Windows 10 clean install help

[Shopey]

Skip to the last paragraph for actual question.

Alright I built a pc a couple of months ago, my first one, everything with it has been fine until today. I tried to download acrobat pdf reader and when i went to install it it wont install. i thought maybe the install program froze for some reason so i tried to run my task manager to find out if it did. well my task manager wont open. now im getting worried that somethings up with my pc so i decided to try to refresh it with the built in tool. I access that through the settings and reach the point to get started, that wont start either. I look around online and find out how to access with shift+restart method. Well that works so i run it that way, i go through all the steps to refresh it and save files, etc, i start it, runs like it should and after about 10 mins it pops up with a screen saying that there was an issue refreshing windows so nothing was changed. I try it again this time trying to remove everything, happens again. Now im at a loss of what to do so i decide to just preform a fresh install of windows. I saw that there was an option to do a clean install of windows in the settings, that link wont work either (im talking about this one https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-refresh-tool-do-clean-install-windows-10 ) i click on it and nothing happens. i messed around a little and it seem like none of the built in programs want to work for me and idk why.

So heres my question, am i just being an inexperienced idiot and missed something simple or should i really do a clean install? if i should do a fresh install (i can install it with the oem disc and key i still have i think?) would it work just formatting the hard drive so it sort of force deletes windows and do like i did when i built the thing as i have access to another computer since i cant seem to accomplish that any other way?

Thanks you for reading all this and helping me!

 

[Colif]

can you right click start
choose run...
type winver and press enter

what version are you on? Current is version 1703 build 15063.483 ... I guess that doesn't really matter if you want to clean install. We could try to fix reset if you are on current build.

Do you want to save anything on C drive? copy it onto another hdd or usb now if you do.

download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB or DVD, mainly as its latest version and would require less updates to get to than oem disc

If you want to clean install, change boot order in BIOS so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

when you reach the screen asking for licence, click "I don't have a key" and win 10 will continue to install and reactivate once finished. You don't need to enter key anymore, its all stored on Microsoft servers.

On the screen where you choose where to install win 10, if it gives you an error about GPT drives, delete all the partitions on the hdd and press next. If it still gives error, cancel out of the installer and restart PC and start installer again, it will accept next on that screen this time (some PC just need a restart here)