3

With the Creators Update yet another way to reset the system has been introduced to Windows 10 called "Fresh Start" which can be found in the Windows Defender actions. The more I read about the more I get confused whether I want to use the old "Reset this PC" method (described here) or the new "Fresh Start" method.

Basically I haven't reinstalled the computer in ages and just updated through all versions of Windows 8, the upgrade to Windows 10 and the Windows 10 updates themselves. Now I want to completely wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows 10 from scratch and it seems as if I can reduce the hassle of creating a boot medium and going through the installer itself with the new options.

I have done a backup of all necessary personal files, games and such onto my D:\ hard drive which is different from the system drive. I am looking for the right method to wipe the C:\ drive and reinstall Windows fresh onto it to start anew. So which method is suitable in my case?

Christian Ivicevic
  • 295

1 Answers1

3

Now I want to completely wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows 10 from scratch and it seems as if I can reduce the hassle of creating a boot medium and going through the installer itself with the new options.

If you want to completely wipe the HDD then the only way to do that is to use WinRE, by booting to a Windows installation disk, and using diskpart to delete your existing partitions.

Of course that is like using a commercial vacuum cleaner to pick up a single Cheerio that your kid dropped on the floor.

You have two options if you don't want to use the commercial vacuum cleaner method to install Windows.

  • If you installed Windows 8 originally from an installation disk you downloaded, then using "Reset this PC", will use the default recovery image that exists within your installation. This recovery image would be exactly the same if you had installed Windows 10 originally instead of Windows 8. In this situation you would choose Remove files and clean the drive in order to accomplish your goal of a clean installation.

enter image description here

Everything You Need to Know About “Reset This PC” in Windows 8 and 10

  • If your machine came with Windows 8 already installed then you will want to use the "Fresh Start" option instead. This will result in your new installation using the default Windows 10 image instead of the recovery image already on your machine. Microsoft has allowed OEMs to modify this recovery image, which means OEM provided software, could be included in the recovery image on an OEM device. You will want to provide the same response when prompted if you want to keep your personal files. '

enter image description here

How to Easily Reinstall Windows 10 Without the Bloatware

Ramhound
  • 44,080