Solved Clean Install of Win7 - Wipe Hard Drive Clean

[MissSherlock]

Hi Folks,

I just did a clean install of Win7 and must have done something wrong. I found a file called Windows.old.

I would like to wipe my hard drive completely clean and then install a fresh copy of Windows 7 Home Premium.

How do I accomplish this task? It's a good time to start over because I'm just at the stage of adding the security software. Already did the drivers but don't mind doing those over again.

I have a Dell 5150, Pentium D820, Dual Core 2.8 GHz with 3 GBs memory.

Many thanks,

ms

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Do you a regular Windows 7 installation disk, with Product Key?

If so, boot from that disk by setting your DVD drive as the first boot device in the BIOS or by choosing the DVD drive from a menu. Do you know how to do that?

Midway in the installation process you will come to a screen that asks where you want to install Windows. Look for "drive options, advanced" or something very close to that. Take that choice.

At the next screen, all of your partitions will be shown. Delete them all.

That will leave you with nothing but "unallocated space".

When you install to the unallocated space, it will be automatically formatted by Windows and you should end up with a very small "System Reserved" partition and a large C partition covering the rest of the drive.

Back up your data before beginning.

Windows.old is your old installation. If you proceed as above, you won't get it.

With 3 GB of RAM, you should probably go with 32-bit.

 

[MissSherlock]

Hi ignatsatsonic,

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I have a Windows 7 Disk with Product Key.

Look for "drive options, advanced" or something very close to that. Take that choice.

At the next screen, all of your partitions will be shown. Delete them all.

This is probably the spot where I screwed up! I remember seeing two partitions. However, I don't remember seeing the "Advanced" portion. Maybe I missed it.

By chance would you or someone else have a screenshot.

Thanks, ms

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Look here for a tutorial:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

Here is where it is:

 

[MissSherlock]

Hi ignatzatsonic,

That's the spot. I didn't use the "Drive options/advanced" and delete the partitions. I'll be starting all over again.

Many many thanks,

ms

Successful installation. Now my system is much lighter and cleaner.