Directly Clean Install Windows 10

How to directly clean install Windows 10 without upgrading first



You can now clean Windows 10 install without first needing to upgrade your Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 to Windows 10. Although we have not tried this method, a user on Reddit recently has shared a method by which you can directly clean install Windows 10.

All this while users were upgrading their Windows 7/8.1 PC to the latest Windows 10 OS via the Get Windows app or by using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool. But now using this trick, you should be able to directly clean install Windows 10 on your computer.

You would need a Windows 10 ISO image or a bootable DVD to use this method. For those who don’t know, you can also create the ISO image using the Windows 10 Media Creating Tool and use it for the clean installation.

Directly Clean Install Windows 10

He has listed the procedure as follows:

1] You first need a Windows 10 ISO image or a DVD for clean install.

2] Burn the ISO and extract it.

3] Locate the file gatherosstate.exe on your local drive and move it to the desktop.

4] Run the file and create a GenuineTicket.xml on your desktop.

5] You can now clean install Windows 10 on your PC. Click Ignore if the system asks for product key.

6] Copy the GenuineTicket.xml file to your C drive on path C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\ClipSVC\GenuineTicket.

7] Reboot your PC.

The Reddit user says,

No need to launch setup, just copy \source\gatherosstate.exe to a writable directory, launch it and get GenuineTicket.xml there!

Then you can clean install (ignoring product keys when asked)

When it’s completed, put the file in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Clipsvc\GenuineTicket\ and reboot.

It is always recommended to take a backup of all your important files and data before you run any installation on your PC.

As we have mentioned earlier, we have not tried this method, so you may take a call if you wish to follow this method. If you do follow this method, do share your experience with us.

NOTE: If you upgrade to Windows 10, the new OS will take the product key and activation details from your earlier OS. These are then saved on Microsoft servers, along with your PC details. If you clean install Windows the first time, you may face activation problems. If you performed an upgrade the first time, activated Windows 10, and then clean installed Windows 10 on the same PC, then there will be no activation issues, as the OS will pull activation details from Microsoft servers. So, if your Windows 10 isn’t activated, we suggest you not perform a clean install the first time. First Upgrade the first time, Activate it and then Clean Install.

gatherosstate.exe is located at:

C:\$Windows.~WS\Sources\Windows\sources

works smoothly without the upgrade headache

alimac said:

works smoothly without the upgrade headache

Click to expand...

I was just reading here that it doesn’t work for everyone so don't raise your hopes

The conclusion

However, until Windows connects to the Internet at least one time, you can freely use the Personalize menu, which isn’t available otherwise, but Windows is still not activated. We restarted the PC only to find the same result.

At this point, the network cable got plugged in, to see if the trick is successful. For a fair amount of time, Windows services couldn’t quite detect that Internet was active, although we could go online. This enabled us to take advantage of the Personalize panel, with no activation watermark, or anything to mention this, other than it couldn’t connect.

A few system restarts later and it looked like it worked. The ticket file was still inside its folder, but by the time we started to scream Eureka, everything backfired, noticing this after changing (again and again) the wallpaper and taskbar color.

Tests didn’t end here, as we tried to update Windows, with sadly the same success rate. The GenuineTicket.xml file was also copied on other existing Windows 10 installations, with both local and Microsoft accounts. Unfortunately, our luck was close to zero.

Disclaimer: Given the results on a few different computers, we might not be convinced that the method is fully functional. On the other hand, we’re not pointing the finger at anybody, since other details can have a saying in the overall process, and there’s a high chance we either skipped a step or performed one wrong.

no doubting their will be failures it is Windows after all

got a few done now all good so far easier for me so happy enough loads time saved

..............................

Sorry for digging up an old thread, but it seemed the most appropriate for my question.

I have a slightly unusual Acer dual-screen laptop (one normal screen, the other is the touch-screen keyboard) and it shipped with Win7. Long story short, it upgraded successfully to Win 10, but it is still as laggy and slow as it was before the upgrade. Boot time is a lot better though!
I want to do a clean install now, but I am a bit worried that due to the machine's unusual format I may encounter driver issues.
Would this work? Partition the hard drive (I have loads of free space) and do the clean install on a clear partition, thus preserving the old 7>10 upgrade in case the clean install doesn't work.
OR would fitting a different hard drive altogether work? I.e would the machine still be similar enough to how it was for Win 10 to activate?

Difficult question.

We know that the above method works for some and not others, no guarantee.

We know that once we get activated with win 10, that activation is for the lifetime of the machine that was activated. So worse come to worst, it will just take a phone call to MS to put things right.


In theory doing a clean install on a partition should be Ok and I’ve read other people have done it with success but win 10 clean installation will be aware that there is another operating system installed on that drive so no guarantee.

Installing on a new hard drive again is a gamble but can be sorted by a phone call to MS if things go wrong.

We know that Win 10 still has a problem with drivers so I guess the answer for you would be to take all the precaution you can before the clean install by:

Take a copy of your existing windows/system32 where all the drivers are kept.

idrob said:

personal choice

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Click to expand...

idrob said:

For whatever reason when ever I install a clean version (as opposed to upgrade) of Windows, It will install generic drivers for my hardware, so what I have been doing for some years now is keep a spare copy of windows/system 32 on a USB drive and direct windows manually to where the drivers are kept.

Recently I came across another method of saving the windows drivers to a folder which might come in handy for others.


Create a "Drivers" folder for example: "C:\Drivers" then run this from command prompt as admin to export the drivers:

Dism /online /Export-Driver /Destination:C:\Drivers

Then when you've installed windows run this command to import the drivers into your new windows operating system:

Dism /online /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\Drivers /Recurse

Click to expand...

alimac said:

try a 3rd party driver updater DriverMax

Click to expand...

Quick update: I created another (same size as 8.1) partition on the hard drive and installed 10 on the new partition using the Media Creation Tool and a USB stick- leaving the old 8.1 intact. Installation went smoothly apart from having to update the mouse-pad drivers manually. BUT it hasn't activated. The activation page shows the last 5 characters of a product key I don't recognise. I tried entering the product key from my old OEM copy of 8.1 but it didn't like that either.
Interestingly it suggests I contact the shop or business I bought Windows from- no mention of contacting MS.

Are you sure its not activated, Try this

idrob said:

Check if Windows 10 is activated

1. Tap on the Windows-key, type cmd.exe and hit enter.

2. Type slmgr /xpr and hit enter.

3. A small window appears on the screen that highlights the activation status of the operating system.

4. If the prompt states "the machine is permanently activated", it activated successfully.

Click to expand...

I posted a method to force activate win 10 but I can’t find it, try this method

idrob said:

Are you sure its not activated, Try this

Click to expand...

I think it's pretty safe to say it's not activated- a notification is permanently on the screen saying "Activate Windows", and the cmd prompt thing returned "Windows (R), Core edition: Windows in notification mode".

I will have a play with the method in post 11 when my offline life permits!

Edit: Didn't realise how quick & easy this is- but it didn't work Sat at 'Restarting' for about 5 minutes and then I got a BSOD. Restarted again & we're back where we were.

Now Available: Start fresh with a clean install of Windows 10!

This tool is currently only available to Windows Insiders, and will only work on recent Windows 10 Insider Preview released builds (build 14342 or later).

June 22, 2016 9:00 am
Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14371 for PC



Here’s what’s new in Build 14371

Activation Improvements: We’ve received feedback from Windows Insiders who have run into activation issues on Genuine Windows devices after making changes to device hardware such as replacing a hard drive or motherboard. As part of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and starting with this Insider Preview build, we’re introducing the Activation Troubleshooter that will help you address most commonly encountered activation issues on Genuine Windows devices including those caused by hardware changes.

as you are an avid supporter of Win 10 why not post the links to it for all as i cannot bring myself to do it lol

alimac said:

as you are an avid supporter of Win 10 why not post the links to it for all as i cannot bring myself to do it lol

Click to expand...

Didn’t know anyone wanted it
I haven’t tried these; try them at your own risk

its not for me but no doubt some would like to have it

alimac said:

as you are an avid supporter. Win 10 why not post the links to it for all as i cannot bring myself to do it lol

Click to expand...

Don't bring me into...

- - - Updated - - -

alimac said:

as you are an avid supporter. Win 10 why not post the links to it for all as i cannot bring myself to do it lol

Click to expand...

Don't bring me into...

not aimed at you mate

alimac said:

not aimed at you mate

Click to expand...

Only jocking lol avid supporter....