Clean Install

[katalina]

I have all my files on USB sticks so how do we do a 'clean install'.

Is it the same as a format only much easier?

Thanks!

 

[Trouble]

I have all my files on USB sticks so how do we do a 'clean install'.

Well.....
After making sure that all your critical data is secure on external media, which you are indicating is the case and as an added safety measure consider creating a disk image of your hard drive to be sure and have a strong fall back position https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/

Then....
You're going to need the installation media
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/techbench
Choose Windows 10, the first item in the first drop down (not single language at the bottom) * see note at bottom.
Next choose your language and your bit version (32 or 64 bit to match your system architecture or in the case of an upgrade, to match your currently installed version of Windows).
That will provide an ISO that will upgrade, repair (or clean install) either or both Windows 10 Pro and Home.
Once you have downloaded the ISO you can use ImgBurn to burn it to a DVD http://imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
OR
Rufus to burn it to a USB ThumbDrive http://rufus.akeo.ie/
Either of which you can use to boot your computer.
When you've managed to boot from the installation media you should be able to perform the clean install.
*NOTE: In some cases, we've learned that some people have the "Single Language" version installed. In which case you would need that download. It's important that you match the ISO version that you download with your installation.

Whenever I perform a clean install, I like to make it a "clean" install, and so when the installation media boots, on the first screen I hold the shift key and strike the F10 key to produce a command prompt window and there I use the native DiskPart utility to completely wipe the drive. Be very careful that you use
list disk (to see all the disk attached to the computer)
select disk (to select the disk and only that disk that you wish to wipe)
then the "clean" command to wipe that disk.
See a step by step here http://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-and-format-storage-drive-using-diskpart-windows-10
AND
Note that if you are going to do the subsequent formatting and partitioning (unnecessary as windows will take care of that during the installation to unallocated space) the

format FS=NTFS label=WC-Drive quick

the label=<whatever>
the "whatever" needs to be enclosed in quotes so it looks like this
format FS=NTFS label="C_OS" quick (which is typically what I label mine (when I even bother).

 

[katalina]

I went back to Window7 Trouble.
Many thanks!
I will keep your Win10 help In a bookmark