you have to create a bootable usb stick or dvd so that you can start the installation during boot-time.

There you choose the ‘Custom’ installation, not the upgrade. Step 5: during installation, you will be asked for an activation key. You skip this. Step 6: after the installation, win10 will automatically activate because it knows you have a valid activation key for this hardware setup it got that from your upgrade before. So if you never did an upgrade, you don’t have a win10 activation and you can only do a clean install of win10 if you’d buy a win10 activation key.

Now, how do you fix that? If you’re unable to complete this step, look at “edit 5” down below 2. Now, run the command prompt as an administrator. Type in “wuauclt. EDIT: For those who still have issues, several users reported that setting their time forward to the First of August for example and then doing the above steps again helped them resolve the issue. Just be cautious that you want to do an upgrade, not a clean install! If you do a clean install, Windows 10 will not activate.

You would need a new product key for that. Once you’ve completed the upgrade and checked that Windows is activated, you can do a clean reinstall if necessary. Now, ain’t that an accomplishment? EDIT 5: If you’re unable to delete the contents of the folder due to them being in use, try the following: 1.

Run the command prompt as an administrator. Type in “net stop wuauserv”. You should see a message indicating that the Windows Update service has been stopped. Now, go back to the folder and now you should be able to delete all its contents. Go back to the command prompt and this time, type in “net start wuauserv”. This time, the message will tell you the Windows Update service has been started. Go back to step 2 in the original post.

So, I in order to upgrade I have to install Windows 7 I got with my notebook, then upgrade to Windows 10, and then do a clean Windows 10 install again? This is absurd. I know, right. I had to download Windows Just wow.

That’s like all day work. I will probably wait until somebody figures this out. How To install it on a mac? I dont have a product key Help anybody???? I downloaded a build iso image about 3. I need to know if this upgrade method will yield a full version of windows Yes, you can use that for the upgrade. It will install sole updates after that but in the end you’ll have a fully up-to-date win10 setup.

A clean install would still be safer but one of my pc’s was set up like this and no issues with stability and performance so far. I have a Toshiba Encore 8 inch tablet that came with Microsoft Office. Can you let me know how i can get Office backed up so I can install that after the clean install? I don’t know if there are others in the same boat but it will be very helpful. I wanted to do a clean install but once I upgraded, there was really no need for it.

Works great. Though on a x resolution there are glitches with text and app sizes, but not terribly bad But which version should I choose if I have 32 bit os with x64 processor. A pc with x64 processor can run both x86 or x64 windows. However best choice would be the x64 version. Always check if there are x64 drivers for your hardware printer, scanner, soundcard, graphics card How we get windows 10 key.

If you already have a win7 or win8 installation you don’t need a win10 key. If not, you can buy win10 and that will give you a win10 key. How do I get a windows 10 product key? Yes but I have windows But not activated How do I get a windows 10 product key?? Thanks for the reaction btw ;. Did a clean install. And for the first time EVER, I had a problem with bloody Windows not recognizing the property of the files in my external drives.

Problem solved with a couple of lines on CommandPrompt and Ultimate Windows Tweaker 3 but still annoying. I have upgraded two machines PC and notebook for Windows 10 and both use the same product key.

I’m in the same situation. The thing is that you don’t need your W10 key for you pc anymore. Once your machine is activated on windows 10, is in the mcrosfot database and your windows will be activated automatclly after installation. Just click “skip” button next time when asks you for product key when installing OS. Thanks tomaszporys! I want to upgrade to windows 10 from vista and I will download windows 10 from Microsoft insider.

I wonder if I still need a product key to activate windows 10 and how do I get a product key? You need to buy a product key since you want to perform a license upgrade. Just check on their website and you should easily find the product page where you can purchase one. However, since your computer is from Windows Vista, I recommend you to check the minimum requirements for Windows 10 since it I suppose that you are using a really old computer.

Hi, please help me. I had a Windows 8. Is that right? Or will I be in trouble in the future? I have already activated Windows! Thank you! In theory shouldn’t work. But if it works, enjoy:. Hm, but I am scared. Should I clean install Home version? It’s Microsoft’s job to take care about acttivation process,not yours!

If OS is from legal soruces like Microsoft’s servers in this case and its succesivelly activated, Microsfot automaticly confirms that You have legitamete copy of the Operating System. That’s my thinking. Otherwaise it wouldn’t make sense and the whole activation process would be worthless. I followed the steps but when I finish entering the Key. The message tell me this key does not work.

I extracted the key of windows 10 home after upgrade. I created the image on an usb drive. You don’t need to insert the product key. Since you are using a product key that is already used your existing PC is using it , it will say that it is already used.

However, since the activation is based on the hardware meaning that you have the same motherboard, the same CPU and GPU, etc. It took me 15minuts to perform clean installation on my laptop! What about pirated versions of windows users? How to make the upgrade?

I guess I’m a lucky one. I found not reason to do a clean install. Been running W10 since the TP began and it works great. You also can’t create a computer name using all numbers. After you enter the new name, you need to restart the PC to make the change effective. Until you do so, Windows will continue to use the old name until you restart and will list both the old and new names on the About page in Settings. Windows 10 includes a new default browser, Microsoft Edge.

As of mid, Microsoft’s developers are in the process of rebuilding Edge from the open-source Chromium codebase. Until that work is complete, most people will use Microsoft’s built-in browser to download their preferred alternative, typically Chrome or Firefox. Even if you’re eager to try out the new Edge which is currently available in a beta version , it’s a good idea to have a backup browser.

Take this opportunity to download your favorite, and then sign in to sync bookmarks, tabs, and extensions. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Set Defaults By App. This is also a good time to set up extensions, including a password manager, which I consider a critical addition to Windows.

For more on the whys and hows of this crucial software category, see Forgot password? Five reasons why you need a password manager. I consider Microsoft Office to be an essential add-on to Windows If your business has an Office subscription, it offers an expanded selection of apps, plus OneDrive for Business storage.

You don’t need to hunt down installation media or product keys. Just sign in at Office. If you use a standalone email client, you need to add account information to it. After installing Office , you have access to Microsoft Outlook, and running Outlook for the first time prompts you to enter your email accounts. I also recommend adding your email accounts to the built-in Mail and Calendar client in Windows 10, even if you plan to always use a browser for a web-based account such as Gmail.

Add your Gmail account and set the option to sync just your calendar and contacts. With those settings, you can see your calendar in agenda format any time by clicking the date in the taskbar. Thanks to the Files On-Demand feature, you can browse, edit, and manage all of your OneDrive files as if they were stored locally.

To set up OneDrive, click its File Explorer icon and sign in using either your personal Microsoft account of the work account associated with your Office Business or Enterprise account. When that update’s installed, you can configure which files and folders you want to keep synced to your local PC and which should stay in the cloud until they’re needed. A relatively new OneDrive feature makes it possible to back up your Desktop, Documents, and Pictures to your personal OneDrive account.

Click to select or clear any folder if you want to sync only the Documents folder, for example and then click Start Protection.

Your existing files are moved to the new location, merged with any files that are already there, and then synced on the local device. If you prefer Dropbox, Box, or Google Drive, download the sync client for that service, sign in with your account, and begin syncing. Windows 10 does a respectable job of finding and installing generic drivers for just about every component in a modern PC.

Still, it’s worth checking to see if your system has any obscure devices that require custom drivers to unlock their full set of features. First things first, though. Before installing a new driver or making any other system changes, make sure System Restore is enabled.

If the entry to the right of your system drive says On, you’re set. It’s worth checking the manufacturer’s page for the PC you’re upgrading to see if there are any custom drivers or utilities that need to be installed. The same holds true for peripherals. For a Microsoft keyboard or mouse, for example, you might need to install the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center software shown here. If you have an all-in-one printer or scanner that requires special control software, this is a good time to download the latest version and confirm that all the hardware is working properly.

When you install Windows 10 Pro on a new PC and sign in with a local account or a Microsoft account, you get more than you bargained for. Specifically, you get some unexpected and probably unwanted third-party apps splattered onto your Start menu, including Candy Crush Soda Saga, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, and March of Empires.

They don’t take up much room, but they’re worth clearing away if you’re not going to use them. The easiest way to avoid this crapware is to sign in with an Active Directory domain or Azure AD account. If that’s not an option, open Start and right-click the tile for any app you want to remove. The menu option varies depending on whether the app is actually installed or is just a shortcut.

You can also remove some but not all of the Microsoft apps preinstalled with Windows For a full list, see: Windows 10 apps: Which are worth keeping? Which ones should you dump? After going through all the work of crafting a clean install, it would be a shame to have to do it all over again after a data disaster such as a system drive failure. The much less painful alternative is to restore that drive from an image-based backup.

You’ll need an external hard disk—at least as large as the amount of space in use on the system drive and ideally the same size as your system drive. The capability to back up and restore a system image is in the Windows 7 Backup and Restore program, which is included with Windows 10, albeit well hidden. As an alternative, you can run the command Sdclt. Click Create A System Image from the column on the left, choose your external hard disk as the location where you want to save the backup, and then click Next.

On the following page, all partitions on the system drive should be selected. Click Next and then click Start Backup. For detailed instructions on how to use this old but still useful utility, see my Windows 10 tip: Create a full image backup using this hidden tool.

After that task is done, consider using File History for ongoing backups. File History saves copies of data files at regular intervals every hour, by default giving you the option to roll back to an earlier version of an individual file or restore all data from a system after you reinstall Windows.

In the first set of options, choose Keep My Files best choice if you’re planning to reuse the PC yourself or Remove Everything if you’re selling the PC or turning it over to someone else. Then right-click the ISO file and select Burn disc image. This will perform an upgrade of your current operating system to Windows Download Windows 10 Before updating, please refer to the Windows release information status for known issues to confirm your device is not impacted.

To get started, click Update now. Update now Privacy. Create Windows 10 installation media To get started, you will first need to have a license to install Windows Download Now Privacy. Select Download tool , and select Run. You need to be an administrator to run this tool.

On the License terms page, if you accept the license terms, select Accept. On the What do you want to do? Your copy of Windows 10 will automatically activate later using your digital license. Select Change what to keep to set whether you would like to Keep personal files and apps , or Keep personal files only , or choose to keep Nothing during the upgrade.

It might take some time to install Windows 10, and your PC will restart a few times. Before you download the tool make sure you have: An internet connection internet service provider fees may apply. Sufficient data storage available on a computer, USB or external drive for the download. System requirements. Make sure the PC meets the system requirements for Windows We also recommend going to the PC manufacturer’s website for additional info about updated drivers and hardware compatibility.

Language in Windows. You’ll need to choose the same language when you install Windows Edition of Windows.

Windows 10 clean install keep files free download. HP PCs – Installing the latest version of Windows 10

 
 
Step 3: win 10 will then activate and your win10 activation will be linked to your hardware you can forget about your win7 or win8 key Step 4 optional : if you want to do a clean installation, you have to create a bootable usb stick or dvd so that you can start the installation during boot-time. Do I still get the free upgrade?