My workflow for reinstalling Windows is cumbersome. It includes things from extracting the key from the old installation, to the actual installation process, which involves popping in the relevant Windows installer DVD, waiting a few minutes for it to load, selecting initial settings, waiting while they apply, entering more settings, waiting for it to apply, entering user settings, and finally more waiting. It's not over, Windows update has to run for all updates through the years, rebooting 4 or 5 times until it's complete.
Reinstalling Windows is an all-day task, and requires me "babysitting" the system for much of the time.
I can't imagine computer repair companies that have maybe 4 or 5 machines come through a day sit through this mess. How do "the big boys" do it? How do computer repair companies efficiently reinstall Windows?
Best Answer
Well, doing a factory reinstall would give you a clue - there's a fair bit of background work. They essentially set up an unattended install script that'll install software on a fresh install, do initial setup and so on. You might also use post install scripts to run installations and setup user preferences.
For modern versions of windows, this would require the use of WAIK and building a reference installation. You might also have a script that installs software - there's a page on sourceforge that's an excellent resource on the switches for various installers.
However for us lesser mortals, who only do the rare installation...
Organisation is everything. I have a backed up folder with keys for a system. I have media (and download what I need directly off MS). I use rufus to build boot USBs (USB installs are faster)
I tend to do a fresh install, then get things updated with wsus offline update - I maintain a set of updates for the OSes I use directory so I don't need to download these each time.
Install software as far as possible in an automated fashion - I favour ninite but oneget or chocolaty is a better option. This ensures that I have the latest version, and is easier than wrangling everything manually.
In some cases I have folders with copies of my user settings. Hexchat for example has customization that date back decades and 3-4 different xchat forks for me, and I just copy these over.
I build it, make a 'gold' image, and use that when I need to reinstall by restoring that setup. Unlike a linux box, I do need to pull in software from multiple places at the moment, and this speeds things up, even when ninite covers most of my basics.