Question Clean Win10 advice (current Win7 but did install Win10 during free promotion upgrade)

[Coup27]

Hi,

I am (still) using a genuine retail boxed copy of Windows 7 Home Premium and I am preparing to format and install Windows 10. When 10 was first released Microsoft ran a promotion that you could upgrade to 10 for free if you did it within 12 months. I did that upgrade and ran 10 for a little while but I didn't like it so I formatted and went back to 7 so I am hoping my motherboard still has a valid licence for 10. I have not changed CPU in that time.

I have found this link online to the official tool to install a clean copy. Is this the tool I want to use and will my system still be valid for a genuine licence?

My intention once I have finished preparing, downloading drivers, making backups etc is to secure erase my SSD using the Samsung boot utility and then install a clean copy of Windows 10.

Any other general advice is gratefully received. I remember when you first boot up 10 goes off and does its own thing with updates and all sorts. Is it best to just let it do all of that and then install drivers afterwards?

Thanks.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

When you first install 10, do a manual search for updates, then leave the system alone for 30 minutes to an hour. That should take care of both updates, Store updates and WHQL drivers. It'll likely ask for a restart at some point, so do that when convenient. Then do another manual search for updates. Once the second is done do another restart, just to be on the safe side.

Since you're (presumably) using older hardware, you may consider disabling Hibernation/Fast Start. Older drivers sometime don't play nice with it, in my experience.

Then add drivers of your choice. Unless you have some exotic hardware in your system, out-of-the-box 10 support is pretty good. With the specific exception of pre-Ivy Bridge graphics, you may have to manually install an older 7 driver, as the included one pretty much nukes OpenGL support. If that's important. If you're using discrete graphics, you should be home free.

I did that upgrade and ran 10 for a little while but I didn't like it so I formatted and went back to 7 so I am hoping my motherboard still has a valid licence for 10. I have not changed CPU in that time.

The important component is your mainboard, not CPU, as activation is tied to the mainboard.

It should activate as soon as you get an internet connection. If it doesn't, you just provide your 7 key. Worst case, you have to call MS product activation, but that's no big issue.

I have found this link online to the official tool to install a clean copy. Is this the tool I want to use and will my system still be valid for a genuine licence?

Do a quick google for "media creation tool". It should be the first result, just make sure its the correct language.

 

[Coup27]

Thanks for your reply. I have an i5-4670 with an ASUS H87I-PLUS motherboard. It ran 10 fine years ago so it should be fine now. I do have discrete graphics, a GTX 960 so I presume I'm still best to install the latest driver from nvidia once Windows has finished updating itself?

The media creation tool seems different from the one I found. The one I found seems to be a Windows based application which installs 10 (cleanly, it claims). So I presume it asks you all the questions at the start while in your existing OS and then reboots your machine and installs 10? The media creation tool allows you to create a bootable disc or USB drive and install 10 in the more traditional way. I presume either approach would actually work for me?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Thanks for your reply. I have an i5-4670 with an ASUS H87I-PLUS motherboard. It ran 10 fine years ago so it should be fine now. I do have discrete graphics, a GTX 960 so I presume I'm still best to install the latest driver from nvidia once Windows has finished updating itself?

If you're playing up-to-date titles, then yes, that would be best.

For certain stability, the Windows Update ones are from a well tested branch. But may lack the latest features and optimization.

The media creation tool seems different from the one I found. The one I found seems to be a Windows based application which installs 10 (cleanly, it claims). So I presume it asks you all the questions at the start while in your existing OS and then reboots your machine and installs 10? The media creation tool allows you to create a bootable disc or USB drive and install 10 in the more traditional way. I presume either approach would actually work for me?

We're talking about the official MS one, right? Actually it'll allow you to do both. You can choose what to do when starting it. If you want a clean install, I'd recommend making a flash drive, and booting from that. (I think the H87 is new enough there is a choice of doing a "boot override" on it. There should be two options for your flash drive, you'll want to use the one reading "UEFI:flashdrivename". If you have have your boot disk using MBR, you'll have to use diskpart (or a 3rd party utility) to clean it first. Doing that requires an additional boot, but is relatively easy. Though not for the faint of heart)

For US English. You can change language at the bottom of the page.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10