Want to Clean Install Windows 8.1? Read This First

Today, Microsoft released Windows 8.1 to the general public, and many early adopters are running to be the first to get the free update that adds new features, fixes usability issues, and generally makes Windows 8 more pleasurable to use. I’ve been running the preview for months, and the final release for the last week. Unless you’re likely to have driver issues, I can wholeheartedly recommend going ahead and letting the Windows Store update.

That is, if all you want to do is install the update.

If you go to the Windows Store today, you should get a notice asking you if you want to install the update. By all means, go for it. If you installed the Windows 8.1 Preview, or if you don’t see the notice, click this link to force the update. If you’re like many tech-savvy people and your instinct is to clean install any operating system rather than run the upgrade process, you’re completely out of luck.

Microsoft has decided that the only way for those with Windows 8 product keys to install Windows 8.1 is by first having Windows 8 on their device, and then updating to Windows 8.1. Even though Microsoft can let you install Windows 8.1 clean (in fact, you can buy it on store shelves or download an ISO), the clean install versions only use brand new Windows 8.1 product keys and won’t install with Windows 8 product keys. This, even though Windows 8 entitles you to a free update to Windows 8.1, you just can’t do. If you want to go that route? Microsoft says you can go buy a copy of Windows 8.1 for $120-$200, even though you already own the rights to run Windows 8.1.

Why would you want to clean install Windows 8.1?  Here are the benefits:

• Windows builds up cruft over time. Every Windows update adds more. Every program installed and uninstalled adds more. Windows swells with every breath it takes, becoming bloated and overgrown. Clean installing means you get to start from scratch, and your PC is usually faster for the effort.
• Things go wrong. With every update, the chance of a corrupted operating system file or a bad system configuration grows. A full on version update like Windows 8.1 has millions of new lines of code. Bolting 8.1 on top of 8 is asking for something to go wrong. Installing 8.1 clean guarantees that the code you’re running is Windows 8.1 code, not some mistake holding over from Windows 8.
• You got a new hard drive. If you’re clean installing Windows on a new hard drive or a new PC (as is your right more often than you think), you don’t want to install Windows 8, taking an hour or more to do so, and then install Windows 8.1, taking another hour or so. A straight up install of Windows 8.1 is considerably faster. On a clean PC, installing Windows 8 first brings no benefits.

So, even though Microsoft knows that plenty of people prefer to do it this way and the company has the technical structure to support letting Windows 8 product keys activate Windows 8.1 or could’ve used Windows 8 product keys for Windows 8.1, it didn’t. In the case of Windows 8 users who have to reinstall Windows, at any time, Microsoft has deliberately and pointlessly doubled the install time for those users and has likely greatly aggravated every future user who has to clean install Windows.

Microsoft needs to fix this. Windows 8.1 is ten and a half hours live, so there’s no rush, especially because the worst case scenario, users who have no choice but to clean install Windows, is less likely to pop up in the first few months. If Microsoft doesn’t fix this, then this issue is going to annoy users for years to come, hitting Microsoft with random support calls and complaints from users who don’t understand why, if they paid for Windows, it won’t activate. The first rule of DRM is: If you’re making life harder for legitimate customers than for pirates, you’re doing it wrong.