Windows 10 reinstall questions

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I am trying to refresh the laptop of a family member and am reading through the Oct. 5 manual reinstall article by Fred L. The owner, who is away, asked me to take care of this, concerned that there had been too many user errors and that it would be best to just start fresh. My idea is to get Windows fresh and then reinstall apps, then restore files from the backup.

I believe I have access to the necessary accounts and passwords. I have already done significant duplicate file cleanup, disc cleanup, browser-favorites export, etc., and have made a full Acronis backup of the C drive (it’s the only drive), but I don’t understand much about partitions and so on, so I have some questions before I proceed.

1. It’s a Dell from 2017, preinstalled w/ W10 and Office 2016. Windows recently updated to 2004. I assume that W10 will recognize the activation—the key that I can find ends in OEM and is not the full installation key, according to Belarc Advisor (key finder), which I have run and copied the info to another drive for reference. Is my assumption safe?
2. Fred writes: “Archive all drives, all partitions — everything and everywhere on the PC.” Further down, however, he directs deletion of all partitions. Since the owner has not created any partitions on the drive (we don’t know how, as indicated—this is not an advanced user machine; and since I have made a full drive backup from which to restore files, am I missing anything here?
3. Will I be able to install 2004, or will the newer version be forced on me?
4. I believe Dell has its own way to refresh the computer to factory spec, but I assume this would take us back to W10 2017. Would I then be able to update Windows to 2004 with the ISO I would have used in Fred’s Windows route?

I think that covers my questions. Thanks.

 

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[Mike]

My laptop has an Microsoft authentication sticker on the back.  That’s the product key I used.  On a clean install, you’ll be asked to enter that at the beginning.

https://www.howtogeek.com/206329/how-to-find-your-lost-windows-or-office-product-keys/

You’ll install from a file either written to a USB flash drive or a disc.  Disconnect from the internet during installation to avoid a forced upgrade.

Many OEM computers have several partitions for recovery…the original manufacturer files.  On a clean install you’d want to delete these.  However, you may want to do a recovery reinstallation of Windows 10 and return the computer back to the factory right out of the box settings.  Then do an upgrade to 2004.  That would make sure you have the original drivers.

“…and have made a full Acronis backup”

That backup is just for files or data. Right?  Because,  you wouldn’t want to overwrite your new OS installation.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Mike.

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I would just fix the errors – much less work and less chance of getting it wrong.
What are they?

cheers, Paul

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Dell offers Factory images that will restore the laptop to its original configuration, wiping any existing files/partitions and installing fresh. Start here https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-us/sln299044/how-to-download-and-use-the-dell-os-recovery-image-in-microsoft-windows?lang=en. It explains the process.

As Mike suggests, do not connect to the Internet until this process is done. You can connect after you finish to verify activation and then update to 2004 if you wish.

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