Clean install of Windows

" Dell refuses to supply the machines without trial versions of Office 365"

This is not DELL.  Microsoft has permanently bundled the trial version of office into the windows 10 media.

There is support for installing 1909 clean without updating.

This support is not free.

Neither Dell Nor microsoft support imaging.

Enterprise LTS verisions do not have office or cortana or other spyware nonsense bundled in.

1809 is available in OEM system builder DVD.

1903 and later would have to be burned on dual layer DVD and F12 booted from usb 2  optical drive.

19XX versions of the OEM system builder dvd are not out yet.

I always check with my local vendor and buy a copy when it comes out.

You only need HOME dvd because the home and pro disk are one and the same.

Not sure what version they sell here

https://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9B-32-350-238

I use this drive because I also want cyberlogic power dvd which is removed from most all machines now

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-8x-external-usb-2-0-blu-ray-disc-double-layer-dvdrw-cd-rw-disc-rewriter-black/9243009.p?skuId=9243009

Thanks, but that doesn't really address the point. The standard W10 media as generated from the Microsoft tool does not include Office (there's a shortcut to it, but it doesn't come with it installed). The Dell machines have it actually installed on the most recent ones, and it is Dell who put it there- I specifically asked and they said they could no longer supply machines without it as they now had a deal with Microsoft which obliges them to.

As regards installing 1909 clean, yes I can do it but only with Microsoft media, and that then gives trouble with SupportAssist. The latest OEM media available from Dell is 1809 (that information is from Dell support).

Generic OEM system builder DVDs are not relevant - what I am talking here is Dell OEM installation media, which is customised for their machines.

Thanks

The standard W10 media as generated from the Microsoft tool does not include Office (there's a shortcut to it, but it doesn't come with it installed).(This is not correct)  Office is bundled into Retail and the ISO from the tool.  Only Enterprise and LTS versions do not have one note and other office components pre bundled in.

Generic OEM disks are absolutely relevant.  If you want to use non OEM media you have to pay for support from microsoft which is also not free.

 System CABs for Venue, XPS, Latitude, Optiplex, and Precision Workstations - are designed for deployment to a single model and are developed and supported by Dell.

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln312414/dell-command-deploy-driver-packs-for-enterprise-client-os-deployment?lang=en

OEM Media has office pre installed.

Its the trial version that activates if you have a key otherwise it dies after the trial period.

Only LTS and Enterprise versions of windows Do not come with office bundled in.

There is support for what you are asking for.

Said support is not free.

Dell Technologies Onsite Systems Engineer requires annual contract which is quite expensive.

https://www.dellemc.com/en-us/services/support-deployment-technologies/image-assist.htm#

David:

well there  you have it, you answered your own questions.(no)

DELL IS NOT MS, and the reverse,,  ( but dell does send drivers to MS for MS WHQL certs)

Dell does get the OEM version from MS,  and at a huge discount, ~$20?  and then DELL must support it and all the bloatware and good ware, all that, or MS will not let dell buy this OEM OS, it is a contract, you will never see, or read.

and the bundling off trial office, one can only imagine the price of OEM (DELL PAYS  PER PC) is lower with that bundling deal.( maybe 5 bucks less per PC) IDK but you do know it is not there for funs and giggles and pain.

This OFFICE is , nag, crippleware,  forced on the, buyer( gee all PCs do that, new right?) nothing new under that sun.

learn this, remove office this way. ( ON SALE NOW)

use REVO Uninstaller. v4.2.1 up, $10 black friday, NOW, then at end of office removal,tell   it on the last page.

to get the registry clean and all other files related,,  using this for years.  and is the best program on earth to own.

the new REVO forced uninstall works too,  in REVO click search and office,  (BINGO) removing OFFICE can be hard.

but REVO is my gorilla friend, and works like nothing else on earth , learn that, try that, and WIN

run dell OS, and learn how to uninstall , things, even MS has cures at MS dot com.... read those too. on office.

or learn how to get buggy support assistant on , retail w10, ISO.  good luck there,  doing that wrong,,,, and IS.

your license is with DELL not MS.

not one MS w10 ISO distro retail ,of mine has any form of office loaded, part , whole or crippleware.

I do not use DELL OEM OS here of any kind, so know this well.

1909 not tried

but 1903,  there is no office installed at all  with MS ISO, zero, nada, but but I dont use live login nor MS CLOUD. the installer never asks you about office, if no live account.  (ok)

the programs and windows feature are DEVOID of OFFICE

but if you type office in the start search box there is the tiny link to OFFICE pops up, to MS dot com.

that is it, and nothing else is there, just this very deep hidden web link, when searched. (just tested this on an virgin w10 load to dell 790)  retail, w10-64bit, 1903, fresh. no office there period.

Hi,

Why not just reset the PC as received from Dell (Start  > Settings  > Update & Security  > Recovery >  Reset this PC)  and choose to 'Remove Everything' - you will then have a vanilla Windows 10 install with the correct drivers etc..

"not one MS w10 ISO distro retail ,of mine has any form of office loaded"

I agree - but another poster seems to insist that the MS media does (which is not the case).

Dell used to allow business customers to specify no crapware on business-grade machines (i.e. Optiplex/Latitude/Precision), but no longer it seems. It usually meant a slightly longer delivery time, which was fine as it meant that I got what I wanted.

Must admit that I'm somewhat surprised that people here are defending Dell. These are supposed to be standard Windows machines, so ought to be expected to run the 'vanilla' release of W10 plus relevant drivers without issues - and in the past this has always been the case with Dell machines. I've got Optiplexes back as old as 790s, and everything is running W10 with nearly all of them installed using 'vanilla' MS media. Never had any issues until very recently.

If Dell are going to insist on use of their own OEM media only, they ought to be providing the ability to create USB installers for the past several versions. Only providing one from two versions ago is really not acceptable, and bad customer service.

Dell has to follow the rules that Microsoft sets.

https://devicepartner.microsoft.com/en-us/assets#/

Dell ONLY supports the OEM version.

Microsoft ONLY supports the RETAIL or ENTERPRISE version and ONLY when you buy directly from them.

Same for Dell.

There is support for this its not free.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/system-builder-deployment-of-windows-10-for-desktop-editions

Hi @powerpodge,

"(Start  > Settings  > Update & Security  > Recovery >  Reset this PC)  and choose to 'Remove Everything' - you will then have a vanilla Windows 10 install with the correct drivers etc."

I take it that would also remove any unwanted downloaded .net framework?

I don't know how old it is, but Photo Explosion 4.0 wanted 2.0 & 3.5 .net framework installed which caused a couple of errors on my Win10 PC.  Photo Explosion is uninstalled.  I didn't have a recovery point entered in.

I'm not asking for "support" - I just want it to work and install the drivers correctly. Not a big ask. And as I've said several times, this is a new problem and previously it didn't matter - retail, OEM, volume license, etc; It all just worked. That's always been the advantage of generic PCs and if manufacturers start moving away from that and making it so that only their customised versions of Windows will work then it's probably time to move away from that manufacturer. Especially so when the most recent version of their customised media is a year out of date.

Anyway, clearly I'm wasting my time asking here for workarounds as we just seem to be getting shouted down by fanboy-like postings trying to justify the unreasonable and SHOUTING IN CAPITALS that you can ONLY do what Dell officially supports.

I hear you.  Not sure what new Optiplex model you have.

I agree w/ you that Win 10 1903-1909 clean install is a breeze on old Dell models.  I have had Optiplex 790 Core i5/i7 and 780,760,755,745 MT DT SFF Core 2 and Latitude laptop E6330,E6430S Core i5/i7.  Never had BSOD issue.

When manually install Win 10 1909, I choose No when prompted for Office 365 trial.

The Optiplexes in this case are 5070s.

I did eventually find a solution - clean install using the latest Microsoft media, then Command Update, firstly its option to install the full driver pack, then check for any updates since then. Seems to work without any issues.

So the problem is caused by Support Assist. Given that apart from driver updates this is of no use anyway, I'm no longer bothering to install it as Command Update does the drivers just as well - it's not clear why there are two competing utilities for this.

Microsoft ISO files for Windows 10 1809, 1903, 1909 are bigger than 4GB in total and also contain an install.wim with a size of more than 4 GB. This does not allow creating USB stick with FAT32.

Older systems do not boot from NTFS or EXFAT so a usb installer is not an option.  You have to burn the DVD to DUAL LAYER Disk.

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln313422/windows-10-iso-contains-wim-file-that-is-big-for-fat32-file-system?lang=en

Hi @davidinyork,

From what I read on the Dell site, Support Assist is supposed to be newer and more comprehensive than Command Update.  Though I've used it with success myself, for some reason, Support Assist doesn't work out for everybody.

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@davidinyork wrote:

The Optiplexes in this case are 5070s.

I did eventually find a solution - clean install using the latest Microsoft media, then Command Update, firstly its option to install the full driver pack, then check for any updates since then. Seems to work without any issues.

So the problem is caused by Support Assist. Given that apart from driver updates this is of no use anyway, I'm no longer bothering to install it as Command Update does the drivers just as well - it's not clear why there are two competing utilities for this.

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Good. Yes, that sounds like a more suitable procedure.

I think it has always been an issue. Even on the Optiplexes, Dell still installs their little apps and even stuff like Intel-RST (which is not needed).

But the fix is easy ... you just format it away and clean-install the Microsoft (non OEM modified) Windows ISO,or other ISO provided to you by Microsoft as part of your licensing.

It's not my primary field now-days, but what I don't understand is why Technicians and Admins like to install Dell Command. AFAIK, all those drivers posted on the Dell FTP server are just to get the machine running.

We usually just run the drivers provided by Microsoft. They should be fine for office use. The Optiplex hardware (and it's drivers) are very "standard". BIOS updates we do manually (once a year or so).

There are exception, but it is basically ... just Windows Update doing it's thing .

We are seeing a lot of small businesses running without on-premise Servers, or really even an IT-staff. The office machines are running Peer-to-Peer (no Domain Server) and all the heavy-lifting has been moved to the cloud (off-site).

Did you ever find a solution to this?