Dell XPS 9550 Clean install guide + custom ISO download.

(Updated 1st post 28/May/2016)
Please download well in advance as MEGA is a bit ****e for download speeds for most people.

My ISO's have been used a few times now so I thought it time to open a thread dedicated to doing a clean install of the XPS9550.

The main reasons.

1. To do away with the Dell bloatware (Probably the same as a Microsoft signature edition install)
2. Be able to install in Raid or AHCI modes without additional drivers (I suggest AHCI for SSD only installs, Raid is designed to work with cache drives in this case and I have not included the Intel RST suite but download it >here< I opted not to use the Samsung NVMe driver when I had my 950 pro as I found a bug that caused a 30+ second reboot delay, Samsungs official response through my engineers portal (I was a laptop engineer for Toshiba & Samsung) was to use the windows driver for now!
3. Install needed drivers to get you online before hitting the desktop to give the option of setting up a local or Microsoft account instead of having to start with a local profile then install WiFi drivers to get online then change to an online account. (also to be plain lazy)
4. Less chance of BSOD! (It's windows after all)

The current ISO is based on the Windows 10 1511 May refresh. This is the English & US versions. More language packs can be downloaded once you have it installed.
(go to settings > time & language > Region and language then add a pack click the installed pack, go to options and set as default.)

Drivers that will self install are mainly taken from Dell's website apart from Intel and Nvidia graphics.

Drivers built into the image that will preinstall are as follows & up to date as of 28th May 2016

• 1830 WiFi
• AC8260 WiFi
• Card Reader
• HID event filter driver
• ST Motion Driver
• Nvidia 368.22 (This older driver doesn't give random BSOD inc Photoshop BSOD bug)
• Intel Hd 530 Beta 15.40.23.64.4444
• Intel Raid v14.10.0.1016
• Intel Serial IO Driver
• Intel Thermals
• Thunderbolt

For the Dell Dock

• Audio
• USB3

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Once the install is complete it will run the post install script and install all the exe based drivers/software.
(this takes up to 10 minutes on the please wait screen & it can go to a black screen for a few minutes as well depending if you have logged into a wireless network!
Expect a reboot or 3 during this time)

Nvidia is a driver only install as it caused a BSOD trying to automate the installer, run the installer if you want the taskbar icon and GeForce experience. http://ift.tt/25M1Ety
I installed the UK version on both ISO's as I forgot to use international english on the US one but it doesn't matter, things are spelt in the queen's English )

Audio
Bluetooth
Chipset
Intel Management Engine
Premier Colour

If you don't want premier colour you can uninstall it but as the majority have 4k screens I added it to the install script.

Also added OEM info to the system page, sorry about the Dell logo, no way to make it bigger on a 4k screen as it is scaled to 150x150 pixels

UK download link

US download link

To make the ISO a bootable USB install you need to use Rufus >Download Site< Grab the latest version (2.8 as of today)

Find a USB stick, USB3 is best, faster the better for obvious reasons and backup anything on it you need as it will be formatted. Plug it in (rather important you do)

Load Rufus and look where is says "create bootable disk using" to the right of that click the disk icon and choose my ISO.

Make sure everything apart from the device at the top matches the pic below and cluster size should be left at whatever default it picks. It needs to be FAT32, if you use a USB stick over 32gb it will show as "Large FAT32", either way it needs to have fat32 in the box not NTFS or exFAT, this is to ensure it is recognised as a EFI compliant install media.

If you can't see it you may have secure boot off and Legacy boot enabled, failing that reset to BIOS defaults as 1 out of the 4 9550's I have had refused to see the USB until I did BIOS defaults.

Click start, press OK on the data will be destroyed popup and watch it do it's thing for a few minutes. When it's done close Rufus, the USB sticks now ready.

If you have not messed about in the BIOS then your laptops setup for "Secure boot" & "Legacy mode off"

We want this as it is how it came from the factory.

If you have messed about then set the BIOS back to the above.

When you are ready to wipe your hard drive or install your new shiney SSD (install the SSD) shut down the laptop and when ready power on. Once you see the Dell logo press F12 a couple of times and wait for microscopic writing to appear in the top right of the screen (for us 4k users, 1080p users will be able to read it without leaving a nose print on the screen)

The following screen should now have a couple of boot options, Windows boot managers going to be the existing install.

My USB sticks the Sandisk in this case

Clicking on the USB stick should result in it loading windows setup, when prompted click custom install.
Figure out what drive is the one you want to install windows and and proceed to delete all the partitions until you are left with a single unpartitioned drive, click on it and hit next and windows will install.

Did it work?

YES, thank me, click like and give rep points to boost my 41 year old ego.
NO, repeat the steps and post them here so one of us can figure out if it's your fault or mine ( it will be yours )

Once you have a fresh Windows installed and working take a backup with something like Macrium reflect free. It will even do incremental backups so a daily backup can take under a minute once you have the 1st one out the way.

Did I miss anything? feel free to tell me and I will edit this post.
Did I get anything wrong, correct me and I will edit this post

Please don't send me private messages about this, I am not your personal IT technician, keep it public as an answer here may help others, and it is a bit cheeky to expect a 1 to 1 troubleshooting session .

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Dell XPS 9550 Clean install guide + custom ISO download.