Question Question about reinstalling Windows 10

[Iso4]

I have a Dell XPS 13 (running Windows 10) that I got in 2019 and it has never really worked perfectly. It's always tended to be a little slow but lately the machine has gone from annoying-but-tolerable lag to hanging for close to a minute, sometimes more, whenever I open a program. Multiple virus and malware scans have come back negative. I've battled this problem for years and I've reset Windows on multiple occasions, but it's never really helped. I thought I would try doing a clean install from a USB drive next to see if that speeds things up, but I noticed that my hard drive has partitions that I don't recognize. The partitions are the following:

Drive 0 Partition 1: ESP - type System
Drive 0 Partition 2: - type MSR (Reserved)
Drive 0 Partition 3: OS - type Primary
Drive 0 Partition 4: WINRETOOLS - type Recovery
Drive 0 Partition 5: Image - type Recovery

I figured the OS and recovery partitions are the ones I want to format and erase during a reinstall, but what about the other two? What should I do with the ESP and MSR partitions? Do I leave these alone or is it safe to wipe everything and start fresh?

 

[Lutfij]

All partitions are from one physical drive, which is shown as Drive 0(zero). You can delete all partitions on that list(that are Drive 0) and then click on next(instead of New and let the installer do it's thing.

Just an FYI, while you're on your laptop, check to to see if your laptop is pending any BIOS updates. Following that, create your bootable USB installer then install the OS in offline mode. Once you've finished up with OS install, manually install all drivers in an elevated command, then connect to the internet to update the OS.

 

[Iso4]

All partitions are from one physical drive, which is shown as Drive 0(zero). You can delete all partitions on that list(that are Drive 0) and then click on next(instead of New and let the installer do it's thing.

Just an FYI, while you're on your laptop, check to to see if your laptop is pending any BIOS updates. Following that, create your bootable USB installer then install the OS in offline mode. Once you've finished up with OS install, manually install all drivers in an elevated command, then connect to the internet to update the OS.

Thank you so much!

I've never messed with my BIOS before - is the step involving BIOS updates and installing the OS in offline mode necessary? I'm a bit anxious about getting too deep into the BIOS and breaking something.

 

[jeremyj_83]

If you are doing a complete new install just delete all the partitions. I would go onto Dell's support site before doing the reinstall and downloading the most current drivers they have for your laptop to a USB stick.

 

[Iso4]

If you are doing a complete new install just delete all the partitions. I would go onto Dell's support site before doing the reinstall and downloading the most current drivers they have for your laptop to a USB stick.

Thanks! Is it all the same if I download the drivers I need after the reinstall using a different machine? I'm hesitant to put more than the windows installer on the drive to start with.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Thanks! Is it all the same if I download the drivers I need after the reinstall using a different machine? I'm hesitant to put more than the windows installer on the drive to start with.

Totally fine to do that.

 

[Iso4]

Thank you both for your help! Deleting all the partitions and reinstalling from a USB stick worked wonders. My laptop is snappy and responsive now that I've removed all the manufacturer bloatware once and for all. Thank you for saving me from buying a new laptop!

 

[USAFRet]

And also, this:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

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