windowscentral[.]com/how-do-clean-installation-windows-10
bleepingcomputer[.]com/news/microsoft/how-to-download-the-windows-10-1909-iso-from-microsoft/
I don’t *think* that the 1st link has anything new [that I haven’t already posted], but it’s got pictures. The 2nd link has a workaround to get a win10 ISO that you can add to a bootable USB stick, e.g. using the free Rufus, or burn to a DVD. I don’t know that there’s a clear advantage to grabbing the ISO without going through the Microsoft media creation or update assistant apps, but to me it seems maybe a bit less fuss.
I *think* most home users will be on win10 v. 1903 [Spring 2019 update], so the new 1909 version [Fall 2019 update] is just a quick cumulative update, especially if you installed the 2nd October update. If you’re running a win10 version prior to 1903 you’ll need to go the full Windows replacement / install route, and the next update, which is due to be complete in December 2019, will again require replacing the old version of Windows. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with installing a fresh copy of win10 – when you upgrade to a new version of win10 lots of garbage doesn’t get carried over, but some does, and starting fresh gives you a clean slate. And there are benefits to having more than one copy of Windows installed, from smaller backup archives to not needing a bootable USB stick to having an out if Windows breaks, and as long as you have ever had a copy of win10 activated on a device, any other copies will activate automatically, whether you’ve got one copy of win10 installed, or a dozen.
The upcoming version [20H1] is the one that I’m a bit concerned with, and since it’ll be complete next month, there’s no telling yet when Microsoft will start pushing it out [January, February, March?]. I don’t have anything really concrete to point to, but it’s been a nasty experience on a couple of VMs I have in the Insider Fast ring – I hadn’t kept them current, and it’s taken a few version upgrades before things started working correctly. Microsoft pushed an Insider build of 20H1 to the Slow ring, and that seems OK on this PC [rather than in a VM], so maybe [hopefully] there’s really nothing to worry about.
I *think* the easiest way to tell if a fresh or clean win10 install will work – that the install routine will be able to find critical, compatible drivers – is to use a Windows to Go drive. I like to use Windows 10 Enterprise because it will not activate, and so cannot count against the limited number of hardware changes you’re allowed before win10 deactivates, but that ISO is a bit harder to get ahold of [I normally use Insider ISOs, but Microsoft hasn’t been releasing those when a Windows 10 version is complete, so it’s going to be some preview version].
There are a few tools available to create a Win2Go drive – it’s not really that complicated, using the Windows DISM app to copy the win10 files in the Install.wim on the ISO to a removable [external] drive & adding the needed boot files [you can DIY manually if you like]. The tool in win10’s Control Panel is being abandoned by Microsoft, will only work with an Enterprise or EDU ISO, and may or may not work for you -- it didn’t work for me this time, but Rufus did, and Rufus doesn’t care which version of win10 you use. If you use a cheap [~$20 on sale] SSD in a cheap [~$5] USB housing, performance will be about the same as running win10 from an internal hard disk, but most USB drives & sticks can [& usually will] work if you don’t mind Slowwww. When you boot to a Win2Go drive for the 1st time on a device, it’s the same as if you’re mostly through a normal clean or fresh win10 installation – you’re at the step where it tries to find and install the needed drivers. So, if it works, and win10 starts, it should work if you install win10 fresh – if it doesn’t, there’s a good chance [though it’s not 100% proof] that installing win10 fresh won’t work for that device.
As with the Win2Go drives, any copy of win10 will try to adapt to different hardware -- if you have a working copy of win10, that copy will probably work on most devices that can run win10. You can do stuff like install win10 to a VM, restore an image backup of that copy to a Windows .vhd file [Virtual Hard Disk] or to a physical hard disk, and have the device boot to that copy of win10 – like the Win2Go drive it *should* find and install needed drivers. So an alternative to a Win2Go drive might be to create a .vhd in Windows [Control Panel -> Admin Tools -> Computer Management], attach [mount] it, restore an image backup of that VM to that new .vhd file, and then use the free EasyBCD to add that .vhd to Windows boot menu. When you start the device, you’ll see that boot menu, & when you choose the copy of Windows on that .vhd file, that copy of win10 should add the needed drivers and run.
Windows running from a .vhd file works just the same as on a physical hard drive, though it’s slower reading/writing to the VHD because of the extra software layer that makes the VHD work. But running win10 from a .vhd file has the advantage of not needing to add partitions to the physical hard drive, so you’d have a place to install that copy, nor do you need to get rid of an old copy of Windows to make room for it.
Notes: You shouldn’t worry too much about Windows 10 activation. It’ll run fine not activated, and if/when you get a copy running on a device that’s already had an activated copy of win10, it should activate automatically. If you want to take a copy of win10 that’s running on an external drive [Win2Go] or .vhd file and copy it [restore an image backup] to your hard drive it should work, but you’ll probably want to edit the registry. You must delete the following value or else that copy will not update to the next version of win10.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"PortableOperatingSystem"=dword:00000001