Surface Pro 3 Windows 10 Upgrade Clean Install and Recovery Partition

Anonymous
2015-07-17T19:54:51+00:00

I read that you can take your Surface to a MS store to have them install Windows 10 on it. Has anyone read the details, I can't seem to find out if this is going to be a new, clean install or an upgrade. And, will it update the recovery partition similar to what we have for Win8? I would guess I can use the iso files and do a clean install myself, but, I'm doubt I'd be able to update the recovery partition from the iso.

Surface | Surface Pro | Install and update

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Anonymous
2016-03-28T17:43:58+00:00

For Surface Pro 3, it is possible to perform a clean install of Windows 10 through the use of a downloaded recovery image. This will put your device into the same state as it would be in when purchased new with Windows 10 installed.

Until the free Windows 10 upgrade offer ends on July 29th, 2016 you can use the Windows 10 recovery image on a Surface Pro 3 that has never had Windows 10 installed and it will activate using the product key that came with the device. After July 29th, 2016 the Windows 10 recovery image will only activate on devices that came with Windows 10 or had previously installed and activated Windows 10.

To use the recovery image:

  1. Go to the Download a recovery image for your Surface page and select your product.
  2. You should see the original Windows 8 image that shipped with your Surface, as well the new Windows 10 Version 1511 image.
  3. Click Download and follow the rest of the steps to create the Windows 10 recovery drive and use it to reset Surface.
  4. For more detailed information, see our Restore or reset Surface article.

 

Hope this helps,

Greg

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-07-30T04:26:13+00:00

    Hi Barb,

    I did update to Windows 10 and the did a factory reset (hoping to get a clean install of Windows 10) and it took me back to Windows 8.1.

    Please note that I did make a disk cleanup previously so that the windows.old folder got removed.

    Please advise. Thanks.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-07-29T19:41:54+00:00

    It's becoming tough to wait that long, I am really eager to use Windows 10 on my surface. 

    How do I get my Current windows's serial key to work with new Windows 10 ?

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  3. Barb Bowman 80,810 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-07-29T17:41:32+00:00

    I believe that they will shortly be selling SP3's with Windows 10 pre-installed, which should mean that there will be Windows 10 downloadable recovery media, which could be used to reimage "clean".

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-07-29T13:41:54+00:00

    I believe...not sure. You may need to upgrade first that way windows 10 is registered with your existing key and motherboard. Once you do that you can do fresh install from there on because that key was registered to windows 10 previously. Microsoft keep your key and your motherboard serial information. If you change the motherboard then the key you already have may not work because it was assigned to another motherboard.

    But I could be wrong.

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