Windows 10 Clean Installation Guide

Well, it was worth a shot. I was hoping resetting BIOS to default might fix it. After this clean install, the first day it stayed at 100% overnight, but this morning it's showing 10% drain. Now I'm starting to miss the 6% drain only twice a week, LOL.

Could there be any possibility a 10% drain is normal after a clean install or something? I'm at my wits end, but was really hoping clean install was the solution. I followed this guide to the letter.

 

I dunno about you bro but I never even care to check. I use this laptop connected to AC all the time and don't care even if it drains anything while off. To heck with it. The only time I might need the battery is if I perhaps go to a coffee shop and need to surf the net which is very rare especially with the Corona Virus so IMHO, just stop checking and forget it. Think of a desktop replacement laptop's battery as a back UPS device or something that will allow you to move the laptop from one room to another whilst still having it on. Just my 2 cents. You've burned too many calories on this.

 

Burned too many calories, indeed. I may take your advice.

 

Try uninstalling Dell UWP drivers/apps one by one to figure out the issue. That battery drain is not normal.

 

Thanks for the input. I'm willing to try anything. 10% every other day is the latest on my system. Like clockwork.

To your comment, I have a clean install of windows with no Dell or Alienware software installed except for AWCC and necessary drivers that I download and install individually. I purposely didn't install Dell update or Alienware update or SupprtAssist. The only updates I get are forced by Windows Update. Is that what your talking about? If so I'd have to do another fresh install and completely block Windows Update, is that right? Sorry if I'm not clear on your input, but I'm very much interested if there's a remote chance it works. Dell is no longer acknowledging my requests for help.

It's either keep trying or accept 10% drain every other day for the remaining life of this laptop.

 

I don't disable Windows update. Here is what I do.
1) From Group Policy Editor, Administrative Templates > Windows Update > Do not include drivers with Windows update. (Enable that rule)
2) Extract this ZIP and double click on Disable Driver Updates.reg
3) Extract this ZIP, then double click on Disable automatically installing suggested apps.reg

Now, only the driver related app stores will be installed like nVIDIA Control Panel, Realtek Audio Console, etc. No other garbage

Also, before I connect to the internet, I always make an image using Macrium Reflect so if I had to go back I don't need to spend a day to format and configure all my settings/tweaks

 

Out of curiousity Spartan. What Win10 Version do you use? 1809 LTSC?

 

I always skipped that part of your guide because I only have Home Edition, but I found instructions to "enable" group policy editor on home edition. I haven't done that, yet because I was unsure if it's safe or recommended. If you can verify it's safe to do so, I'll enable group policy editor and do as you instruct and do another clean install as layed out in your guide.

I've been using Macrium, but didn't make a backup before updates, unfortunately. I'll be doing that next time, of course.

 

I tried that Group Policy Editor on Home once and it didn't work. Not sure if it works now. But if you use that Reg Tweak it should also do the trick. I would also do it from Winaero Tweaker as a double safety measure:

 

I ended up downloading the batch file from MajorGeeks. Seems to be good. Just reinstalled and at the point where I'm about to do windows update. Luckily, I have a Macrium Backup before drivers, etc so I can keep playing working with it, if needed.

Strange part is, as soon as I connected to wifi, I suddenly found Intel Graphics Control panel and Realtek Audio Console installed. Also, I found Intel Optane Pinning Explorer Extensions in Control Panel>Programs and Features. Also, I'm guessing AWCC auto installed Alienware Pointing Devices because I haven't done that, yet. I set Windows Update on Pause before I connected, so... weird.

 

As I mentioned, those are not garbage apps and will be pulled automatically from the Windows Store as they pertain to the drivers. Alienware Pointing Devices is automatically installed by AWCC if you have an Alienware Mouse or headset.
Intel Optane Pinning Extensions is automatically installed with the IRST Driver and must be uninstalled since you don't have any optane devices.

 

Cool thanks. I'll leave them, but uninstall the Optane thing. I did uninstall the Realtek Command Center though because, if I'm not mistaken, I saw a post you made about getting better audio through AWCC.

 

Correct. I am not a 100% sure about the Realtek Audio Console app. I saw someone on Reddit swore that after uninstalling it, changing the audio profiles in AWCC made a bigger difference. Try to listen to a song and change profiles then uninstall the Realtek Audio Console, reboot, then try again and see if you can feel a bigger difference when changing profiles.

 

Woah, you're still aorund helping everyone, my friend?

Lovely work you're doing there!

I wanted to ask, is there a thread for desktop systems on the forums? I need a trusted advice for making some changes to a computer, and while I know where to ask about lappys, especially Clevos, I've no idea where to ask for help with a Desktopy PC

 

Desktop Hardware

 

Is there anyway to do a clean install without having login-in or creating a Microsoft account, I have a valid key i just do not want Microsoft spying on me.

I have done clean installs of Win10 a hundred+ times and only recently i have been asked to log-in the last couple of times.

 

When you install windows and it asks you to connect to a network, click that I don't have internet or whatever button (small link near the bottom left I believe). It will allow you to make a local account without logging into Microsoft. You'll still have to use O&O shutup 10 to disable all the telemetry stuff though...

 

When you install it, make sure there is no LAN Cable attached. When you are asked to connect to a Wifi network during the initial setup phase, look at the bottom left, there should be an option saying Don't Connect or Don't have Internet, choose that. You will get a warning that this is a limited setup. Just continue and you will be prompted to enter a Username (which is Local).

Once you're on the desktop, configure all your settings and whatnot, install all your drivers, then only connect to the internet. If you get a full screen now to continue setup, just hit cancel and you're done. Offline account FTW.

Be careful, when signing in to the Microsoft Store, Microsoft Edge, or Microsoft Office using your Microsoft Credentials, don't blindly click next, right after entering the password, it would says "Microsoft Apps only" make sure to click THAT otherwise Windows will convert your local account into a Microsoft account.

 

Well i did a clean install this morning using the Windows 10 app to create a bootable USB and everything installed fine, I clicked that i did not have an internet connection and made and offline installation and it was the new Windows 10 2004 version, And i have been using it for a few hours with zero problems.

Thanks for the help

 

Just switched to Ventoy today! Easy peasy USB multiboot and no time wasting time writing to USB as ISO is handled directly and you can memboot and USB boot! Haha... I even added rEFInd ISO ventoy developer linked in Issues section and finally made my switch from AiOBoot (Very Good tool and now its dated and doesn't recognize new Linux images sometimes).

 

I plan to do a clean install on my Dell XPS 15 9560. I know the original windows is embedded in the mother board but I since upgraded to Win10 pro. Do I need to write down my windows 10 pro activation key or will it be automatically recognized upon installation?

 

From OP post... How to select Windows Home or Pro when installing Windows 10

 

In addition to what my brother from another Mr. Poopoosan mentioned, the moment you go online your Windows will be auto activated since the hardware is registered with the Microsoft Servers. This is called HWID Activation (AKA Hardware ID Activation)

 

Thanks, do I need a Microsoft account for this to activate (I do have one) ?

 

You don't need a Microsoft account. Once you activate it, the Microsoft Activation Servers registers your computer's hardware on their end so if the computer hardware didn't change significantly (ie. motherboard swap) then it will auto activate.

 

I learned from Microsoft that it provides Windows 10 installation media tools that can play this role.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10startfresh
Another way to do a Windows 10 clean installation with a Windows 10 installation usb.
https://www.windows10passwordreset.com/create-windows-10-bootable-usb.html
Using Windows 10 installation disks is one of the most efficient and fast methods in recent years.

 

OpenCL and OpenGL Compatibility Pack

 

Thank you for this guide. It took a while to set all the settings, but now I have a strange problem and have not been able to narrow it down. It has to do with Audio over Bluetooth to a wireless speaker. Audio through the internal speakers is working fine. The blue tooth audio service is running, the speaker pairs fine with windows 10 but no sound out of the bluetooth speaker.

I have gone through everything I cut off and on and cannot seem to find what it is. It is affecting anything (youtube, windows media player, etc,etc,etc)

 

Download Intel Bluetooth Audio Offload Disable Extension

Make sure to right click on the ZIP file you just downloaded, go to Properties, then hit Unblock from the bottom right as it may be blocked since it was downloaded from the internet, if you don't do this before you run the file or extract it, then it may not install correctly.

To prevent this automatic blocking of files in the future so you don't have to go unblocking every file you download to ensure it runs properly, follow the guide in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/are-you-sure-you-want-to-run-this-file-yes-or-no.825668/

Now unzip the folder.

Right click on ibtHfpOffloadOverrideExt.inf then choose install.

After it's been installed, reboot and see if it solves your problem.

 

No luck. I don't want to re-install windows again.

 

Found something interesting, it looks like it is an issue with that specific blu tooth speaker. A different one is working fine,

 

A new version of Visual C++ Redistributable Runtimes All-in-One is available in the TechPowerUp Downloads section.

The new version is: Jan 2021 > LINK <

This archive contains the latest version (January 2021) of all VCRedist Visual Studio C++ runtimes, installable with a single click by running the included batch file installer.

To install, run the included install_all.bat with admin privileges (right click, "Run as administrator")

The download includes the VC_Redist runtime packages for Visual C++ 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Both 32-bit and 64-bit are supported. The files included are the English language version.

When doing a fresh Windows OS install, it's recommended to always install all the various C++ runtimes, which is why this all-in-one pack was created. It helps to avoid problems with programs that cause error messages like "side-by-side configuration is incorrect", or "Missing MSVCRT.DLL" or "MSVCP140.DLL".

All files are digitally signed by Microsoft, which guarantees they are unaltered.

 

Hi All,
Hoping someone can help me with permanently deleting Win Defender.
I am attempting to follow the steps on page 1 by Spartan. I am having trouble with couple of steps, firstly this one:

Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender > then double click on Turn off Windows Defender and enable that rule then press Apply then OK to exit

When i go into Windows Components Folder, I see Windows Defender Smart Screen and Windows Security, which I think is the one I am suppose to be targeting. However, I dont see any place to enable the rule or turn it off, as stated.They are just folders with files.

The other issue I am running into is with Autoruns. I am unable to delete the following WinDefen entries:



I keep getting a message saying "Error - Access Denied"

I am not sure if thats because I was unable to complete the first step accurately. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks

 

No need for all that anymore

1) Disable Smart Screen from Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > App & Browser Control (turn them all off)

2) Now go into the Windows Defender settings and turn off all the 4 radio buttons

3) Immediately after doing that, double click on this reg file: Disable Windows Defender.reg

 

Could you please explain this step?
2) Now go into the Windows Defender settings and turn off all the 4 radio buttons

Not sure where i go for the radio buttons or where defender settings is located. I cant locate either. Sorry for the dumb question.

 

PC Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > then look for the Windows Defender (manage threat settings I think the name is) and turn off the 4 radio buttons which include cloud based protection and tamper protection)

I can't give you exact steps as I have it disabled on my system from its roots so I can't see them anymore it's very simple

 

I believe I got it. It was just named something different virus and threat protections, which is what confused me. I doubted myself as I had those off based on your guide.

I did click on the disable win defender reg file, hopefully that was the correct one.

Really appreciate the guide and the extra help. Thanks a lot.

 

Those were the exact settings that appeared which I turned off.
Great guide which I would encourage everyone to check out if they are doing a clean-install. Helped me a lot.

 

a new article by Dedoimedo on windows installs and killing things with autoruns. If you like tweaking win10, its worth a look.

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/lenovo-ideapad-3-review-second.html

 

I have always selected 'USB flash drive' (as in the OP), and not 'ISO file'. However, I would like to download Windows 10 Enteriprise (I have my own key), but the guide ( https://winaero.com/download-windows-10-enterprise-iso-with-media-creation-tool/) says that we should select 'ISO file'. Is this simply the author's preference? Isn't it possible to run the PowerShell script and then let the application create a bootable USB? I don't want to burn the ISO file myself.

 

That's what I use and the product key becomes built in so no need to enter it since you are asked to enter it before creating the USB flash disk

 

Thanks! Does that mean that I won't have to do the ei.cfg file trick as well? Last time I had to do it because my laptop came with Win 10 Home preinstalled, and I wanted to perform a clean install of Windows 10 Pro, but it wouldn't let me choose which version I wanted, so I had to resort to the ei.cfg file workaround.

 

Huh???? ei.cfg is for a multi edition ISO. This is Enterprise ONLY there is nothing else to select so the key in your BIOS has nothing to do with what edition it installs.

 

Thanks again! It seems that this method is as straight-forward as it gets.

 

This custom Media Creation tool will allow you to download/create a Windows 10 USB Installation disk of any Windows 10 Build, from the past all the way to the new 21H1 version, simply run the .BAT file as admin and enjoy = https://pastebin.com/bBw0Avc4

 

A new version of Visual C++ Redistributable Runtimes All-in-One is available in the TechPowerUp Downloads section.

The new version is: Apr 2021

Download it here

This archive contains the latest version (April 2021) of all VCRedist Visual Studio C++ runtimes, installable with a single click by running the included batch file installer.

To install, run the included install_all.bat with admin privileges (right click, "Run as administrator"). Before extracting the archive to install, remember to right-click, select Properties and "Unblock" if you haven't set Windows to automatically unblock downloaded files.

The download includes the VC Redist runtime packages for Visual C++ 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Both 32-bit and 64-bit are supported. The files included are the English language version.

When doing a fresh Windows OS install, it's recommended to always install all the various C++ runtimes, which is why this all-in-one pack was created. It helps to avoid problems with programs that cause error messages like "side-by-side configuration is incorrect", or "Missing MSVCRT.DLL" or "MSVCP140.DLL".

All files are digitally signed by Microsoft, which guarantees they are unaltered.

 

@Mr. Fox if you have the previous version do you need to uninstall them manually first or just run the bat file and override the old ones to the latest update?

 

Not as far as I know. I have never had an issue installing newer VC runtimes over old. But, installing the newer version is probably totally unnecessary if everything is working as expected. Probably nothing to be gained by it.

 

Just run the bat file and override the old ones. Nothing will go to Hell

Visual C++ Redistributable Runtimes AIO Repack is similar package but with theis installer I saw some leftovers after the install in CCLEANER that needed to be cleaned up. Hence I prefer the AIO repack from Techpowerup posted above (nothing to clean up). But you don't need to run it each time a new version is out as bro Fox pointed out below. See bolded text.