I've always done and will continue to do 'Clean Installs' basically its the easiest way to get rid of 'Bit Rot' 'Bad/Forgotten Settings' 'Apps I've forgotten about' and 'Apps that sneaked without my knowledge' I've been away while the last few builds were released and didn't the time or resources to 'Upgrade -> Grab .ESD -> Convert .ESD to .ISO -> Do Clean Install' And I have to say, the upgrade process and its results are getting a lot better and with the exception of 1 bug my laptop has been fully functional. Nothing at all like the horrors I've had/seen caused by upgrades over the years. But, the one thing that has driven me nutz (and is why I'll still be doing clean installs) Is every time I upgrade, it over writes 'MY' settings and goes back to the 'MS' defaults. Like a lot of 'Power Users' I like my system setup a particular way, so there's a lot of 'Tweaks' and 'Regedits' involved. All of which can be done with two .bat files on setup, but take hours of finding, taking ownership, replacing or re-editing and saving to get them working again on a 'Upgraded' system.
Upgrade then 1. SFC /ScanNow 2a. Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth or 2b. Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:WIM:\sources\install.wim:1 /limitaccess (if you have your Windows 10 media) 3. CleanMGR and I'm sure your system will be as clean as possible. I that's not enough, try to create a new user before clean install.
Eh, I've always upgraded day one when a new windows release has come out with no major issues. Most of us here are in the insider program so RTM should have less bugs than we have now and so far no issues with latest build.
I was on 10130 and windows update did not see any updates due to a bug in 10130 update causing it to report everything was up to date even though I knew the current version was 10166. I wanted to keep all my programs and therefore downloaded the 10162 ISO from MS Insiders and then extracted all the files from the ISO into a folder. I then did an inline update from within windows by running setup and all went fine. I then updated normaly using windows update to 10166. I have just done a sfc /scannow and there where no problems found.
I will always Clean install from USB/DVD just feels more fresh (Even if its not) sort of like having a shave with an electric razor or a blade.. One feels fresher than the other but results look the same (feel different). Plus i just slip the updates into my ISO's anyway and have a master USB drive what i put all the latest drivers on as they come out. It really doesnt take all that long to install from USB and insert my drive USB and install.
I always do a clean install Then create a TI image. Can't get rid of all old files from updates added and removed software and what about WinSxS?
I think upgrading from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 will make Problems. On Windows 10 im upgrading from build to build and only doing a clean install if there are Problems in Build. The good Thing is that I only Need to reconfigure JDownloader. All my files are on a extern HDD or on OneDrive. Im only waiting with installing Office If RTM will be released, I will do a clean install and install every Software I Need. Til now I only install the most important things
i created a new admin local account,deleted my msa,logged in with new account,then recreated my msa and deleted local account,now i have 3 tiles wide.
Another point is that if you installed beta software (like the Visual Studio CTPs/RC), it's even recommended to do a clean install to be sure that all the beta junk in the registry etc. is gone. I didn't do that on 8.1 and spent quite some time removing all the VS leftovers everytime a new CTP was released to make it work properly because even a complete uninstall won't delete everything. I'd always do a clean install in this case. Upgrading is only suitable for production machines that are kept clean and don't contain any pre-release stuff.
The REAL test of willpower is going to be trying to resist the urge to not upgrade to RTM when it leaks so I can get the offline upgrade activation. I'll probably end up dual-booting just to test it out.
I have had nothing but bad luck with upgrades from Win 7 to Win10. I upgraded 4 Win 7 machines with one of the later releases and they all had the same problem, the Internet would not work and I could find no solution (not any big loss). I also followed Microsofts instruction to a T for dual booting my machine. I did an image first and the tried the Dual Boot. It did not work, killed my Windows 7. Window 10 would not let my WIN 7 install disks boot, so I ended up taking the drive out and hooking it up to another machine and deleting the partition, and recreate and format a nnew partition. Then installed my image and every thing works fine except for some reason the reinstalled WIN 7 showed up as unactivated. Good Luck, but so far I am not impressed with WIN 10. I can se big problems when the RTM is released and all the upgrades that will be done. I hope there is No Internet glitch or ther will be a revolution. WEB
So, I was thinking, As I am dual booting with Windows 7 and Windows 10 Preview, So in a day or 2, I was going to NUKE my Windows 10 (or drop it in a VM) and install Windows 7 Professional (a license I have here) to that Partition to take the 10 update. This will ONLY have Windows updates, nothing else. I wont even web browse on the thing, just updates then shut it down, not to reboot till the 29th. I wont give up Windows 7 due to the lack of Windows Media Center, so I want to dual boot (need DirectX 12 for gaming). Would this almost qualify as a clean install, or is it going to leave crap left over ? Is, Windows 10 going to be KEY based like all other versions are ? SO just grab magic jellybean, grab my Win 10 key, put a ISO to USB 3.0 drive and nuke ? the better route ?
If you really want to do a clean install of Windows 10 : 1. Install and activate Windows 7/8/8.1 2. Upgrade to Windows 10 with the promotion 3. Backup your license stuff (Microsoft Toolkit and other softwares will be able to do it) 4. Clean install an up-to-date Windows 10 5. Restore your license stuff But there are two clans : the first one says that it's better to clean install instead of upgrading because bugs can be kept from the old version of Windows or even be "caused" by this upgrade. The second one says that doesn't worth it because the upgraded Windows will work as well as a clean install, and if not, there are easy-to-use Windows tools to repair and clean-up Windows itself.
You don't need 'ALL' the updates, just SP1 and a few others. That should keep it 'closer' to a clean install. I think that second clan is splitting into two, theres the one you describe and the one that says to... 1. Do the upgrade 2. Reboot 3. Do a Re-Fresh. Which I guess is half an Upgrade and half a Clean install
What's that "Downgrade edition" ? Or users need to install Windows 8.1 again Core version to get Win10 Home ver. I don't need the additional features of Pro.