New Build

cereberus said:

It is bullshit to tell a guy to clean install without taking their needs into account.

Click to expand...

Seems to me you're ignoring the OP's question in favor of pushing your own "agenda" while dismissing other valid points.

rcferris said:

My current PC is getting old, so plan to build a new one.

Question is if I should simply move my OS SSD to my new machine, and then upgrade to WIN11, or do a clean install of WIN 11 on the new machine, perhaps with a new SSD.

Click to expand...

The vast majority doing a new build will do a clean install. This provides a fresh install on a new build and eliminates the worry that you may have transferred an issue/conflict over from the old install.

At any rate, we're merely answering the OP's questions.... whether you agree or not is irrelevant. As you said, the OP will decide.

rcferris said:

Thanks for both replies. You've confirmed my thoughts, and will go with clean install.

Click to expand...

Peace

NavyLCDR said:

The product keys are exactly the same for Windows 10 and Windows 11. So instead of installing your original Windows 10 Pro and then upgrading to Windows 11, why not download Windows 11 for free from Microsoft, install it, and activate it with your Windows 10 Pro product key?

If you are doing a clean install anyway, and you want to end up with Windows 11, installing Windows 10 first is a waste of time.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a perfect solution for me. Thanks.

In my main PC (see 2nd system specs) I had a spare SSD and cloned my Windows 10 installation so I could upgrade to Windows 11 without losing my existing applications. Unfortunatelly, because my system is non-supported (Legacy BIOS, no Secore boot, no TPM), and for some other unknown incompatibility, I failed 3 times to upgrade to 11, so I decided to clean install Windows 11. I needed about a week (because of lack of free time) to reinstall all my apps, not a very pleasant experience. Even today, I cannot be sure I did not miss any app or setting I had back in Windows 10. Should the upgrade had succeeded, I would save me this frustration. So, I recommend a clean installation only for very simple office machines running Microsoft Office and a couple of other appications easy to reinstall. For anyone else with tons of data and installed applications I recommend to try moving the old disk to the new PC first. Just upgrade all drivers and you should be ready to go.

Dru2 said:

Seems to me you're ignoring the OP's question in favor of pushing your own "agenda" while dismissing other valid points.


The vast majority doing a new build will do a clean install. This provides a fresh install on a new build and eliminates the worry that you may have transferred an issue/conflict over from the old install.

At any rate, we're merely answering the OP's questions.... whether you agree or not is irrelevant. As you said, the OP will decide.


Peace

Click to expand...

I have no blinking agenda - I just despair at people who always say clean install without pointing out the potential pitfalls of doing that.

In my opinion, this is irresponsible advice.

This and other forums are littered with people finding clean installs created them issue - drivers missing, lost installation keys etc.

You have to prepare for a clean install to ensure you will not get issues.

Unfortunatelly many users are unaware of the potential issues of a clean installation. Usually they let Windows fild most drivers (not all) and then start installing applications and games. So this seems easy for them. I have seen many customer computers with missing drivers that impact performance. The most usual is Windows have installed an old graphics driver without Control Panel to tweak graphics settings, or even worse, Microsoft Basic Display Adapter without any hardware acceleration and the system is much slower than it should. To properly do a clean installation you have to download and install all drivers. In newer systems you normally have no problem connecting to the internet and downloading the drivers. In older systems you had to downoad them in advance, just in case you didn't have driver for the network or WiFi and you could not download the drivers. Also you must be prepared to reinstall all applications and redo all the custom settings. Let alone you must have backuped all your data and restore them back.

Instead of using a blank disk and start for scratch, I would clone my old disk to the new SSD and then try to load the old system. If I just wanted my files and did not care about my old apps, I would install Windows without format, so all my old data would go at C:\Windows.old folder. I would proceed to install drivers and applications, and then I would copy my old data from C:\Windows.old\users\username folder.

cereberus said:

In my opinion, this is irresponsible advice.

Click to expand...

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree. And this is a tech forum, so clean installs will be suggested.... as they should when required.

cereberus said:

You have to prepare for a clean install to ensure you will not get issues.

Click to expand...

Agreed, but that's a given - sort of like building a PC, dealing with a BIOS is part of it. And BIOS updates may be required.

Dru2 said:

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree. And this is a tech forum, so clean installs will be suggested.... as they should when required.


Agreed, but that's a given - sort of like building a PC, dealing with a BIOS is part of it. And BIOS updates may be required.

Click to expand...

You are twisting my words. Clean installs are sometimes needed. What I object to is advice to do that given to lesser experienced persons without explaining the risks If you disagree with that, more fool you.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions. I do think I've got it, both pros and cons. Once I get this all done. I'll post my decesions and the ease/difficulty I had.

If it was my spare/test computer without pressure of time, I would choose the clean installation to make sure step by step I install only software I use often (or likely to use some time), the latest possible version with the best possible custom settings. Any time I need a fully working computer I would use my main PC, so no rush. But for my main PC I want it up and running in minimum time, I would avoid a time-consuming clean installation and I would try first to adapt an existing installation. If that fails (like in my case, see my previous posts), I would do a clean installation as a last resort. So it is a matter of time. How fast you need your computer to be ready? How many programs you intend to install? Is it faster to just install a few programs from scratch, or it is faster to upgrade an old system and adapt it to the new hardware? These are the main points you must consider before doing anything.

PS: if I had a spare disk, I could do a clean installation on that disk and dual boot my old system disk. So I have a fully working computer at any time I need it, so I can devote as much time as needed to do a proper clean installation without hurry. This is what I did when moving from 98 to XP, from XP to Vista and so on. Once the new installation is complete and fully working, I would remove the old disk and make the new disk default.

cereberus said:

You are twisting my words. Clean installs are sometimes needed. What I object to is advice to do that given to lesser experienced persons without explaining the risks If you disagree with that, more fool you.

Click to expand...

Insults only make you look petulant and won't change the fact that this is still a tech forum where all sorts of advice is given. Or the fact the OP did take things into consideration.

Again, we'll agree to disagree. I'd hoped agreeably, but...

End of conversation.

Dru2 said:

Insults only make you look petulant and won't change the fact that this is still a tech forum where all sorts of advice is given. Or the fact the OP did take things into consideration.

Again, we'll agree to disagree. I'd hoped agreeably, but...

End of conversation.

Click to expand...

You started making it personal saying I had an agenda. Pot calling kettle black. End of conversation.