Question Ordered new latop. Should i update to 1903 first?

[PeyoteFTW]

I just ordered a new laptop and will be home in a few days. Windows 10 Home included, but i am not sure which version of windows 10, its either 1803 or 1809. Should i update it to 1903 before doing anything else, like installing games, apps and etc ?

 

[Lutfij]

Before you perform a clean install of the OS(yes you should do a clean install) you should make sure your laptop is on the latest BIOS update found off of your laptop's support site.

You can then move towards a clean install of the OS. Use Windows Media Creation Tools to create a bootable USB installer for the OS.

Mind sharing the make and model of the laptop?

 

[jay32267]

I just ordered a new laptop and will be home in a few days. Windows 10 Home included, but i am not sure which version of windows 10, its either 1803 or 1809. Should i update it to 1903 before doing anything else, like installing games, apps and etc ?

I don't think it will matter that much.
I just installed a bunch of games.....and then updated to 1903.
That's pretty much what you would be doing.

 

[britechguy]

Whether or not to do a clean install has to take a number of things into consideration. If say, one purchased a machine with MS-Office preinstalled, doing a completely clean reinstall wipes it. I would not do one in those circumstances, I'd just do the feature update.

If, however, you have a "standard" OEM Windows 10 installation you can clean out all of the crap they bundle with them these days by doing a completely clean reinstall, and I would.

a) Completely Clean Win10 (Re)install Using MCT to Download Win10 ISO File

b) Completely Clean Win10 (Re)install Using MCT to Create a Bootable USB Drive

Doing feature updates on an already running instance of Windows 10 is a cinch, and I prefer to do these by first downloading the ISO file myself. It can be handy to have if you need to do a repair install or need to create installation media for a different machine:

Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file

 

[PeyoteFTW]

Before you perform a clean install of the OS(yes you should do a clean install) you should make sure your laptop is on the latest BIOS update found off of your laptop's support site.

You can then move towards a clean install of the OS. Use Windows Media Creation Tools to create a bootable USB installer for the OS.

Mind sharing the make and model of the laptop?

The laptop is ASUS TUF FX505DT, so i have to update my bios before clean install my windows right ?

And i found the latest bios, please help me check if this the correct one.
https://www.asus.com/Laptops/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-FX505DD-DT-DU/HelpDesk_BIOS/

Also does the windows 10 home stick to the motherboard ?

 

[britechguy]

You don't have to update your UEFI/BIOS, but if there's an update available I certainly would.

Whatever edition (Home, Pro, Enterprise, Educational) you have installed and activated previously for Windows 10 is what will reinstall on a completely clean install. The digital license is linked to the machine's motherboard.

You can, of course, upgrade from, say, Home to Pro either during the install process or afterward. The Windows 10 installation has the features for "higher editions" present, but not activated, even in a Windows 10 Home instance. That's why you can go to the Settings, Update & Security, Activation Pane and use the Change product key link to upgrade without reinstalling. After supplying the new product key it does the voodoo it needs to do under the hood to upgrade the edition. After that has occurred, it's that edition that will have a digital license linked to your motherboard, so if you ever do a completely clean reinstall in the future you'll get that edition by default.

 

[PeyoteFTW]

How about the driver ? should i let windows update download and install it automatically or i have to download and install it manually from the site ?
Tbh i prefer to download and install manually for graphic driver, because last time windows update download the old one not the latest one.

 

[britechguy]

My standard advice, with regard to drivers, is to allow Windows to get all of them, then deal with anything that may not work (and that's a rare thing these days).

On my own machine I have the Radeon Settings app and the Intel Driver & Support Assistant both installed and active since AMD and Intel both have been updating the drivers for the hardware I have at breakneck pace (relatively speaking) and never seeming to share that with the computer OEMs or Microsoft.

Some people elect to leave well enough alone entirely and allow Windows and only Windows to apply driver updates if such become available via Microsoft's library (to which the component manufacturers contribute).

The choice comes down to what you're comfortable doing. I'm a big believer in, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," on the whole. But I also promptly apply updates to UEFI/BIOS and drivers when those become available as these days security patches are very often part of the reason for said updates.

 

[PeyoteFTW]

I think i will only install graphic driver manually and i will let windows update handle the rest of driver. One more thing when clean installing is it fine to remove manufacturer's recovery partition ?

 

[britechguy]

If you have no intention of ever using the manufacturer's recovery partition then it's fine. The Win10 installer creates a new one of its own.

If you download the step-by-step instructions I gave the link to there is a section that covers using the diskpart utility to completely wipe and reinitialize your drive during the reinstall. I do that when reusing a previously used drive. If it's a brand new drive I don't.

 

[PeyoteFTW]

If you have no intention of ever using the manufacturer's recovery partition then it's fine. The Win10 installer creates a new one of its own.

If you download the step-by-step instructions I gave the link to there is a section that covers using the diskpart utility to completely wipe and reinitialize your drive during the reinstall. I do that when reusing a previously used drive. If it's a brand new drive I don't.

Can i clean install without removing it ? If yes, is there any effect ?

 

[britechguy]

It's possible, but you definitely don't use the diskpart command then.

If the disk is not reinitialized then Windows will reinstall on the same partition it was on and, I believe, you will still get a second recovery partition created. It's been too long since I last did this to recall all the details, but you can do it, but most people don't.

 

[PeyoteFTW]

It's possible, but you definitely don't use the diskpart command then.

If the disk is not reinitialized then Windows will reinstall on the same partition it was on and, I believe, you will still get a second recovery partition created. It's been too long since I last did this to recall all the details, but you can do it, but most people don't.

I will remove it then. Dude thanks for being helpful. I love you buddy!