


It then uses this data to install the core files to your HDD and then expand them from there. If you perform a clean install, you will be formatting the hard drive, therefore there will be nothing to create a Windows.old with.Īlso, during the initial stages of a clean install, it will create an unseen X: drive which is copies the necessary data to from the installation media. Windows will only create a Windows.old folder if you do an in-place upgrade. That way it will be bootable to the system. You can use the Rufus bootable USB tool to correctly 'burn' the ISO to the USB drive. E copies all subfolders, /H copies all hidden files and /F displays all source and destination file names as it’s copying.IMPORTANT: Before you perform any installation steps, ensure that your data is backed up. You can either do this from Windows using Ctrl+C+ Ctrl+V, or from the command line using xcopy. Copy the entire contents of the ISO to your flash drive Where E:\ in this case is my flash drive’s letter. My ISO is mounted as G:\, so I’ll navigate to G:\boot and run: C:Windowssystem32> G: Navigate to the mounted image and install a bootsector This will exit diskpart, but leave the command window open. To format it, we’ll use the NTFS file system and run a quick format: DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick If you’re really curious, run list partition to check. Since we know there is only one partition, we can just run this: DISKPART> select partition 1 Create a partition DISKPART> create partition primary Make sure you want to do this! If you are sure, run: DISKPART> cleanħ. The clean command marks all data on the drive as deleted and therefore removes all partitions and volumes. Run clean WARNING: This deletes all data on your drive In the example above, my flash drive is disk 2 so I’ll run: DISKPART> select disk 2Ħ. Select your flash drive by running select disk #įind the item that corresponds with your flash drive and select the disk.

You’ll see the something similar to this: DISKPART> list diskĥ. This will open and run the Diskpart command line utility, which allows you to manage disks, partitions and volumes.Ĭ:\Windows\system32> diskpart 4.

Hit Windows Key, type cmd and hit Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Insert a usb drive at least 4gb in size 2. And who uses DVD’s anymore? Download the Windows 10 preview ISO from here: Steps 1. I’m writing this because I can, for some reason, never remember how to use Diskpart. 13 October 2014 / diskpart Install Windows 10 from a USB Flash Drive
