How to wipe out everything on computer for reinstallation of Windows 7

scrooge said:

he may still be able to use f10 at the install startup screen and do diskpart to clean the drive no ?

scrooge

Sure, but what kind of an install will he end up with, using this disk that we cannot be sure about?

Okay here the screenshot.

okay guys... what should i do now? I posted the screenshot.. though i don't see how that helps b/c its literally the same thing as i typed earlier??

dynamite140 said:

I have a dell desktop and i have the windows 7 reinstallation CD. The few times i have reinstalled it, i just place the CD in and reinstalled it. However... each time i do this, i go check my C drive and i thing see everything wasn't deleted.

Well i just reinstalled windows and i see 388GB free of 451GB.

Can someone teach me how to completely delete everything so my computer would be like brand new?

That screenshot is about what I expected.

Above are quotes from your original post.

It implies to me that your Dell "Windows" disk, even if you "delete all partitions", will ultimately result in a 3 partition installation, like you have now.

I doubt if you can do a "custom install" in the same sense that someone with a retail Windows disk could do. You'll still end up with what Dell wants you to have.

A better move might be to "clean up" your existing install---I'm assuming your existing install works fine.

Or consider downloading an ISO and installing it as I mentioned above, if you can confirm from others that it could be activated with your Dell product key----if you have one.

Before going any further you could download 'virtualbox' & see if you can load the disc into there. That way you will see what exactly is going to happen. That's if you can do that with a dell disc.

How do i clean up then?

I do not think i have a dell product key. I don't see any 25 digit thing. All i see is 20 letters/digits.


This was the Reinstallation cd Dell sent me after i requested for it. So i assume this isn't a retail version.

So are you saying at that page with the partition, there is really nothing i could have done as in deleting partition?

I'm very confused at this moment.

dynamite140 said:

okay guys... what should i do now? I posted the screenshot.. though i don't see how that helps b/c its literally the same thing as i typed earlier??

Because those discs are from Dell, I don't think you are going to get any different setup than you have now.

OEM discs like that will usually just set it back up like it was before.

Can you confirm if you do or don't have a Windows.old folder?

Windows.old Folder - Delete

It does seem like a lot of space being used for a clean install.

You can begin by typing disk cleanup into the start box and follow the prompts. It may find a lot of stuff to delete.


Dell disks may not have a 25 character product key. I don't know. Dell does strange things.