Solved New machines should remove the OS !

I like to do a clean install on a machine, but maybe for a different reason than what you may be thinking.

For me, it's simply a matter of testing to make sure that I can get a good, clean install if something were to happen that caused major corruption on the OS drive.

So here is what I do:

Preparation

1) Create a full image backup of the system (just in case I need to get back to where I am).

2) Create a backup copy of every driver installed on the system - this requires only single command.

3) Download a full set of drivers for the system from the manufacturer.

Clean Installation

4) Start a completely clean install of Windows on the system. This is the first big test - will it see all drives or do I need any drivers in order to see storage on the system?

5) Complete the installation and try restoring all of my backed up drivers from step 2. Again, this requires only a single command to restore all drivers.

6) At this point I should have a completely clean install with all drivers installed. However, I'll go back to step 4 and do another clean install, this time applying all of the drivers that I downloaded from the manufacturer just to make sure that I have a complete set of working drivers in case I ever need to just install / reinstall any one single driver.

7) Finally, I'll create a customized image with all of the drivers for my system slipstreamed into it. This way, I can easily perform an unattended setup with all the drivers already preinstalled for my system.

flashh4 said:

Ghot, my son's rig 2021 !

View attachment 45966

Click to expand...

That's one big computer! oh wait. . hahaha

See one thing I refuse to buy a OEM/Store computer is bc they load so much crap on it plus they add there own recovery partition thus alot of storage wasted. The components they use is garbage as well. Just my 2¢

I buy almost all my PCs second hand. The first thing I do (especially if they still have their OEM installed OS) is to make a system image then wipe them and do a clean install. Windows Update invariably finds the correct drivers. They all run fine without the OEM bloatware.

flashh4 said:

There was an article this morning on MSN from some Tech, he stated that most machines will run better if you delete the OS that came installed on it and replaced with a new version ! He said it has to much stuff from the producer that it slows down a machine ! I think this is very probable so wondering what your thoughts are on this ?? I know there is a lot of unwanted stuff from HP on their machines ! Thoughts please ??
Thanks !

Click to expand...

When I get a new factory built computer, I boot it using a Macrium Reflect rescue USB drive. Then I save an image of the internal drive to an external USB HDD (or my NAS). Then I boot the new computer and when I get to the OOBE screen, I use Ctrl + Shift + F3 to get into audit mode. I then use DISM to export the factory drivers to a folder on the Windows 11 installation USB flash drive. Then I reboot the computer to the Windows 11 installation USB flash drive and do a clean install without all the manufacturer's bloatware.

The whole point of many replies here is clean installing without bloatware requires a bit of planning so you can do it without issue.

Contrary to what a poster said earlier about windows never giving an issue with drivers on a clean install - this is just not true.

I did it on my new laptop (having made an image backup first) and laptop would not boot.

It turned out the standard windows iso cannot handle all nvme drives without addition of an IRST driver.

So I restored the backup, exported irst drivers and injected it into install.wim and boot wim and reinstalled. I later found I could have just added it during installation.


So in simple terms make sure you have an image backup before attempting a clean install regardless if you clean install or just tidy up oem installation.

Backing up oem drivers is a good idea as well. The point is Windows 10/11 is good at updating drivers but not always perfect.

That's exactly the reason why I prefer to uninstall unwanted applications than doing a clean installation. Because not all drivers are installed automatically by Windows Update. In Windows 10 and 11 a few drivers, if any, need to be installed manually. Even if the graphics card is found automatically I prefer to update manually to the latest official version from manufacturer support site. Windows 7 and earlier you were not guaranteed to automatically get all drivers from Windows Update and was advisable to download them beforehand. Manufacturer support site wasn't always updated offering older versions, so I had to download them each from the respective component manufacturers' sites. Too much trouble, while uninstalling all bloatware was much faster and easier. Here in Greece mostly companies would buy a n OEM computer. An average user will build from parts because it is cheaper and better since you choose your own specs. No need to build it yourself, you can ask the computer store to build it for you. So they just install Windows and drivers. No OEM bloatware to uninstall later.

WAI said:

See one thing I refuse to buy a OEM/Store computer is bc they load so much crap on it plus they add there own recovery partition thus alot of storage wasted. The components they use is garbage as well. Just my 2¢

Click to expand...

Before I learned how to build my own, I burned the recovery partition to DVDs, then I Deleted the recovery partition. . Now, I just make my own. . lol