Uninstall/Reinstall

I've screwed up my Win 10 installation and would like to uninstall it
and reinstall it.

Is that possible? I think I made the "media" when I first installed it.

Thanks.

Cy Burnot wrote:
I've screwed up my Win 10 installation and would like to uninstall it
and reinstall it.

Is that possible? I think I made the "media" when I first installed it.

Thanks.

Look for a reference to MediaCreationTool.

That's a sure-fire way to make yourself a 10586 DVD,
then you can reinstall any way you would like.

Upgrade/Repair install while Win10 is running.
(While in Win10, execute setup.exe off the top level of the DVD.)

or

Boot the DVD and do a Clean install.

The DVD will automatically access the Digital Entitlement key
your original Upgrade install left on the Microsoft server. It
does this, by comparing your hardware hash against the one
on the server. If you haven't modified the hardware since
the original install, the DVD will be able to fetch your
license key. No MagicJellyBean needed.

You could check for C:\$Windows.~BT right now, see
if there are roughly 7GB of files, see if there is a setup.exe
in there, as that is a staging folder. You might be
able to run the setup.exe off there and start
a Upgrade/Repair install from there. But I don't
know of a way off-hand to make a DVD immediately
from that lot.

The C:\$Windows.~WS folder is used when you use
MediaCreationTool to make a DVD. At the same time,
if you start MediaCreationTool, it will erase the
majority of files from the ~BT folder. It's real
easy to lose the files in those two folders, so
don't rely on them for emergencies. While the ~BT
might still be there, it might just as well only
have 250KB of files instead of the 7GB set.

*******

There are also these options.

"Keep my files" (affects only C: partition)
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4...dows-10-a.html

"Remove everything - personal files, apps, settings" (affects only C: partition)
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4...dows-10-a.html

Now, the trouble with that idea, is the contents
of a certain folder. You can tell from mine,
things will not work well if I use this now.

I have stale files in this folder, and it looks
like I should have deleted the DONOTREPLACE.txt
file if I wanted a more recent WIM to be kept.

C:\RecoveryImage\Install.wim 3,291,119,491 bytes 2015-04-30
C:\RecoveryImage\DONOTREPLACE.txt

"Upgrade will not replace the on-disk recovery image if this
file is present. Do not delete or modify this file.

Build ID: 10074.0.amd64fre.fbl_impressive.150424-1350"

So if I were to carry out the Reset or Refresh on my
Win10 setup, I would go back to 10074 (yikes!).

MediaCreationTool may be the most straight-forward
path for you. Most of the rest of it is looking
pretty flaky. YMMV of course.

Paul

Cy Burnot wrote on 12/14/2015 3:25 AM:
I've screwed up my Win 10 installation and would like to uninstall it
and reinstall it.

Is that possible? I think I made the "media" when I first installed it.

Thanks.

OEM Win10 ?
or Retail Win10 ?
or upgraded from 7/8x to Win10 ?

--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

Paul wrote:

The DVD will automatically access the Digital Entitlement key
your original Upgrade install left on the Microsoft server. It
does this, by comparing your hardware hash against the one
on the server. If you haven't modified the hardware since
the original install, the DVD will be able to fetch your
license key.

How about just adding a USB3 disk. Does that destroy the
'hardware hash'?

I ask since my Win10 fails miserably in installing KB3116869
(error 0x80070011). I'm utterly sick of Win10, so I think I
go back to Win 8.1 for which I have an install DVD. I obviously
have none for Win10. Besides, IMHO Win10 is a tangled mess of
spaghetti compared to Win 8.x.

You could check for C:\$Windows.~BT right now, see
if there are roughly 7GB of files, see if there is a setup.exe
in there

I don't have this directory. Only c:\$Windows.~WS.

.. . .winston wrote on 12/14/2015 5:46 AM:
Cy Burnot wrote on 12/14/2015 3:25 AM:
I've screwed up my Win 10 installation and would like to uninstall it
and reinstall it.

Is that possible? I think I made the "media" when I first installed it.

Thanks.

OEM Win10 ?
or Retail Win10 ?
or upgraded from 7/8x to Win10 ?


The Win 10 that is presently installed was an upgrade from 7/8x.

ElChino wrote on 12/14/2015 7:12 AM:

I ask since my Win10 fails miserably in installing KB3116869
(error 0x80070011). I'm utterly sick of Win10, so I think I
go back to Win 8.1 for which I have an install DVD. I obviously
have none for Win10. Besides, IMHO Win10 is a tangled mess of
spaghetti compared to Win 8.x.


One can easily obtain Win10 installation media
- Download and run the Win10 Media Creation Tool(MCT) which can create
USB, DVD, or an Iso file media.


In fact, if you choose to go back to Win10 in the future (assuming your
Win10 device is activated) you can clean install Win10 using that same
MCT created media
- skipping the product key since you have digital entitlement
or
If the clean install fails and left back in 8.1, use the same created
media and just enter your Win8x product key.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10



--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

Cy Burnot wrote on 12/14/2015 12:03 PM:
. . .winston wrote on 12/14/2015 5:46 AM:
Cy Burnot wrote on 12/14/2015 3:25 AM:
I've screwed up my Win 10 installation and would like to uninstall it
and reinstall it.

Is that possible? I think I made the "media" when I first installed it.

Thanks.

OEM Win10 ?
or Retail Win10 ?
or upgraded from 7/8x to Win10 ?


The Win 10 that is presently installed was an upgrade from 7/8x.


Ok..thanks.
What media did you make(or think you made) when you first used 'it'

Fyi..if Win10 is activate you can always use the Win10 Media Creation
Tool(MCT) to create install media (USB/DVD/ISO)

If the Win10 device's Win10 o/s is activate the media can be used to
reinstall or clean install Win10.



--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

.. . .winston wrote on 12/14/2015 3:57 PM:
Cy Burnot wrote on 12/14/2015 12:03 PM:
. . .winston wrote on 12/14/2015 5:46 AM:
Cy Burnot wrote on 12/14/2015 3:25 AM:
I've screwed up my Win 10 installation and would like to uninstall it
and reinstall it.

Is that possible? I think I made the "media" when I first installed it.

Thanks.

OEM Win10 ?
or Retail Win10 ?
or upgraded from 7/8x to Win10 ?


The Win 10 that is presently installed was an upgrade from 7/8x.


Ok..thanks.
What media did you make(or think you made) when you first used 'it'


MCT.


Fyi..if Win10 is activate you can always use the Win10 Media Creation
Tool(MCT) to create install media (USB/DVD/ISO)

If the Win10 device's Win10 o/s is activate the media can be used to
reinstall or clean install Win10.

I'm confused. I have an MCT disk (or flash drive -- don't remember which).

Shall I just boot the Win10 computer to that? Will it offer to
uninstall? Install? ???

Thanks.

In article , says...

Cy Burnot wrote:
I've screwed up my Win 10 installation and would like to uninstall it
and reinstall it.

Is that possible? I think I made the "media" when I first installed it.

Thanks.

Look for a reference to MediaCreationTool.

That's a sure-fire way to make yourself a 10586 DVD,
then you can reinstall any way you would like.

Upgrade/Repair install while Win10 is running.
(While in Win10, execute setup.exe off the top level of the DVD.)

or

Boot the DVD and do a Clean install.

The DVD will automatically access the Digital Entitlement key
your original Upgrade install left on the Microsoft server. It
does this, by comparing your hardware hash against the one
on the server. If you haven't modified the hardware since
the original install, the DVD will be able to fetch your
license key. No MagicJellyBean needed.

You could check for C:\$Windows.~BT right now, see
if there are roughly 7GB of files, see if there is a setup.exe
in there, as that is a staging folder. You might be
able to run the setup.exe off there and start
a Upgrade/Repair install from there. But I don't
know of a way off-hand to make a DVD immediately
from that lot.

The C:\$Windows.~WS folder is used when you use
MediaCreationTool to make a DVD. At the same time,
if you start MediaCreationTool, it will erase the
majority of files from the ~BT folder. It's real
easy to lose the files in those two folders, so
don't rely on them for emergencies. While the ~BT
might still be there, it might just as well only
have 250KB of files instead of the 7GB set.

*******

There are also these options.

"Keep my files" (affects only C: partition)


Have used this to transfer stuff from XP to Win7/8 and from Win7/8 to
Win7/8. I have asked this before here and never gotten a response. So,
does Easy Transfer work with Win10??

T2

Cy Burnot wrote on 12/14/2015 4:08 PM:
..

I'm confused. I have an MCT disk (or flash drive -- don't remember which).

Shall I just boot the Win10 computer to that? Will it offer to
uninstall? Install? ???

Thanks.


Uninstall ? No

The MCT media can be used to reinstall or clean install Windows on the
same device.

Note: It would be wise to recreate the MCT media since the MCT was
updated at the same time Build 1511/10586 was released.
- i.e. it doesn't make any sense to use old 10240 MCT media and then
let Win10 update to 1511/10586 via Windows Update when one can reinstall
or clean install 1511/10586


--
...winston
msft mvp windows experience

MrTsquare wrote:
In article , says...
Cy Burnot wrote:
I've screwed up my Win 10 installation and would like to uninstall it
and reinstall it.

Is that possible? I think I made the "media" when I first installed it.

Thanks.
Look for a reference to MediaCreationTool.

That's a sure-fire way to make yourself a 10586 DVD,
then you can reinstall any way you would like.

Upgrade/Repair install while Win10 is running.
(While in Win10, execute setup.exe off the top level of the DVD.)

or

Boot the DVD and do a Clean install.

The DVD will automatically access the Digital Entitlement key
your original Upgrade install left on the Microsoft server. It
does this, by comparing your hardware hash against the one
on the server. If you haven't modified the hardware since
the original install, the DVD will be able to fetch your
license key. No MagicJellyBean needed.

You could check for C:\$Windows.~BT right now, see
if there are roughly 7GB of files, see if there is a setup.exe
in there, as that is a staging folder. You might be
able to run the setup.exe off there and start
a Upgrade/Repair install from there. But I don't
know of a way off-hand to make a DVD immediately
from that lot.

The C:\$Windows.~WS folder is used when you use
MediaCreationTool to make a DVD. At the same time,
if you start MediaCreationTool, it will erase the
majority of files from the ~BT folder. It's real
easy to lose the files in those two folders, so
don't rely on them for emergencies. While the ~BT
might still be there, it might just as well only
have 250KB of files instead of the 7GB set.

*******

There are also these options.

"Keep my files" (affects only C: partition)


Have used this to transfer stuff from XP to Win7/8 and from Win7/8 to
Win7/8. I have asked this before here and never gotten a response. So,
does Easy Transfer work with Win10??

T2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Easy_Transfer

"The Windows Easy Transfer program was discontinued in Windows 10.
Microsoft has chosen to provide a free version of Laplink's PCmover
Express as an alternative to WET.

A paid alternative is Zinstall Easy Transfer (Zinstall also allows
to transfer programs, in addition to files).
"

HTH,
Paul

Thanks, Paul.

T2