Solved What should I save prior to clean install?


I seem to be overwhelmed with comments, but that is good. What I did was to move as much files as I could remember to another HDD. I then went into UEFI and selected to boot from usb. What I did next was troublesome for a while. I started the windows install and when it came to the drive I wanted to install on, it said that it was GPT and I could not install on it. So, after much research, I went into bios again and change it to UEFI only. Install started up fine. I got past all of the obstacles such as OneDrive and the others with no issues. When Install was all set and done, I did not have Windows 11 installed on my PC, but had Windows 10 Pro instead (?). I have no idea why. Prior to the install I had deleted or removed the smaller partitions that had reserve and recovery on them. I figured that Windows would create these partitions during install.

So, I created another bootable USB drive with Windows 11 on it. I will try again in a few minutes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 ver 22h2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    custom built
    CPU
    Ryzen 5 5600X
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime X370-pro
    Memory
    G. Skill 4X8GB 288-pin SDRAM DDR4-3000
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
    Sound Card
    onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual ViewSonic VG2753 Series [Monitor] (27.2"vis, October 2017)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1T SSD (C:\); 2T spinner HDD partitioned into virtual drives; 250gb WD Blue SSD;
    PSU
    Seasonic Focus Plus SSR-650FX
    Case
    Cool Master Mastercase Pro 5
    Cooling
    Cryorig H7
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb fiber optic AT&T
    Browser
    Opera
    Antivirus
    McAfee
    Other Info
    NordVPN installed
When I do a clean install of Windows on a previously used drive, I delete all the partitions on the drive, and let the Windows installer create the ones it needs.

With Windows 11, that includes a 100MB Fat32 UEFI boot partition.

There may be better ways to proceed, but that approach is reliable. Especially for non-experts like me.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 22631.2861
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Amd Threadripper 7970X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte TRX50 Aero D
    Memory
    128GB (4 X 32) Kingston DDR5 5200 (RDIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    Sound Card
    none (USB to speakers), Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Philips 27E1N8900 OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVME SSD
    WD 4TB Blue SATA SSD
    Seagate 18TB IronWolf Pro
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1600 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL
    Cooling
    Alphacool Eisbaer Pro Aurora 360, with 3 Phanteks T30 fans
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120 (wired)
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Internet Speed
    1200 Mbps
  • Operating System
    windows 11 22631.2861
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I9-13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus RoG Strix Z690-E
    Memory
    64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Sound Card
    built in Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus PA329C
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WDC SN850 1TB
    8 TB Seagate Ironwolf
    4TB Seagate Ironwolf
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1300 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo
    Cooling
    Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120 (wired)
Just finished the new clean install of Windows 11. So far, so good.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 ver 22h2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    custom built
    CPU
    Ryzen 5 5600X
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime X370-pro
    Memory
    G. Skill 4X8GB 288-pin SDRAM DDR4-3000
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
    Sound Card
    onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual ViewSonic VG2753 Series [Monitor] (27.2"vis, October 2017)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1T SSD (C:\); 2T spinner HDD partitioned into virtual drives; 250gb WD Blue SSD;
    PSU
    Seasonic Focus Plus SSR-650FX
    Case
    Cool Master Mastercase Pro 5
    Cooling
    Cryorig H7
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb fiber optic AT&T
    Browser
    Opera
    Antivirus
    McAfee
    Other Info
    NordVPN installed
If you use online sites, then you need to save the login/password info for each site -- and HOW to do that varies greatly with each of the browsers used. You need to Google for the browsers you use to find out how to save and restore that information.
This can be saved by pen and paper or on notepad doc. To external backup drive for better security
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    jds63 /self built
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 10700KF 3.8 MHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming
    Memory
    G.Skill Trident RGB Series 64GB DDR4-3600MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 Ti OC Edition
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VG28UQL1A 28" 144 Mhz 4K Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160p HDR
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe 500GB M.2 Drive, (2) Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SATA III Internal SSD, (2) Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SATA III Internal SSD & Seagate Barracuda 2TB
    PSU
    ASUS ROG Thor 850 80+ Platinum 850W Fully Modular RGB Power Supply
    Case
    Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12A CPU Cooler, (5) Noctua NF-A12x15 chromax.black.swap 120mm, (3) Lepa BOL.Quiet PWM LED 120mm
    Keyboard
    Logitech MX Keys
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Ergo Trackball
    Internet Speed
    325Mbps/ 20Mbps
    Browser
    Mozilla Firefox 64-bit, Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Kaspersky Plus 2023
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-Ray/DVD Burner 209DBK, Logitech Z906 5.1 Speakers and Epson XP7100 All-in-One Printer
I do keep my all of my userid's and passwords on an excel spreadsheet on another drive separate from c:\. There are far too many for me to remember and to write on a sheet of paper. This way I can update or change passwords.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 ver 22h2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    custom built
    CPU
    Ryzen 5 5600X
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime X370-pro
    Memory
    G. Skill 4X8GB 288-pin SDRAM DDR4-3000
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
    Sound Card
    onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual ViewSonic VG2753 Series [Monitor] (27.2"vis, October 2017)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1T SSD (C:\); 2T spinner HDD partitioned into virtual drives; 250gb WD Blue SSD;
    PSU
    Seasonic Focus Plus SSR-650FX
    Case
    Cool Master Mastercase Pro 5
    Cooling
    Cryorig H7
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb fiber optic AT&T
    Browser
    Opera
    Antivirus
    McAfee
    Other Info
    NordVPN installed
So far, windows 11 pro is working fine. I did have an issue with my McAfee antivirus, but had it resolved by chatting with them. Other than that, I am tweaking my desktop so that it works smoother. And I am also slowly bringing back the programs that I had before. Thanks again to all of you!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 ver 22h2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    custom built
    CPU
    Ryzen 5 5600X
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime X370-pro
    Memory
    G. Skill 4X8GB 288-pin SDRAM DDR4-3000
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
    Sound Card
    onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual ViewSonic VG2753 Series [Monitor] (27.2"vis, October 2017)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1T SSD (C:\); 2T spinner HDD partitioned into virtual drives; 250gb WD Blue SSD;
    PSU
    Seasonic Focus Plus SSR-650FX
    Case
    Cool Master Mastercase Pro 5
    Cooling
    Cryorig H7
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb fiber optic AT&T
    Browser
    Opera
    Antivirus
    McAfee
    Other Info
    NordVPN installed

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