How to reinstall pre-installed windows 10 on a laptop. How to reinstall Windows: step-by-step instructions
No matter how advanced you may consider "ten", sooner or later it begins to treacherously slow down. In this article, we describe step by step how to reinstall Windows 10 on a laptop or PC with minimal difficulty. We promise: even inexperienced users will cope without problems.
1 Which is better: reinstallation, system optimization or recovery?
The good news is that Windows 10 has built-in advanced recovery mechanisms, which not everyone is aware of yet. And in vain. Because Often you can do without a full reinstallation - in a few clicks the system can be returned to the state “as it was at the very beginning” (more on this below).
And most importantly: before resorting to any radical methods, we strongly recommend that you try our instructions “How to speed up your computer on Windows 10”. In it we have collected the most effective optimization methods that will help you thoroughly clean and overclock your system. Often this is enough - and you always have time to reinstall Windows!
2 Restoring the OS instead of reinstalling.
2.1 How to return your computer to its original state on Windows 10.
So, the promised “life hack”. Not everyone knows that instead of a long and painful reinstallation of Windows 10, you can quickly return the OS to its pristine clean state by resetting it to factory settings.
It's like a regular reinstallation, but it saves a lot of time and nerves. In this case, you can even choose whether to erase everything “clean” or keep personal files.
Although the installed software and OS settings will still be removed. Therefore, it is best to prepare in advance a list of programs that will need to be installed again after completion.
Windows 10 is being returned to the initial state is very simple.
That's all! After a few minutes, the system will return to its original state - as on the day of installation. It may very well be that you won’t have to reinstall anything. Give it a try.
Due to some problems, the “top ten” refuses to boot? You can still roll it back to the original settings (in the process, the errors that caused the problems will also be erased). How? After several unsuccessful attempts to start, the OS will throw you into the boot menu. In it, select “Return the computer to its original state” and follow the steps described above.
2.2 How to return to a previous version of Windows 10.
After the next update, the “ten” began to work poorly? Fortunately, there is also no point in bothering with reinstalling Windows 10 from scratch - within a certain period of time, the OS can be easily rolled back to the previous build.
For this:
3 How to reinstall Windows 10 from a flash drive.
They decided to demolish it completely and reinstall the OS on the laptop? Our step-by-step instructions for reinstalling Windows 10 from a flash drive will make this task as simple as possible.
- Because all information from drive C will be erased, all important files from it will be transferred to a safe place: to disk D or flash drive. Don't forget to check "Desktop", "My Documents", "Downloads" etc.
- Remember what size the disk was WITH and how much free space there is on it - this will come in handy later when you need to “recognize” it during the installation process.
3.1 Preparing a bootable flash drive.
Before, how to reinstall Windows 10 from a USB flash drive, this installation USB must first be created. What's the easiest way to do this?
- Need a license? Then you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and use the Media Creation Tool, an official utility from Microsoft. She will do almost everything herself: she will download Win 10 and write it to a flash drive. We just download the program itself, open it and follow the simple instructions on the screen.
- You’re not particularly interested in the license, but did you somehow get your hands on the coveted ISO image of the “ten”? The command line or any of the free utilities will help you write it to a flash drive - UltraISO, WinSetupFromUSB, USB/DVD Download Tool, WinToBootic, Rufus, etc.
In order not to repeat ourselves, we invite you to take a look at our article “How to create a bootable USB flash drive to reinstall Windows 10”. There we described in detail 8 recording methods - both for the license and for unofficial versions.
Which version to choose - 32-bit or 64-bit? Depends on the amount of RAM. If you have up to 4 GB, install 32-bit, if more, feel free to take 64-bit.
3.2 Starting the installation via BIOS / Boot Menu.
To start reinstalling Windows 10, you need to set it to boot from a flash drive. We insert the drive into the USB port, reboot, and then there are 2 options.
1) Simplest- go to the boot menu ( Boot Menu) and use the up and down keys to select boot from our USB flash drive. Here is a sign with buttons that call up the Boot Menu on different computers (click immediately after reboot, as soon as a black screen appears).
Desktops
- MSI (motherboard) – AMI (BIOS) – F11
- Gigabyte – Award – F12
- BioStar - Phoenix-Award – F9
- Asus – AMI – F8
- Intel - Phoenix-Award - Esc
- AsRock - AMI - F11
- ChainTech – absent
- ECS – AMI – F11
- FoxConn – Esc
- GigaByte – F12
Laptops
2) Second way a little longer - instead of the Boot Menu, we enter the BIOS (the keys to enter are here - link) and in the list of boot devices we assign our installation flash drive first. For this:
You will have your own exact names, but in general the line with "USB" should be higher than "HDD/Hard Drive".
Done? Great, most often after loading this message appears: 
Press any key, and the reinstallation of Windows 10 has officially begun!
3.3 How to reinstall Windows 10: select version/bit.
We have briefly described this stage step by step.
Window No. 1: Select all "Russian"(language, time format, layout). 
Window No. 2: Click "Install".
Window No. 3:If there is an official key, then enter it. If not, honestly click on the blue inscription below: "I don't have a product key".
Window No. 4:(The window appears if there are 2 versions of Win 10 with different architectures on the flash drive at once)
We indicate the one we are going to install.
Window No. 5:Choose between Home and Pro versions (we recommend "Home").
(This window does not always happen) 
Window No. 6: Read the license agreement, check the box to agree, click "Further".
Window No. 7: Click on the second option " Custom: Windows installation only"
3.4 Partition / format the hard drive.
At this step, we find ourselves in a menu where we have to select a hard drive partition to reinstall Windows 10. Don’t worry if there are an order of magnitude more disks than you are used to seeing: we’ll figure it out now.
Remember how we wrote down the disk sizes WITH before starting the installation? This way we can easily identify it: find, select, click "Format"(at this stage it will be completely cleared), select it again and click "Further".
If you want (for example, on the “old” disk C there is not enough space), you can partition the hard drive in a new way. To do this, select all current sections, click "Delete" and key "Create" we set new ones. Then select the disk to install and click "Further".
In terms of free disk space, Windows 10 is quite power hungry. To be sure, aim for 20-25 GB for the 64-bit version and 16-20 GB for the 32-bit version. Microsoft modestly names the minimum numbers, but in actual practice they “swell” almost instantly.
Sometimes you need to additionally install a second OS on your computer without touching the current one. How to reinstall Windows 10 while keeping the old version? Nothing complicated: put a new one on an adjacent disk (for example, on D), and we get two autonomous systems. The input to the desired one is selected at each start.
- Decided on the section and clicked "Further"? The files will be copied to it and the computer will restart.
- At this stage, quickly remove the flash drive (if the installation window from the flash drive still managed to appear again, just close it and the system will restart again, this time as it should)
- For some time we admire the black screen with the “tens” logo and a message "Preparations are underway", while the system is being prepared, configured, etc. Sometimes the computer will reboot itself, sometimes it will flicker or freeze - everything is fine, we don’t touch anything. As a rule, the entire process of reinstalling Windows 10 takes 30-100 minutes.
- Finally the system will ask us to enter the key. At the bottom left, you can click on the small “Do it later” inscription.
- Then we choose whether to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi (if you plan to immediately log into your Microsoft account, connect, if not, for now you can choose "Skip this step").
3.5 Configure settings and account.
Now let's start setting up the parameters. If you don't want to bother now, just click "Use standard settings". All this can be changed after you reinstall Windows 10, already in the process.
If you don’t mind resolving the issue right away, then click “Settings” and follow these steps:
In the next step, if your computer is connected to the Internet, the system will prompt you to log in to your Microsoft account. But to avoid some potential glitches, we recommend doing this after the installation is complete. In the meantime, it's better to choose "Skip this step"(small blue lettering below). 
We find ourselves in the menu for creating a local account (if there is no Internet, then you will be transferred here immediately, without the previous window). 
Everything is simple here: come up with a login / enter the password twice / click “Next”. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to set a password - then Windows won’t ask you for it when you log in. But it's better to deliver.
We are approaching the finish line! At this stage of reinstallation, Windows 10 independently makes various fine adjustments, installs all sorts of programs, etc. All we can do is see the reassuring screen “This may take a few minutes.”
But don’t rush to take his word for it: if the computer is not very powerful, in practice all this can take a good half hour. We don’t touch anything, don’t turn off anything, don’t reboot - we just go about our business and wait.
When the system is finished, you will see the brand new Windows 10 desktop.
3.6 Installing drivers and programs.
That's all, we have successfully reinstalled Windows 10. All that remains is to install the necessary programs and drivers. In principle, if a laptop or PC is connected to the Internet, the “ten” itself selects and installs the drivers, but most often it does not do it very well.
It's best to rearrange them manually - it's pretty quick.
- On a PC: enter the official website of the motherboard manufacturer into the search and download everything there.
- On a laptop: go to the manufacturer’s official website, in the “support” column we find your model and drivers for it.
- Where to look for drivers for a video card? Depending on the model, go to the website AMD, NVIDIA or Intel.
4 After reinstalling Windows 10, the computer does not start, what should I do?
Have you done everything according to the instructions, but the system refuses to start? Don't panic.
If you see a blue screen with messages, check out our article “What to Do If a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Appears?”
- In 90% of cases, the problem turns out to be a video adapter driver conflict: try booting into safe mode and uninstalling the driver (to load safe mode you will have to barbarously turn off the computer with the button).
- Also check if the computer is connected to 2 monitors at the same time? If yes, then remove the 2nd one, and disconnect the 1st one from the discrete video card and reconnect it to the built-in one.
There is a 90% chance that after completing the first or second step everything will work.
As you can see, reinstalling Windows 10 was not so difficult
These are all the steps that await you when reinstalling Windows 10 from a flash drive. There is nothing complicated about them: the eyes are afraid, but the hands do the work!
Tell us in the comments, did you succeed the first time? Was anything unclear? Or maybe you have encountered any “pitfalls” that are not described here? We will try to take into account all your questions and supplement the article.
Perhaps many PC users do not know that you can reinstall Windows 10 without losing documents, photos, music and other personal data. In this guide, we will look at how to properly reinstall Windows 10 without losing data.
Having been using Windows 10 since the pre-release versions, I won’t say that often, but periodically I received various troubles with the operating system, some could be solved easily, others simply left no options and I had to reinstall the system. As a result, the most reliable tool for dealing with system errors has been developed, no matter how funny it sounds - reinstalling Windows 10.
Reinstalling is guaranteed to help if your Windows 10 system is constantly crashing, or you are getting one or more errors when opening programs or applications. In short, you will have to reinstall the OS if you encounter problems that are fatal. For example, if Windows 10 is running very slowly even after trying possible solutions from the internet, you may want to consider reinstalling Windows 10.
The presented method for reinstalling Windows 10 does not require you to enter a product key, which means you can reinstall Windows 10 without a key.
Guide to reinstall Windows 10 without losing data.
This method is only applicable if Windows 10 is booting. If your computer won't boot, you need to do a clean install of Windows 10.
Step 1: Connect the Windows 10 bootable flash drive to your computer. If you have a Windows 10 boot DVD, insert it into your optical drive.
And if you have an image file, go to the folder containing the ISO file, right click on it and then click To plug to open the contents of the ISO image in Windows Explorer.
Those of you who do not have a Windows 10 USB, DVD or ISO file must download the Windows 10 ISO image from Microsoft using the official tool. The tool, with default settings, will download the same version of Windows 10 as the one installed on your computer (32-bit or 64-bit).
Step 2: Open This computer(My Computer), right-click on the USB or DVD drive, click .
Likewise, if you have mounted a Windows 10 ISO image, right-click on the mounted drive and click .
Step 3: Double click on the file Setup.exe. Click Yes in the User Account Control dialog box.
Step 4: In a few seconds, you will see a window - Get important updates with two options:
- # Download and install updates (recommended)
- # Not now
If your computer is connected to the Internet, we recommend that you select the first one - Download and install updates (recommended).
You can uncheck I want to help improve Windows, to avoid sending anonymous data to Microsoft about the installation process.
Step 5: After pressing the button Further, the installation will check for updates. If option is selected Not now in the previous step, you will not see this screen.
It may take several minutes to check for updates.
You may see the following screen within a few minutes - Let's see if you're ready to install. At the moment, it is being verified that the computer can work with Windows 10, and the space required to perform the operation is also checked.
Step 7: And finally, you will see a window - .
By selecting - we will reinstall Windows 10 without deleting files, check before clicking Next.
Advice: You can also select the first option Keep personal files and apps if you don't want to lose installed apps from the store. But! If you have problems with one or more modern applications such as Edge, or Store, Photos, Mail, please select the option - Keep my personal files only.
Step 8: You will see the window again - this time feel free to click on the button Install.
Click on the Install button to begin installing/reinstalling Windows 10. During the installation of Windows 10, your computer may restart several times.
Step 9: The next step is to configure the parameters. You can choose either Use Standard Settings or Customize Settings, which allows you to change the default privacy settings in Windows 10. Of course, you can change these settings later on the system itself.
Once complete, you will be prompted to sign in with your Microsoft account, or you can create a new local user account.
As mentioned above, the system will not require a Windows 10 product key after reinstallation if it was already installed.
All your files will be in the same place where you left them. You will only need to install your favorite programs and applications again.
Let us know in the comments below if you encounter any problems while reinstalling Windows 10.
This process can be difficult for many users. There are several methods for reinstalling the system, each of which has its own advantages. Let's look at the most common methods for reinstalling Windows 10.
How to back up your data
It is strongly recommended that you back up your data before reinstalling your system. Windows 10 has built-in tools that make this task much easier - you don't even need to install additional programs. All you need to do is follow the simple steps of the “File History” component.
Step 1: Type “Windows Updates” into the Windows search bar, select “Windows Update Options” from the results lists, and go to the “Backup” menu. You can also access your settings by going to Settings > Update & Security > Backup.
If the Automatically backup files switch is set to On, File History is already backing up files, including contacts, desktop items, and files in your OneDrive folder. This feature automatically creates copies of files in your Documents libraries. , Videos, Music, Pictures, so place the desired folders and files in these directories.
Step 2: If the “Automatic file backup” switch is set to “Off”, then the first step is to add a disk.
Click the Add Disk button and Windows 10 will automatically search for an external drive that you can use to store your backups.
Select the drive you want to use for File History, and Windows 10 will look for external hard drives for backup.
After selecting the drive, the archiving service will start automatically. You can click the “Other options” link to change how often files are copied and how long the backups are retained. You can also configure in detail which folders and libraries need to be copied. Depending on the amount of original data, the backup process may take some time, but you can continue with your normal activities while the task is completed.
You can check the current status of the backup service by clicking the “View advanced options” link on the “Backup Options” page. As a result, the “File History” window will open in the control panel, where you can view the service status and additional options.
If you prefer to store backups on an external drive or cloud storage, then you have that option! No matter which method you choose, make sure that all important files are included for copying.
How to restore Windows 10 to its previous state
Sometimes when solving computer problems, restoring the system to a certain point in the past can be a great help - say, reverting the OS to a few days or weeks ago. This is an ideal solution to get rid of errors associated with recently installed applications. Windows 10 offers several options to roll back the system to an earlier state.
Step 1: In the “Update and Security” window, go to the “Recovery” tab. On the page that opens, you will see the option “Return to a previous version of Windows 10.” Click the “Start” button and wait a bit.
Step 2: After briefly asking why you are reverting to a previous build and checking for updates that might fix the problem, Windows will begin analyzing the information available for recovery. Follow the onscreen instructions until the build selection screen appears. In some cases, the operating system cannot find the necessary files that are used to roll back to a previous version, especially if you have recently performed a disk cleanup. In such cases, it is better to look for another solution.
Step 3: If the preparatory operations were completed successfully, then you can roll back the system to the previous build. This measure will help get rid of problems caused by the recent system update. If possible, choose the most stable and working build of Windows 10. In some cases, you will have access to previous operating systems on your computer, such as Windows 8.
Using system restore points
You can restore the state of Windows 10 using a system restore point. This method is especially useful when you want to go back to previous versions of Windows 10, instead of skipping back all the builds.
Step 1: Go to Control Panel by typing "Control Panel" in Windows Search. Turn on “View > Large or Small Icons and select the “Recovery” section, and then click on the “Run System Restore” link. Then, confirm that you want to switch to this mode. Users can also create new restore points and configure the recovery procedure here .
Step 2: By default, the recommended restore point will be selected, with a description of what action was performed before the specific point was created. You can also select other restore points on this screen. Select the “Select a different recovery point” option and click “Next” if you want to see other recovery options.
Note that Windows typically creates a restore point after major changes, such as installing a new program, driver, or update. If you don't see any recovery options available, then system protection may be disabled. In this case, you will have to perform a complete reinstallation or look for another solution to the problem.
Step 3: Find the restore point that preceded the problem in the system. Then click “Next” and confirm to start the recovery operation by clicking “Finish”. Please note that this operation should not delete personal files.
How to reinstall Windows 10
Sometimes recovery operations may not solve problems that are too extensive, and a full system reset may be necessary to remove corrupted data or to prepare your computer for sale.
Step 1: Go back to the “Recovery” section in the “Update & Security” section of the “Settings” application and select the first available option - “Reset this computer to its original state.” Click the “Start” button to continue.
Step 2: You will be given several options that allow you to customize what data you want to clear. If you want to fix the problem while continuing to use your computer, then select the “Keep my files” option (and be prepared for the second option if the first doesn’t work). If you want to perform a full system reset and have already double-checked the integrity and safety of your backups, then select the “Delete everything” option. If you are selling your computer, you should perform a factory reset, which will return your computer to its original state. Please note that the latter option is not always available. In this case, the programs that were preinstalled when you purchased the computer will be reinstalled.
Step 3: Confirm your choice and wait for a while. If you are performing the reset on a laptop or mobile device, make sure it is connected to the network. The system will automatically reboot after the recovery is complete.
Typically, activation is automatic and does not cause difficulties, regardless of whether you reinstall or restore the Windows 10 system. If you're using a local account, link your Windows 10 key to your Microsoft account for easier reactivation when you update your PC configuration.
If you have problems with activation, open the Update & Security section in the Settings app and go to the Activation tab. Here you can see your activation status or add another product key. Follow the onscreen prompts to reactivate your Windows 10 installation.
Let's consider this situation. You had Windows 7 or 8.1 installed. Then you updated it to Windows 10. The system was activated automatically. And now you need to completely reinstall Windows 10 without losing your license. Will there be problems with activation?
“Ten” should be activated automatically if you install the same edition that was installed and activated before (for example, Pro x64 Russian) on the same computer. With the release of the Threshold 2 update, the system activation procedure has been significantly improved and simplified. It should now be easier to activate Windows 10 both during a clean install and an upgrade.
Reinstalling Windows 10 while maintaining license and activation
0. Step number zero: before reinstalling the OS, make a backup copy of the boot and system partitions if your license or software installed on the system is extremely important to you. We have, of course, checked the instructions below, but anything can happen. And it is better to have a backup copy so that you can restore Windows to its current state at any time.
1. Create an installation flash drive or disk with Windows 10 software.
The creation procedure has not changed, however, no matter what time you create a bootable USB flash drive, the distribution package recorded on it will always be up-to-date thanks to the proprietary Microsoft Media Creation Tool utility. Let us remind you that in build 10586 the Windows 10 activation mechanism has been significantly simplified. Now the system can be activated with a key from Windows 7 or 8.1.
2. Connect the USB flash drive and simply restart your computer.
3. from this flash drive.
4. When prompted to enter your product key, select Skip:
Reinstalling the OS: Skip entering the product key
5. Format only the system partition. (In most cases, “drive C:”. Use the disk capacity in GB as a guide.) Other sections do not need to be formatted.
6. Then select the formatted partition to install Windows 10 and click Further.
Format drive C for subsequent OS installation
After installation, the operating system must be activated (if it was activated legally before reinstallation). After a couple of days, when you are convinced that the newly installed OS is working normally, you can free up disk space.
Other ways to reinstall Windows 10 on a laptop
If your laptop was sold with Windows 10 pre-installed, then you have another way to reinstall the operating system if necessary. Each laptop manufacturer has its own special system recovery procedure. For example, if you have an HP laptop, you need to restart it and press the F11, for Samsung it is F4. Lenovo actually has a special button - Novo Button, which serves to enter the BIOS and restore (in fact, reinstall) Windows.
In order to reinstall Windows 10 on Toshiba laptops, you need to hold down the key while the laptop's power is off 0 (zero) on the main keyboard block, without releasing it, turn on the laptop with the Power button. Release the 0 key when you hear the system speaker sound. Some laptops come with a recovery disc. You need to boot from it and run the Recovery program.
The difference with the procedure that we described in the previous paragraph is that when you reinstall Windows using the recovery procedure, you get the operating system without the latest updates - the same as it was when you bought the laptop. But the essence remains the same - you somehow perform a clean reinstallation of the system, getting rid of all the glitches and problems of the old operating system.
If your version of Windows 10 brings a lot of problems, certain components of the system do not work, or the changes made interfere with normal work on the computer, then it’s time to reinstall the operating system. With this short guide, you will learn how to quickly and easily reinstall Windows 10 on your computer or laptop.
Let's look at a program that was installed on your computer along with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. It allows you to reinstall the system easily and conveniently - without the need to perform additional steps. We will also consider the option of re-installing Windows 10 if you are not using Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
Before you begin reinstalling Windows 10 on your computer or laptop, you need to make a backup copy of the system. Even if you don't plan to completely format the drive, this procedure can be very useful. Especially if something goes wrong during the reinstallation process. You can save the backup copy to an external hard drive or transfer it to cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, Box.com, OneDrive, etc.).
Self-installation of Windows 10
The main method that is best used to reinstall Windows 10 on a computer or laptop is to create a bootable installation disk and reinstall the operating system from it. But, before you start reinstalling, do not forget to write down the key for your version of Windows 10. If you do not know how to find out the WIndows 10 product key, see below.
First, install the official free Microsoft program on your computer - Media Creation Tool. This application is designed to download and update "tens". After it starts, we begin downloading Windows 10 to the computer, check that the system is downloaded in ISO format, which we will then burn to a DVD disc. To do this, check the “Create an installation disk for another computer” option.
After burning the ISO image to a CD, start your computer from the boot disk and reinstall the system. During installation, you can choose options - update the installed version or install the system from scratch. If you choose the latter option, you will have to re-enter the activation key.
Refresh Windows Tool
If you have the latest update installed - that is, Windows 10 Anniversary Update, you can use the system tool to update and restore the OS.
Refresh Windows Tool offers an easy way to reinstall Windows 10 on your computer/laptop. After launching the Refresh Windows Tool, options for further actions will appear.
During installation, you will be able to specify whether you want to keep all data on the computer or completely wipe the disk and install the operating system from scratch. Depending on which option you select, the reinstallation may take a few minutes if you do not have to re-enter your product key.
Return to initial settings
You can also use a tool that allows you - just like in smartphones - to return Windows 10 to its original settings. That is, reset all system settings to their initial values, and at the same time all files and documents will remain untouched. This method can be used if something in the OS stops working. But if the system is severely damaged, it is better to reinstall it from scratch.
This tool is built into the Settings section, which can be accessed through the Start menu or using the Win + I key combination.
After opening the Settings section, go to the Updates tab, and then open the “Recovery” tab in the menu on the left side. Here, if the latest Windows 10 update is installed, there should be a section “Reset your computer to its original state.” Click the “Start” button and after entering the password, all settings will be deleted.
