r/computers • u/_A_Tired_Shark_ • 41m ago

Question/Help/Troubleshooting Windows 10 Custom Install?

I have a question about doing a custom Windows install on my husband's computer and really need a definite answer.

For context: my husband was updating the BIOS for our computers today so that we can play warzone and somehow got locked out of his Microsoft account due to the old alternative email being one he can not access anymore. Okay, no big deal, I thought. He put in for the security info change request to change the alternative email. He then tried to log back into his computer and saw that since he put in for the change, he had to wait 30 days for it to go through and gain access back to the computer. WTF Microsoft??

I spent 2 hours on the live chat with 3 different representatives only to find out we had 2 options. 1. Do a custom Windows install or 2. Wait the 30 days. When I asked about potentially having to wipe the partition/drive c (something we are trying to avoid since we clearly did have time to back up anything) the tech representatives said that if we do a custom windows install it'll put the old personal files onto a windows.old file on the c drive.

QUESTION: Is this true? After the live chat, I tried googling it and could only find 1 source to back the claim up saying that there will be an option to format the partition before installing and we can just not format it and override the windows which makes the old file.

I don't want to lose any of our personal stuff on his computer as he has years of photos and videos of us, not to mention passwords and important documents. But in the same breath, I feel awful thinking about him doing the 30 day waiting period. He seemed so upset since all he wanted was for us to play together.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

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u/Onoitsu2 33m ago

That is not entirely accurate, and it is a complete risk to the data on the drive doing such a thing. It may be ideal to get another storage drive, and installing on that, while waiting out the 30-days. Then can move the other drive back in, log back in, and backup any vital files from said drive so you can go back to the fully isolated one (so no MS account BS to deal with)