Windows 10 Confused about Windows 10 reset

Moondoggy said:

I'm confused about the Windows 10 reset function and need some enlightenment.

Today, I decided to do a Windows 10 reset and wipe out my existing HD of all of the old apps, files, etc. (I have it all backed up with Acronis backup). I thought the correct procedure was to burn an install DVD for the Windows 10 platform I currently have, boot from the DVD, select Repair and then fire off the reset that way. I did that but when it got to that step it failed saying that there was a problem (of course) and that the reset could not proceed. After that failure I went into Windows 10 and went into repair and successfully fired off the reset function there. So my question is this.....

If your intent was to get a complete, total, clean install of Windows 10, how is it that the reset only works from within Windows 10? If you specified in the reset that you wanted the C: drive completely cleared of everything, how is it that Windows 10 is still there to be reinstalled once the C: drive has been flushed?

Bottom line is this..... I've had so many problems with Windows 10 since the time I upgraded from Windows 7 it's not even funny. Now Windows 10 is being reinstalled on my PC from something that was put there during the upgrade and I'm concerned. Should I be? Can someone please enlighten me?

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Newly updated users of Windows 10 who never used a preview versions have some confusion on this operating system, so the answer is that search for "Reset this PC" in Start and it will come up with this;

After opening Reset this PC in Settings through the search in start menu click on "Get Started" marked in red box;

And then follow instructions given.

Nimit said:

Newly updated users of Windows 10 who never used a preview versions have some confusion on this operating system, so the answer is that search for "Reset this PC" in Start and it will come up with this;
View attachment 30788
After opening Reset this PC in Settings through the search in start menu click on "Get Started" marked in red box;
View attachment 30790
And then follow instructions given.

Click to expand...

OK, thanks for the reply.

The reset that I performed was from inside the current Windows 10 install as you've noted however that wasn't my question. My concern is whether the install is really a new install. I told the reset process that I wanted to completely flush the HD, which it did, but if it did flush the HD, how did it reinstall W10? Where were the install files that were used? This is what's confusing me.

Moondoggy said:

OK, thanks for the reply.

The reset that I performed was from inside the current Windows 10 install as you've noted however that wasn't my question. My concern is whether the install is really a new install. I told the reset process that I wanted to completely flush the HD, which it did, but if it did flush the HD, how did it reinstall W10? Where were the install files that were used? This is what's confusing me.

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It flush the whole C: Drive and D: Drive. The recovery disk carry the windows backup image and is used in reset/restore, you can find the recovery disk by searching for "Create and format hard disk partitions" in start then open it
after opening you find a 20GB Healthy Recovery Partition marked in red box.

Moondoggy;

Interesting question. To really make sure, you might use the Linux DBAN tool to wipe the drive completely clean. Then reinstall WinX from the ISO file downloaded from microsoft.com app store and use the media creation tool to create your install media (DVD or USB). Note that I have yet to get the WINX RTM to work on a USB stick; but if you do, let me know how you did it!.
This should get rid of any traces of a WinX install on that hard drive. I don't know about the licensing issue here, as the proper sequence is to run the WinX upgrade on a previous version of Windows (Win7/8/8.1), go through activation database at Microsoft, and the newly created WinX license key is created on the hard drive. (so our Mods are telling us). From that point, you are supposed to be able to reinstall a fresh WinX copy on that hard drive, and it picks up the license key of the WinX from somewhere. Perhaps it gets it from the Microsoft WinX activation server and not from the hard drive. If this was the case, you should be able to do the WinX clean install AFTER the DBAN wipe of the hard drive, as long as the WinX reinstall will work with your network drivers to get to the Activation server. Guess we won't really know until someone tries this. The other possibility is that if you created a WinX rescue disk, the rescue disk could save and then retrieve the license key+upgrade info from your original WinX upgrade setup.

Ostensibly, this would be the situation for a WinX user who suffered a catastrophic hard drive failure. The real question is where does Microsoft store that WinX activation & license key info; on what media. If a User's hard drive failed and they didn't know to create a rescue disk from WinX, how would the new hard drive WinX install get properly activated? The only answer I can think of is the Activation server. The problem would be that if the WinX clean install ran into a problem with the NIC driver, and couldn't get the Internet working, WinX might get installed but couldn't be activated until the User fixed the NIC driver by reinstalling or repairing somehow. This would be problematic for sure for most home users, and they wouldn't be able to figure out how to get this working and would probably have to take into the repair shop to get it professionally rebuilt. Guess we'll have to wait and see. If you decide to try this though, let us know your result. From a repair Tech's point of view, this would be very helpful information.

Best,
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

I guess my fears were unjustified. Apparently, the install went well and my system is running great. After going thru what I went thru (long story) after my PC was upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, a backup of the HD and reset should have been the first order of business not the last.

BIGBEARJEDI said:

Perhaps it gets it from the Microsoft WinX activation server and not from the hard drive

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Correct... in this senario you skip the licence promt during install and once at the desktop (assumes Microsoft id to sign in) the system will activate from the Mirosoft server when you go online as normal installs do.

There is some info stored localy such as if the upgraded system was home or pro and I assume that info could become corrupt with a disk fail but I'd be very surprised to learn Microsoft doesn't have it backed up on some server?

Moondoggy said:

a backup of the HD and reset should have been the first order of business not the last.

Click to expand...

Yes, live and learn.

Moondoggy said:

Apparently, the install went well and my system is running great.

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Great news mate!