I’ve had several questions from readers who upgraded from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10 about how you go about re-installing Windows 10, if necessary. “If I have to re-install a legitimate copy of W10, installed during free update period. With no disks available, how do I accomplish this task?”
If you’re lucky, any issue you have with Windows could be solved by doing a refresh.
Go to Settings and select Update & Security. Then choose Recovery options. Then choose Reset this PC.
You can then choose whether or not you want to keep your files and then reinstall Windows. Even if you do choose to keep your files, you’ll lose your settings and your apps. That means you’ll have to reset any custom settings and also reinstall any apps.
It’s also a great way to get around bloatware that is sometimes installed on PCs to subsidize the cost.
If you have a situation where you had to replace the hard drive, you can reinstall from an ISO file. Now, it’s a great idea to already have one of these ready as a backup just in case your system goes down.
Click here to go the Software Download page for Windows 10. Once there, you can download the media creation tool.
You’ll need a good Internet connection, a flash drive or external drive with at least 5 GB of space. You’ll also need to know if you’re running with a 64-bit or 32-bit processor.
Select your language, edition, and architecture. Make sure you choose the same edition of Windows 10 that is currently running on that system.
Select your media. You can choose between a flash drive and burning an ISO file that you’ll burn to DVD later.
When the media is created, choose Finish.
If you ever need to reinstall, you can do it from that file.
~ Cynthia
This didn’t work with me. I came to the screen could not remove all files. Next screen said got it. Could not check the box because USB was disabled now I have desktop paper weight.
Thanks Microsoft.