An error has forced you to format your entire computer to leave it as fresh from the factory and now you have no idea how to install the Windows 10 operating system on it again .
This is a much more common scenario than you think. Previously, the installation of an operating system from scratch was an exclusive task for professionals, or at least for people familiar with the subject. Currently it is not like that .
Next, we will show you how to reinstall Windows 10 from scratch. Microsoft has developed several methods of installing its OS, so it will be very easy to perform all the processes that we will explain below .
Index:
Reinstall or restore Windows What are the differences?
A couple of concepts that the average user often confuses are those of restoration and reinstallation, but they are two very different things, as well as the things we have to do to do one and the other.
- Restoration: This is when we return the Windows to its original state after the first installation. Doing so loses all the changes you have made so far, such as energy options, wallpapers and similar things. When doing it you can decide if all the files and programs installed will be kept .
- Reinstallation: is when we install the operating system from scratch. This is done after formatting the entire CPU, leaving it virtually empty.
Differences between reinstalling and restoring
Once you know each other’s concepts it is easier to find the differences. The main one is where each one acts; the restoration is an action at the operating system level, while the reinstallation acts on the entire computer .
Another important point is that the first one does not require you to uninstall Windows 10 at any time, so there will be nothing to install after it, while the second one does .
On the other hand, there are the solutions offered over and over. While restoring the operating system works for you to eliminate configuration errors that may be affecting your user experience, the reinstallation will be responsible for eliminating errors that may exist in the OS and its programming , which can happen if a virus is located deep inside it.
How to know that my W10 Operating System needs to be reinstalled? Most frequent causes
The reality is that there can be many causes that lead you to make the decision to format your computer completely to install W10 from scratch, but we will classify them according to their nature into two types; for errors and failures, and for maintenance .
For errors and failures
The main reason why we have to reinstall an operating system is due to some error and failure in its file structure. These in turn can be caused by various factors; from a malware or virus, to a physical disk error . That is, for all kinds of problems at the software level that we cannot solve in a conventional way.
For maintenance
Every time we download, browse, install or update a game or program, there are residual files that accumulate and congest your operating system. Over time, these begin to affect the operation of the equipment, spoiling your user experience .
Of course this congestion process can be contained using disk management tools and similar things, but sooner or later these will not be enough, so you will inevitably have to proceed to make a hard reset of the computer .
All this is done for maintenance. There is no general rule to establish how often this should be done, it all depends on the use you give the computer, but it will always be important to do it at least once a year .
Steps to perfectly reinstall Windows 10 from 0
Well, there are many scenarios that may have brought you here, so there are also many methods that you can use to perform a clean installation of your Windows 10 and use the computer as fresh from the packaging. At this time you will learn all of them .
From the operating system itself
- As we mentioned at the beginning, Microsoft has developed many tools to facilitate the maintenance of the computer to its users and this is one of them. It is not really a reinstallation, but a complete restoration that simulates an installation from scratch . This can only be done when there are no errors in the operating system or its file structure.
- You must enter the “Settings” of Windows 10 and quickly go to section «Update and security», that will allow you to access the Windows Update tool.
- Once you’re in that section, you’ll see a column of options to the left of your screen. You must select “Recovery” and then on “Restore this PC”.
- Next, you will have to select some settings to configure the restoration level; the first is to choose if the applications will be uninstalled, in this case we choose “Remove all” so that a complete installation can be simulated.
- The second will be to choose which disk you want to restore, If you have more than one hard drive, you can choose whether to restore both or only where the Windows files are, we leave this to your choice. And the third is to indicate that you want files removed and the drive cleaned.
After optimizing all this you will have to wait a while until all your orders are executed, but at the end you will have a beautiful Windows from scratch.
With DC / DVD or USB installation
When there is an error in the files of the operating system, a serious one, possibly the previous method will not solve your problems, so it will be necessary to take more drastic measures. What you should do is create an installation medium, which can be a USB or a CD / DVD .
Although it may sound complicated, it is a very simple process to perform. But first, it is important that you meet the following requirements :
- A stable and fast internet connection.
- A USB or CD / DVD drive with at least 4GB of space.
- An ISO image of Windows 10.
Once you have all that, what you need to do to create an installation unit is the following:
- The first thing to do is download the Microsoft Media Creation Tool , which is the official one to perform this process.
Download Media Creation Tool for Windows
- Once you have the tool downloaded, proceed to start it. This will bring up a window where you will be asked “What do you want to do?”, To which you respond by selecting the option “ Create installation media (USB Flash Drive, DVD, or ISO file) For another PC”.
- After that you will have to choose the characteristics of the medium you are going to create, indicating the language, the Windows version and the architecture. To determine the architecture you need to see in the specifications of your CPU which versions you accept, since a 32-bit computer will not accept a 64-bit OS.
- Now you must choose the type medium. If it is a USB, choose the one that says “USB Flash Drive”, and if it is a CD / DVD choose “ISO Image”, and select “Next”.
Later, you will have to wait until the ISO image is downloaded and inserted into the USB or later you burn it to a DVD / CD. This process will take an hour or more .
Once downloaded all the information of the previous process we proceed to install our Windows. To this we simply format and shut down the computer completely and follow these steps :
- With the device turned off, we insert the USB drive or the installation CD into the corresponding port.
- Now we turn on the device and press the key to enter the “Start menu” . Once there we select the flash drive with the ISO image to install Windows 10 .
- The following is to follow each and every one of the instructions of the assistant installation, for which you will have to have your 25-digit license key at hand to activate the OS .
With RUFUS
Another way to make things a lot easier is to use a tool that automates the entire previous process and fortunately there is. You may already know Rufus, which is an excellent software to create boot drives for Windows and Linux. The best thing is that you download the ISO directly from the Ubuntu and Microsoft databases.
If you are interested in using it, you can easily do it by following the steps explained below:
- The first thing is obviously to download the most updated version of Rufus . It is a very light program, so it will not take you more than a few minutes to download it. The link is as follows:
Download Rufus by Windows
- The result of the download will be a single executable file. You must open it by right clicking on it and then select “Run as administrator” otherwise it will not work.
- Now you must insert the USB, which must first be formatted in Fat32 format. When we are sure of the above we proceed to select «Device» in the Rufus interface and select the USB that we just formatted.
- The following is to click «Disk or ISO image (Please choose) » and use the file browser to search for the Windows 10 ISO image. If you don’t have one, click on ” Download “, right next to it of the previous option, and indicate the edition of the Windows, the architecture, the language and other things that you see in the image.
- You wait for the download to end if necessary and after that we complete “Partition scheme” fields such as “MBR”, “Target system” as “UEFI BIOS” and “ File system ” as in Fat32 and we click on clearlyStart.
After waiting a few minutes for your orders to be applied and voila, you already have a USB to install Windows 10. The following is simply to format the computer and do the following:
- Turn off the device and insert the USB drive or installation CD.
- Turn on the device and press the key to enter the “Boot Menu”, where we select the flash drive with the image ISO to install Windows 10.
- Now you must follow all the instructions of the Microsoft installation wizard. You will have to have your 25-digit license key handy to activate the Operating System.
These are all proven methods to create a bootable bootable USB and perform a perfect W10 installation in every way.
Is it possible to reinstall without losing data or files? All methods to do it in W10
You may have very important information on your computer that you do not want to lose after reinstalling the OS. Fortunately, computer science is kind and offers several methods to avoid this. Here we tell you what they are and how to apply them.
From the Windows restore
We have already taught you how to use this tool to simulate a Windows installation from scratch. With it you can do the same by keeping your files, you simply follow these steps:
- Enter the W10 configuration and go to «Update and Security» once and then select the options “Recovery”> » Restore this PC ».
- Now what you have to do is simply check the “Keep my files” option so that your data is not touched, much less your applications.
What we do tell you is that this method is the worst you can follow because ALL files will be kept, including those that are a nuisance to your system and put it to work in a faulty way. It’s easier to apply, but it will only eliminate superficial errors .
File backup
The best thing you can do is simply make a backup, for this you must use an external storage unit such as a USB. There are several ways to backup, but we will focus on making it only to files such as photos, libraries, favorites and similar things, not including installed programs. What you must do to achieve this is the following:
- Access the “Control Panel” of W10 and click on the “File history” option.
- If you wish to exclude Some files click on the “Exclude folders” option and select them manually.
- Now what you need to do is insert the USB drive, which should have at least 8GB of space, and click on the permittedActivate accoun.
button
After doing the above, the tool will start running, creating the backup so you don’t lose your photos, videos, movies and other important files.