Looking at 1.1.9.9 a little closer, it definitely allows you to sync from 0. (We might have had a bug in 1198 that we didnt even know of).
Please try with the latest windows client.
I don't know how to compile Windows binary so I rely on biblepay.org/wallet
I tried with Ubuntu WSL to make exe binary, but couldn't figure it out.
So, I'm using 1198.