I did this on an HP laptop. My aim was to create a second Media server that would be ready in the event that my first media server, which is on a Lenovo laptop. Because they are different manufacturers, I couldn't do this by means of creating a system image of the Lenovo.
Instead I had to do it all the hard way. These are the steps I took for my second attempt. My first attempt created a mess because I couldn't get rid of the infestation which Microsoft calls OneDrive.
Note that some of the steps can happen in a different order:
- Start by having an ethernet connection because that's faster than a wireless. You need that because you're going to do a clean reset from the cloud.
- Do a full reset in which you agree to have everything wiped out. To do that, choose "remove everything."
- When asked, select download Windows from the cloud
- Be monitoring this very long process of wiping the disk and downloading Windows. The screen will say "preparing to reset." You want to be in the lookout for when it's not downloading anymore. Be ready to disconnect the Ethernet cable for the installation phase because you do not want Microsoft doing any cloud activities
- When it first starts installing, then disconnect the ethernet
- Let it run. Now it's safe because it will stop when it wants to know country and language
- Answer country and language, and then it will ask you for an internet connection. Do not set that up. It will try to insist, and explain to you why it's better to have an internet connection but don't believe it.
- You should see this page. Do not click bottom right. Instead, click bottom left, which says continue with limited setup
- On the next screen click Accept for the Windows 10 License Agreement
- The screen will ask you "Who's going to use this PC? What name do you want to use? Now you can name your account. This will be a local account name (I think it's what's called your PC name) instead of the one associated with your Microsoft ID. For my second server, I named it Plex-2.
- Next, it will request a password. It's possible to leave it blank if you want.
- On the next page it will say Choose privacy settings for your device. I turned them all off. I can always change those later. Click Accept
- Say "not now" to Cortana. I wasn't quick enough so it assumed "yes" but I'll fix it later.
- Then Cortana will tell you it has a few other things to set up, so now just wait.
- Once you see you the Windows screen, it's time to immediately check on the folders, so click on file explorer
- For good measure, click on view and click show hidden items
- Look in the left bar. You will see One Drive there. If you click on it, you will see it wants you to sign in. DON'T!
- Instead, go into Add or Remove programs and find Microsoft OneDrive
- Uninstall OneDrive. This should eliminate the OneDrive folders, but if it doesn't, I think you can delete them now.
- Now do every kind of cleanup you can think of, including reading all the suggestions here but I didn't do any of them on this clean install: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/439113/removing-onedrive-traces-remaining-after-uninstall
- I clicked on every folder to make sure that OneDrive is not in any folder structure.
- This includes clicking on Windows (C:) and then your user folder which I named Plex-2. What I see here is This PC > WIndows (C:) > Users > Plex-2, which is good so far
- But within Plex-2, I do see OneDrive. That might be okay because in the end I can probably hide it, but not yet
- I did click on each folder starting with 3D Objects to make sure OneDrive isn't in their hierarchy
- Now plug in the ethernet cable
- Once you have ethernet, go into file explorer and click Network. Turn on Network discovery and click yes.
- At some point you want to go into Windows Update Settings Advanced so you can tell it to restart immediately when there are updates. But you don't want to do that if you are already downloading saved files, because you'll have to start over with the download, I think.
- For some reason in network, I can see Obi-wan but not Chidi.
- This might be the time to unminimize the ribbon in File Explorer
- Go into folder options and change Open File Explorer from "Quick Access" to "This PC." Also uncheck those privacy boxes. Click apply. Suddenly when I do that, I see chidi and obi-wan in the Computer section of Network. I dunno. Just do it.
- Now you will see that the Recovery partition (D:) is pretty full. Mine says 2.60 GB free of 22.9 GB. I guess that's okay. I left it alone
- Now might or might not be the time to download your files that were saved to Chidi or Obi-wan (they are both NAS devices and they both should have duplicates)
- I discovered I can go ahead and copy over all my PLEX-HOME Media folders from Chidi my NAS device before mapping it. Just click on network and look in the Computers section. Just click on CHidi --> Share in computers and copy from there. So I did that but could have done it after mapping instead. I copied all contents of Documents from Chidi to my Documents folder. I should see those documents in two places -- Documents under THis PC, and under users-->plex-2--> documents
- Now for the mapping, In This PC, upper right, you will see a downward facing carat. Click on that, and you will see the ribbon which includes the very important "Map network drive."
- Or at this time you can download Buffalo NasNavi. There's a way in that software to map a drive.
- Use "Map network drive" to map Chidi as L drive, and map Obi-wan as M drive.
- Change the taskbar settings so that it never combines taskbar buttons. That's just my preference.
- Now it's safe to make other preference changes and to install all needed programs. I guess I can hide or even delete the onedrive folder but it doesn't matter. I don't want to over-muck either. So I'm going to leave it for now.
This is more stuff I can do now or soon as I think of it:
- X I stop windows from rebooting until all my copying over is done from Chidi.
- X Go into task manager and see if I can accelerate this
- X Muck with taskbar settings and start menu
- X Go into power settings and say never for plugged in
Stuff to do later:
- Go into Windows update and change the setting to allow windows to do updates whenever it wants.
- Also allow Windows to reboot again after installing updates. To do this, go to Control Panel and select System and Security > System > Advanced system settings. In the Startup and Recovery section, choose Settings. Check the box next to Automatically restart.
- Now make sure windows is up to date
- Install Chrome now and sign into my Google account from Chrome
- On my Plex machines, I don't want everything synched. I can synch most but not all of my profile. Under Manage what you sync, I turned off settings and open tabs. This way, I get everything else including bookmarks
- Now I can go into Chrome settings-->On startup, and add pages manually.
- Set up Chrome Remote connection so I can move the laptop
- From now on I can sign into the extra laptop remotely using Chrome remote, and don't need it on my desk any more.
- Add wireless connection
- See if there's a windows.old. If so, find out how to delete it.
- Map the two NAS drives as Chidi L and Obi-wan M. To do this open This PC and in the upper right corner, click on the carat which opens a ribbon. Look for Map network drive.
- Alternatively, you can download and install the Buffalo NasNavi software, and do it from there.
- Set up plex
- Install and set up:
- 4K Video Downloader
- Argentum
- Buffalo NAS
- Do the NAS mapping
- Ccleaner
- Chrome
- Paint Shop Pro
- Maybe Epson, Firefox, Opera
- Plex
- Plex Media Server
- VLC player
- Amazon Photos app
- Quicken
- When Plex-2 is all set up, I want to completely redo PLEX-HOME by following the above instructions and call it Plex-1. But I want to use Plex-2 for a while first
- Fix power settings as desired
- Always keep hidden files on
- Turn on show filetypes
- Mick with system restore points settings
More Observations
- I think having an internet connection during the reset isn't what made the difference. What did make the difference is during setup, making sure to always say no to "signing in."
- If it takes more than a half hour for the percentage to budge, then do a hard reset and and a do-over
What Bard told me
While I cannot directly control OneDrive setup during the reset process, I can provide steps to prevent it after the reset is complete:
1. Disconnect from the internet:
- If possible, temporarily disconnect your internet connection before completing the reset process. This might minimize prompts for OneDrive setup.
2. Skip OneDrive setup during setup:
- When prompted to sign in with a Microsoft account, choose to create a local account instead. This will usually bypass OneDrive setup.
3. Unlink OneDrive after setup:
- If OneDrive does get set up, unlink it immediately:
- Right-click the OneDrive icon in the taskbar (cloud icon).
- Select "Settings."
- Go to the "Account" tab.
- Click "Unlink this PC."
4. Disable OneDrive startup:
- Prevent OneDrive from starting automatically:
- Press Windows + R, type "taskmgr," and press Enter.
- Go to the "Startup" tab.
- Find "Microsoft OneDrive" and click "Disable."
5. Uninstall OneDrive (optional):
- If you don't plan to use OneDrive at all, consider uninstalling it:
- Go to "Settings" > "Apps" > "Apps & features."
- Find "Microsoft OneDrive" and click "Uninstall."
Remember:
- Resetting to factory settings might restore OneDrive if it was originally included in your system.
- You can always reinstall OneDrive later if needed from the Microsoft Store.
Notes from this dude on Youtube:
- https://youtu.be/pIRNpDvGF4w?si=mXLsvr4Fclb-NK4y
- You don't need your MS account for OneDrive and you don't need it for Office 365, Edge, Skype
- You can use a local account for those things -- just log in when prompted
- You also don't need it for Microsoft Store. Not true. You can just log in when using the store.
- There's no up side to logging in to your Microsoft account in Windows. Instead, use a local account. Settings-->accounts--sign into a local account instead. Now create a new username. Now sign back in with your new username
- Turn off immediate restart after Windows updates. It's in advanced options. Uncheck "get me up to date."
- Always sign into chrome. But I can disallow some synching. See above
- Disable Windows Fast Startup. This will give you a fully fresh functional windows. Power, then choose power plan, then choose what the power button does. See greyed out. Click change settings that are currently unavailable. Uncheck "turn on fast startup."
- There are enabled Privacy and security settings you don't know. Settings, then privacy and security, then privacy, then uncheck any box you're uncomfortable with. turn off anything you don't want.
- Remove any unnecessary windows startup items. Right click on task bar, task manager, go to startup. right click stuff to disable.
- Turn on windows extensions so you can see them. Enable file extensions and show hidden files.
- System restore is disabled after windows updates. Enable it and create a restore point. To do that -- create, click configure, choose drive space, create a new restore point. Now in restore, you will see a new restore point.
