Windows Insiders 10240 - Upgrade or Fresh Install?


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As a Windows Insider I have the latest 10240 plus any updates to date. I'm wondering how this new RTM is effecting us?

Do we need to run the update?

What about the key; is the existing key going to expire? I have no idea at this point if my 8.1 update key is still being used, or not. I may have fresh installed at some pint and changed?

Eventually i want to do a clean install. I have the ISO, but I'm not sure how to go about this. Can I use my 8.1 upgrade key for this, or do I need to grab another key from somewhere else?

Thanks...

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Build 10240 is the RTM build, so you have the same version that is the public release. No need to run the update.

If you clean installed during the tech preview, then it's using the Insider license, as long as you stay an Insider (and install new builds as they appear), this license will continue to work.

You can use your existing 8.1 key for an installation, but the process is really annoying. You have to install 8.1, activate, then download the upgrade to 10 (which activates your previous key for 10), and then you can clean install.

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Build 10240 is the RTM build, so you have the same version that is the public release. No need to run the update.

If you clean installed during the tech preview, then it's using the Insider license, as long as you stay an Insider (and install new builds as they appear), this license will continue to work.

You can use your existing 8.1 key for an installation, but the process is really annoying. You have to install 8.1, activate, then download the upgrade to 10 (which activates your previous key for 10), and then you can clean install.

+1

Just for clarification: 

Once you have done the upgrade from Windows 8.1 you do not need to use the license again. It will be wired to your Microsoft account and hardware's ID. 

If you did the upgrade to Windows 10 Insider then you can head to Windows Update's Advanced Settings and select "Stop Insider Builds". You'll be prompted and if it goes well, then you can clean install without problems!!

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As an insider, it's much easier to just do a 'Reset' and remove everything. That is pretty much the same as a fresh install and saves you the hassel of installing 8. then upgrading to 10, then fresh installing via iso. All you would need to do is turn off the option to stop being an insider and you would just have the insider activated build, which lasts forever anyway. If you plan on testing RedStone, just keep do a fresh reset and keep things as they are. 

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As an insider, it's much easier to just do a 'Reset' and remove everything. That is pretty much the same as a fresh install and saves you the hassel of installing 8. then upgrading to 10, then fresh installing via iso. All you would need to do is turn off the option to stop being an insider and you would just have the insider activated build, which lasts forever anyway. If you plan on testing RedStone, just keep do a fresh reset and keep things as they are. 

Does a reset remove all non-Windows 10 files though? I haven't done that option, I always choose to clean install, so it would be interesting to know whether a Reset really does completely clean the drive to a vanilla file layout. Not a big deal on desktops, but for example I have a 128Gb Surface Pro 3, so every bit counts :)

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The last time I "refreshed", there was a file on the desktop called "Apps removed while refreshing your PC", so I would say yes. but then I didn't really take a close look. Of course, I kept all of my documents and such.

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Giving Windows 10 away has make is a nightmare for deciding how to proceed with a clean install, and all the hoops to hump through. Being an insider should be tied to your MSN account and regardless how you get to a clean install it will activate as soon as you hit your MSN account.

I wish I was one of those that picked up one of those $2 Windows 10 Professional keys :( 

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I never touched any insider builds of Windows 10, installed clean (created installer pendrive from Microsoft site), and the Intel graphics driver control panel says my Windows is "Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview" :D So yeah, the 10240 insider preview build is the rtm...

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Does a reset remove all non-Windows 10 files though? I haven't done that option, I always choose to clean install, so it would be interesting to know whether a Reset really does completely clean the drive to a vanilla file layout. Not a big deal on desktops, but for example I have a 128Gb Surface Pro 3, so every bit counts :)

Yeah it removes all the non-windows stuff. It's the same as a fresh install, only difference I saw was it activated straight away and I had to remove previous install files using Disk Cleanup. When I did that, HDD space was sitting at 17GB. Now after all my program installs and a 3 weeks later of using RTM, im at 68GB used of 128GB. :) So it works great my friend. 

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