Every couple years, it seems I have a need to install a fresh Windows operating system.  In the past, it’s been about refreshing.  The new Windows recovery option helps with that a bit.  However, recently I’ve purchased a new HP computer and it came installed with a bunch of their bloatware.  The recovery option does not get rid of the bloatware, so I need to reinstall Windows from scratch.

In short, do the following:

  1. Obtain an ISO of the Windows operating system.  For Developers, this typically comes from MSDN.
  2. Download Rufus, which can be found here: https://rufus.akeo.ie/
  3. Plugin in a USB drive and let Rufus convert the ISO into a format readable on boot.

More detail is here: http://microsoft-news.com/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-drive-for-windows-10/