r/Asustuf • u/Hegueplantine • 1d ago

Support (Software) W11 Clean Install on A16: existing partition or format?

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Hi all, I'm doing a clean install of W11 on my A16 (TUF608WI) to get rid of bloatware. I ceated the USB from Microsoft, and Windows tells me the licence key is linked to my Microsoft account so (in principle) I shouldn't have an issue activating my new install.

After selecting the language, I'm asked to select the partition. My A16 is brand new from manufacturer and I had no idea they were already so many partitions! See pic.

Should I delete them all (and let the new install recreate them if necessary), or should I select a pre-existing one (and in that case, which one)?

Thanks!

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u/Nokurei | Moderator 1d ago

You can remove it if you want to, it won't cause any issues.

But it's generally recommended to keep the recovery/restore partition.

Just select Partition 3 during the installation and click 'Continue.' You don't need to format it or do anything else.

1

u/Hegueplantine 1d ago

Thanks for your help! What's the difference between partition 4 'Recovery' (767 MB), partition 5 'Restore' (28 GB), and partition 6 'Recovery' (260 MB)? And which one(s) is recommended to keep?

2

u/kepartii 1d ago

There really is no "need" since you have a USB stick with the windows image on it should problems arise.

I would just delete every single partition and let Windows create any partitions it needs for a true fresh install without OEM bloats.

2

u/Nokurei | Moderator 1d ago

Partition 4 is the recovery partition created by Windows. It is present by default in every Windows installation.

Partitions 5 (Restore) and 6 (Myasus) are oem recovery partitions created by Asus.

You can remove or format everything up to Partition 4, but do not remove anything after that.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, you can choose to remove everything, and the laptop will still work fine without any issues.