Having upgrade Windows 8.1 to W10, I wish to now do a clean install, but cannot install over current installation due to
it being a GPT Partition style boot. I have heard this can be deleted and replaced with MBR but then will I have to format the partition?
You'll want to keep GPT if you have a UEFI system, I think.
I did a clean install by booting from a USB flash drive. I used the Win 10 installer to delete all the partitions on my boot drive (SSD). It then proceeded to create and format new partitions (4 of them, one not visible in Disk Management).
In case you don't know: when asked for a key, press the small "skip" button. No key is needed. If you've installed and activated 10, it will activate for a clean install on the same hardware.
A Clean install is just that - your data and programs will not exist after the process.Having upgrade Windows 8.1 to W10, I wish to now do a clean install, but cannot install over current installation due to
it being a GPT Partition style boot. I have heard this can be deleted and replaced with MBR but then will I have to format the partition?
Make sure you have backups of any data you want to keep, and you have the discs and keys for any purchased software.
How to Clean Install Windows 10 (windowssh blog.com)
Read through the instructions, especially the color boxes
Ask questions about a step if you have any
Step 7 Blue Note box: If you have the free Windows 10 offer, then you will need to click/tap on Skipsince you will not have a product key.
Step 11 is a branch to step 12 (no UEFI) OR step 13 (UEFI)
You do NOT have to create the partitions manually.
Windows install will create the partitions if the drive is unallocated as shown in the tutorial.
Disconnect all other drives before the Clean install - then Windows can only write to that drive
I have cleaned installed many times over the years, but for the first time, I have come across a GPT partition to deal with which is where the Windows 10 upgrade is located.It selects a different partition, which is the old Windows 8.1 Recovery partition. That's fine, I don't want this any more, and don't have a problem installing on it, but I do have a partition I created which is for all my data, and hope that it this is left intact. I also have to remove the old Windows 10 installation of C: drive.
Ok, good to know that you've done this before.
Please post a screen shot of Disk Management, so members can be specific on how to get the best results.
How to Post a Screenshot of Disk Management
Here is info about UEFI Boot Mode(installing using the GPTpartition style) and Legacy BIOS Boot Mode(installing using the MBRpartition style). -> link
Since your system is already setup for UEFI_GPT -Having upgrade Windows 8.1 to W10, I wish to now do a clean install, but cannot install over current installation due to
it being a GPT Partition style boot. I have heard this can be deleted and replaced with MBR but then will I have to format the partition?
the issueis your setup media is booting the PC in MBR_Bios mode..
You can disable legacy Boot option in Bios setting
or you can rename BOOTMGR to BOOTMGR.old on your setup media
either one of the above options will prevent your setup media from booting in Legacy (Bios-mbr mode)
and force the pc to boot UEFI
Windows install will figure out the BIOS/UEFI, disk schema if you let it. If you burn the install media to a DVD, you don't have to think about any of those things, you just have to back up you personal data, find the keys and discs for 3rd party purchased software and install Win10 to an unallocated/unformatted drive.
The upgrade is even easier - just upgrade.
Not really understand what you mean by this ?. The screenshots show the real partitioning scheme for real fresh install of Windows 10 for both MBR & UEFI.Those are VMware virtual machines.
This was my clueNot really understand what you mean by this ?. The screenshots show the real partitioning scheme for real fresh install of Windows 10 for both MBR & UEFI.
