Clean Install with Windows 7 Upgrade disc.

Ideal Cheers for that

Adapt these steps for Reinstalling Windows 7 to get a perfect install.

If there is any Windows on the HD then when you boot the DVD Win7 installer will see it and allow use of upgrade key upfront - even if you go on to delete all partitions, create and format new ones. If not then after install do the quick registry edit given in the tutorial Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version.

Or you can just delete all partitions and start the install and it will format partitions for you.

If you have a data partition you cannot back up externally first and need to protect, then just make sure you identify it by size and don't touch it during install.

gregrocker said:

Adapt these steps for Reinstalling Windows 7 to get a perfect install.

If there is any Windows on the HD then when you boot the DVD Win7 installer will see it and allow use of upgrade key upfront - even if you go on to delete all partitions, create and format new ones. If not then after install do the quick registry edit given in the tutorial Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version.

Or you can just delete all partitions and start the install and it will format partitions for you.

If you have a data partition you cannot back up externally first and need to protect, then just make sure you identify it by size and don't touch it during install.

With the clean install link I'm assuming I just need to follow option 2?

Or you can boot the DVD if you need to repartition at all.

Can you back up your files externally or do you need to protect them in a separate partition on the same HD during install as this is a risky option for files you cannot afford to lose. And you can NEVER count on windows.old folder as a backup method.

I back it up externally

Basically I bought the PC with Vista and the W7 upgrade option. The Partition must have been what the manufacturer had put on with Vista. However now I have upgraded to W7 I don't really need the partition and want the space back

I started the install earlier but backed out because I couldn't delete the partition. I ended up going to "diskpart" "list drives" "List partition" then deleted it that way.

I tried to go through the installation again but for all the partition has gone that space isn't showing. Before I go any further I want to find out how I reclaim that space. Will the clean install of W7 reclaim it or will I have to format the whole drive first?

Cheers

Jacka

Yes that's exactly what I want to do. Just one nice a clean drive, then I'll make a image backup DVD.

So if I start the installation of W7 at what point do I press f10 to go back and wipe the drive? Will I need to wipe it too?

Jacka said:

So if I start the installation of W7 at what point do I press f10 to go back and wipe the drive? Will I need to wipe it too?

Correction: the command is shift F10, not F10.


Early in the install---when you are asked to choose a language. Shift F10 at that point will drop you into diskpart.

You will need to use the "clean" command to wipe ALL partitions.

There is also a "clean all" command, which writes zeroes to the drive, but I would not think you need to do that in your situation. "Clean" should suffice.

Here is a sequence of commands that should work--it will format the single partition also. Note that you omit the portion about 80000 if you just want one partition for the entire drive. When you exit out of diskpart, you are dropped back into the Windows install.

list disk (to show the ID number of the hard disk to partition, normally Disk 0)

select disk 0 (change 0 to another number if applicable)

clean (this does not write zeroes to drive; use clean all to write zeroes)

create partition primary size=80000 (create a partition with 80 GB space; to use the entire disk as one partition, omit the “size=value” parameter switch; use a similar command to create more partitions if needed or create in Windows 7 after installation)

select partition 1

active

format fs=ntfs quick

exit

That's great stuff. Thanks for that! I definitely just want to get rid of all partitions.

One thing I'm confused about is the size (80000). At the moment I have deleted the partition that was 36gb so that's floating around somewhere. The other 892gb is my main drive that shows in the custom setup of W7. Does this mean when you talk about portion I need to input 928000?

Thanks again

Jacka

Jacka said:

That's great stuff. Thanks for that! I definitely just want to get rid of all partitions.

One thing I'm confused about is the size (80000). At the moment I have deleted the partition that was 36gb so that's floating around somewhere. The other 892gb is my main drive that shows in the custom setup of W7. Does this mean when you talk about portion I need to input 928000?

Thanks again

Jacka

I assume you want 1 partition covering the ENTIRE drive, not an 80 gig partition covering only part of the drive.

You MUST have at least one partition.

If that is correct, the command is "create partition primary".

If, on the other hand, you DO want an 80 gig C drive, the command would be "create partition primary size=80000".

DON"T input ANY numbers if you want 1 single partition covering the ENTIRE drive.