Question Reinstalling Windows to a New SSD

[enderzshadow]

I have 2 hard drives already and I want to reinstall windows onto my new 1tb Sata SSD.
I have the Data Migration and Samsung Magician Software.

It's very important that the re-installed windows be an absolutely fresh install.
I've never done this.

Will I be 'cloning' anything? (never done this either)

Can you recommend any good guides to do this?

Or walk me through?

Thanks-

 

[Darkbreeze]

No, you will not be cloning anything and you will not need the Samsung migration software. That is only for cloning. If you follow my guide EXACTLY as outlined, you will get the result you are looking for.

So, do 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...

forums.tomshardware.com

BUT, before you DO, read these and make sure you are ready to do that^^^^. There shouldn't be any problem since you are not changing motherboards, but it is STILL a good idea to make sure your Windows installation is attached to a Microsoft account that is attached to YOU, just in case, in EVERY case.

How to associate your windows 10 license with a Microsoft account

Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change

Windows build 1607 (Or newer) and activation after a hardware change
​

 

[USAFRet]

When the media creation tool is downloading the files for the installation media onto the flash drive, does it have to be on the computer I'm going to do all this on?

Only reason I ask, like I've mentioned before, I have bad internet at the house, library has great internet and if it's possible, it would save me a lot of time.

Once you're running the MediaCreation tool, there is a specific selection for "Create this for a different PC".

 

[enderzshadow]

Thank you.
Going to give this a go in the AM
Let you know how it goes, Thanks

 

[enderzshadow]

No, you will not be cloning anything and you will not need the Samsung migration software. That is only for cloning. If you follow my guide EXACTLY as outlined, you will get the result you are looking for.

So, do 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...

forums.tomshardware.com

BUT, before you DO, read these and make sure you are ready to do that^^^^. There shouldn't be any problem since you are not changing motherboards, but it is STILL a good idea to make sure your Windows installation is attached to a Microsoft account that is attached to YOU, just in case, in EVERY case.

How to associate your windows 10 license with a Microsoft account

Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change

Windows build 1607 (Or newer) and activation after a hardware change
​

So yeah, tougher question

I don't have a USB stick with that much space.
I don't have a way to burn a disc.

Could I reinstall windows to to the drive it's on,
Clone the Fresh Install of windows onto the SSD
And then migrate any programs/files over to the SSD?

 

[Darkbreeze]

There is NO way to install Windows correctly without either having an optical drive (DVD, Blu ray) or USB thumb drive. I would suggest you go buy a USB drive. You can get an 8GB USB flash drive for like less than ten bucks at practically any store that sells even minimal electronics these days. If you are in a region where they are harder to come by, then I'd suggest you find somebody with one who will let you borrow it for a day or two. If you do, make sure they know that anything on it isn't going to be there when they get it back so that can save those files elsewhere until you return the drive.

There is no way to do a clean install of Windows from one drive to another really. You have to be able to boot from the installation media and the installation media only supports booting from USB or disc. There are some other installation options, but it will NOT be a clean install and they are not particularly recommended. If you want a clean install, you need either a DVD drive (Maybe you can borrow one, and a blank disk) or a USB drive. No way around it really. At least, none that is reasonably sound.

Plus, there is NO WAY, AT ALL, EVER, to migrate programs to a fresh install of Windows from an older install of windows. ALL programs will have to be reinstalled from scratch. That is always that way, no exceptions, ever.

 

[enderzshadow]

There is NO way to install Windows correctly without either having an optical drive (DVD, Blu ray) or USB thumb drive. I would suggest you go buy a USB drive. You can get an 8GB USB flash drive for like less than ten bucks at practically any store that sells even minimal electronics these days. If you are in a region where they are harder to come by, then I'd suggest you find somebody with one who will let you borrow it for a day or two. If you do, make sure they know that anything on it isn't going to be there when they get it back so that can save those files elsewhere until you return the drive.

There is no way to do a clean install of Windows from one drive to another really. You have to be able to boot from the installation media and the installation media only supports booting from USB or disc. There are some other installation options, but it will NOT be a clean install and they are not particularly recommended. If you want a clean install, you need either a DVD drive (Maybe you can borrow one, and a blank disk) or a USB drive. No way around it really. At least, none that is reasonably sound.

Plus, there is NO WAY, AT ALL, EVER, to migrate programs to a fresh install of Windows from an older install of windows. ALL programs will have to be reinstalled from scratch. That is always that way, no exceptions, ever.

Thank you for the info.
-I didn't know I would have to reinstall from scratch.
I also thought the drive that had the windows on it could do a fresh install Unto Itself--I take it that's also impossible.

So when it comes to programs, is there some way around the re-install?
I'm just thinking of all the things I am going to have to download again...I guess I could take my pc to a friends house for the day.

I've known many people who say they regularly reinstall windows. The way they did it so frequently, I was under the impression that it wasn't that time consuming.
I thought they just knew something I didn't.

So I am still not clear on one distinction...

If I download a game on my laptop somewhere else other than home
And then connect my laptop home,
I can move the file right over the network to my pc
But, I can't do what's basically the same thing on my pc?

 

[SkyNetRising]

There is no way to do a clean install of Windows from one drive to another really. You have to be able to boot from the installation media and the installation media only supports booting from USB or disc.

That simply is not true.
You can create bootable partition on hard drive and copy windows installation media contents onto it.
It becomes bootable windows installation on sata drive.

I have done this on a pc, where bios was locked and usb boot disabled, but windows needed to be reinstalled.

 

[guanyu210379]

If everything on the PC remains except for that new SSD, cloning is not a bad idea. It can save time on the Win installation and installing all the softwares you already had. I did that using aomei.
Installing from scratch is still the best tho' if you can afford all the effort.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That simply is not true.
You can create bootable partition on hard drive and copy windows installation media contents onto it.
It becomes bootable windows installation on sata drive.

I have done this on a pc, where bios was locked and usb boot disabled, but windows needed to be reinstalled.

Yes, it is true, and like I said, there are OTHER ways to do the installation but they are NOT the correct or preferred method. How do you imagine you are going to create a bootable partition on a hard drive that already has a primary bootable windows partition on it, without wiping out the contents of the drive which the OP does not want to do, and SHOULD not do until after he has a working copy of Windows on another drive?

If you do it using the drive you want to install Windows on, well, you can do that too, but you CANNOT do it and do a full clean install. You will have to create partitions and THAT is NOT a clean install. Fresh or NEW are not synonymous with CLEAN. CLEAN denotes removal of ALL existing partitions on a drive and the provision that Windows itself will create and format ALL partitions on the drive which it creates as necessary for the installation based on the partitions types used, depending on the BIOS configuration.

I'm not sure how you see othewise or why you'd not understand that I already said there ARE other ways to install Windows, but the result is not a clean install. It is, other.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If everything on the PC remains except for that new SSD, cloning is not a bad idea. It can save time on the Win installation and installing all the softwares you already had. I did that using aomei.
Installing from scratch is still the best tho' if you can afford all the effort.

I am operating under the assumption that they MEANT it when they said this.

It's very important that the re-installed windows be an absolutely fresh install.

By which we can discern that for 90% of users, they MEAN a CLEAN install. If a fresh windows installation is all that is desired, that can be done using an in place upgrade on the existing installation drive and then cloned to the SSD, but you are still likely going to bring any problems or old cruft that the installation had already from months or years of registry entries and install/uninstall of games and applications, with it, regardless of the "fresh" install/in place upgrade.

 

[jsmithepa]

-I didn't know I would have to reinstall from scratch.

FRESH (which you requested) and SCRATCH are the same thing.

I also thought the drive that had the windows on it could do a fresh install Unto Itself--I take it that's also impossible.

Ya, that's a negativo. You newbies sometimes have these rose colored glasses of how things work, but no, blame Microsoft how come they didn't make it this easy for you.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If I download a game on my laptop somewhere else other than home
And then connect my laptop home,
I can move the file right over the network to my pc
But, I can't do what's basically the same thing on my pc?

If you download a game or application off the internet using somebody else's internet connection, away from home, and then go home, there would be NO need to move anything "over the network" because it would already BE on the laptop somewhere. It would be in whatever folder you downloaded it from and then you'd just need to run the installer that you downloaded. So yes, if you do a clean install and then go download everything as far as game installers and applications that you need on somebody else's network, for offline installation, you should not have a problem to then go home, connect to your (Assuming, slower) internet connection, and run the installers you already downloaded using the faster connection. Many games require a connection of some kind to verify the download is authentic, but they do not require that the connection be fast and there is little data required from authentication so even a dial up connection is sufficent for that part.

 

[SkyNetRising]

How do you imagine you are going to create a bootable partition on a hard drive that already has a primary bootable windows partition on it, without wiping out the contents of the drive which the OP does not want to do, and SHOULD not do until after he has a working copy of Windows on another drive?

If you do it using the drive you want to install Windows on, well, you can do that too, but you CANNOT do it and do a full clean install. You will have to create partitions and THAT is NOT a clean install. Fresh or NEW are not synonymous with CLEAN. CLEAN denotes removal of ALL existing partitions on a drive and the provision that Windows itself will create and format ALL partitions on the drive which it creates as necessary for the installation based on the partitions types used, depending on the BIOS configuration.

It's quite easy actually.
You create partition layout manually. Make it the same way as windows install would create it.
If you know, how install does it, there are no problems doing it manually.

OP has new fresh SSD (empty). Why did you assume, he has problems with wiping it?

You create appropriate layout.
Then put installation partition at the end,
make it bootable,
copy windows installation files onto it,
boot your pc from the drive (installation of windows launches automatically),
install windows,
later fix intended bootloader partition and
remove windows installation partition.

Result is clean install without any differences from standard way of installing windows.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/dn898510(v=vs.94)
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/dn898504(v=vs.94)

Sure - it's more complicated. But OP wanted to avoid using USB flash media. There is a way to do just that.

So .. you can't say those things, because it simply is not true:

There is NO way to install Windows correctly without either having an optical drive (DVD, Blu ray) or USB thumb drive.

There is no way to do a clean install of Windows from one drive to another really.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Sigh, ok, whatever. You can hold their hand through the whole process, and the aftermath, then. And when something goes wrong, because they needed to ask these questions in the first place, you can clean that mess up too.

 

[enderzshadow]

FRESH (which you requested) and SCRATCH are the same thing.


Ya, that's a negativo. You newbies sometimes have these rose colored glasses of how things work, but no, blame Microsoft how come they didn't make it this easy for you.

Thank you for answering my question. I don't blame anyone. I just didn't know nor do I know anyone that knows.

If you download a game or application off the internet using somebody else's internet connection, away from home, and then go home, there would be NO need to move anything "over the network" because it would already BE on the laptop somewhere. It would be in whatever folder you downloaded it from and then you'd just need to run the installer that you downloaded. So yes, if you do a clean install and then go download everything as far as game installers and applications that you need on somebody else's network, for offline installation, you should not have a problem to then go home, connect to your (Assuming, slower) internet connection, and run the installers you already downloaded using the faster connection. Many games require a connection of some kind to verify the download is authentic, but they do not require that the connection be fast and there is little data required from authentication so even a dial up connection is sufficent for that part.

I think misunderstand what I was asking,
"if I can move a program from a laptop to my computer, why can't I move the same file from one hard drive to another drive within my own computer? What is the difference?"

It's quite easy actually.
You create partition layout manually. Make it the same way as windows install would create it.
If you know, how install does it, there are no problems doing it manually.

OP has new fresh SSD (empty). Why did you assume, he has problems with wiping it?

You create appropriate layout.
Then put installation partition at the end,
make it bootable,
copy windows installation files onto it,
boot your pc from the drive (installation of windows launches automatically),
install windows,
later fix intended bootloader partition and
remove windows installation partition.

Result is clean install without any differences from standard way of installing windows.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/dn898510(v=vs.94)
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/dn898504(v=vs.94)

Sure - it's more complicated. But OP wanted to avoid using USB flash media. There is a way to do just that.

So .. you can't say those things, because it simply is not true:

Thank you skynet.
Didn't mean to cause a disagreement between 2 knowledgeable folks.

Yeah, no usb...and atm I don't have 2 pennies to rub together.

I'm glad there is a way to do it. 'Complicated' is one way to say it lol

 

[enderzshadow]

Sigh, ok, whatever. You can hold their hand through the whole process, and the aftermath, then. And when something goes wrong, because they needed to ask these questions in the first place, you can clean that mess up too.

haha, yeah Ill just wait till I can get the USB.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok, so two different schools of thought on moving programs, and obviously they are not the same.

One, moving the program "installer". Easily done, just move it using file explorer to wherever you want whether that's one drive to another on the same system or one system to another on a home or other network.

Two, moving installed programs. Cannot be done, ever. Not in any real sense of the term anyhow. There ARE programs that claim to be able to migrate an installed program to a different OS installation but they do not work. The registry is too complex, and there are ALWAYS issues after doing it that generally require re-installing the application anyhow. Obviously, for many games, this does not apply because many of them, like Steam folders, are self containing and are not expressly dependent on any registry entries OTHER than just the Steam client, which itself, needs to be installed fresh after any fresh OS installation. The game files themselves though do not as long as you update any links to those files within the Steam (Or other) client after moving them. Applications however, except portable versions, are not the same.

 

[enderzshadow]

Obviously, for many games, this does not apply because many of them, like Steam folders, are self containing and are not expressly dependent on any registry entries OTHER than just the Steam client, which itself, needs to be installed fresh after any fresh OS installation.

Alright, this is the distinction I was looking for.
In the case of the program I was using, a game--all I need to really move is the dat file (the time consuming part)

Thanks again

 

[Darkbreeze]

For sure.

 

[drtweak]

Just to point out there is a third way.

Clone to the SDD. Yes the same partition structure will remain, but if that PC had a clean install to begin with then it won't matter.

Then boot into windows and do a Reset. Will reset windows to as if you just installed it. It's not a 100% clean, but with no USB, No DVD, and not having to deal with creating bootable partitions on existing or other hard drive to install windows from and it is something easy that the OP can do.

 

[USAFRet]

Just to point out there is a third way.

Clone to the SDD. Yes the same partition structure will remain, but if that PC had a clean install to begin with then it won't matter.

Then boot into windows and do a Reset. Will reset windows to as if you just installed it. It's not a 100% clean, but with no USB, No DVD, and not having to deal with creating bootable partitions on existing or other hard drive to install windows from and it is something easy that the OP can do.

A clone is specifically what he did not want:
"It's very important that the re-installed windows be an absolutely fresh install. "

 

[Darkbreeze]

I was going to suggest that he must have read right over that part, else he wouldn't have spit that comment out.

 

[drtweak]

A clone is specifically what he did not want:
"It's very important that the re-installed windows be an absolutely fresh install. "

I know its not a full fresh install, but by resetting windows after cloning it technically is clean, but if he has no way of making or booting from install media, this would be the next best option.

 

[USAFRet]

I know its not a full fresh install, but by resetting windows after cloning it technically is clean, but if he has no way of making or booting from install media, this would be the next best option.

I know what you're saying.
But "mostly/technically" is not "absolutely".