Am I Supposed To Delete Other Drive Partitions During Windows 10 Install?

[Kjennings92]

I have to reinstall Windows 10. (It was due to a post-infection related issue.) But there's always 1 thing during the installation process that throws me off: Am I supposed to delete the other drive partitions that show during the installation process? FYI- my system only has a single Samsung 970 Evo 2 TB & I currently have my Windows 10 USB installer plugged in, but here's what I'm seeing in the Windows Setup box:

 

Drive 0 Partition 1: Recovery Total Size: 529 MB Free Space: 98 MB Type: Recovery

 

Drive 0 Partition 2 Total Space: 100 MB Free Space: 69 MB Type: System

 

Drive 0 Unallocated Space Total Size: 15 MB Free Space: 15 MB 

 

Drive 0 Partition 3 Total Size: 1676.1 GB Free space: 1526.8 GB Type: Primary 

 

Drive 0 Partition 4 Total Size: 16 MB Free Space: 16 MB Type: MSR (Reserved)

 

Drive 0 Unallocated Space Total Size: 186.3 GB Free Space: 186.3 GB

 

 

So, given that that's what I'm seeing ATM, am I supposed to delete some of these other partitions & if so, which ones? Also, sinc I'm reinstalling Windows anyway, it will also automatically delete my previous install, right?

 

Hope someone helpful will answer back to help! If you need any other details or have questions ask & I'll answer back.  Thanks in advance!

Edited October 9, 2020 by Kjennings92

[Trik'Stari]

Normally, I use a boot USB (linux usually) and wipe the drive entirely, then reinstall.

 

During installation you will have to create a new partition on the blank drive.

 

I always avoid installing with more than a single drive connected, because Windows likes to put important stuff onto different drives that if removed will break your installation because M$ is a bunch of idiots about some things.

[Master Disaster]

Yes, delete all partitions then click next and Windows will auto partition the drive for you.

[Godlygamer23]

If you only have a single partition, and you intend to do a complete reinstall of Windows, then I would think it's a good idea to remove all existing partitions and create a new one. Windows will automatically take care of creating the other partitions. If you have a secondary partition on top of the primary ones, then no you would only remove any that are NOT the secondary one. 

 

Hopefully this makes sense. If it doesn't, lemme know. 

[Kjennings92]

I should mention that what I typed in is showing up exactly as is. also forgot to say that the biggest 1 was already selected by default. But do I delete the others or not bother? Someone please clarify for me... 

[Godlygamer23]

1 minute ago, Kjennings92 said:

I should mention that what I typed in is showing up exactly as is. also forgot to say that the biggest 1 was already selected by default. But do I delete the others or not bother? Someone please clarify for me... 

In the vain of having a completely fresh install of Windows, I'd advise you to remove the other partitions. I don't personally know how Windows handles existing partitions like that, but considering it can mess up other stuff, I would remove the other partitions. 

 

Again, this is assuming you don't have other hard drives, or secondary partitions present on the boot drive. If you do, then you need to pick and choose what to delete. 

[Kjennings92]

1 minute ago, Godlygamer23 said:

In the vain of having a completely fresh install of Windows, I'd advise you to remove the other partitions. I don't personally know how Windows handles existing partitions like that, but considering it can mess up other stuff, I would remove the other partitions. 

 

Again, this is assuming you don't have other hard drives, or secondary partitions present on the boot drive. If you do, then you need to pick and choose what to delete. 

Well, I didn't happen to notice if my old install had any partitions or not; it was just a normal Windows 10 install when I did it. So you recommend just leaving the biggest partition selected & just delete the others, is that correct?

[Godlygamer23]

1 minute ago, Kjennings92 said:

Well, I didn't happen to notice if my old install had any partitions or not; it was just a normal Windows 10 install when I did it. So you recommend just leaving the biggest partition selected & just delete the others, is that correct?

Assuming that you have no data you want to get off there first, delete all partitions on the drive until you only have Unallocated Space. Then create a new partition on the drive and install Windows to that partition. Any required partitions will be automatically created when you create the new partition.

[Kjennings92]

1 minute ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Assuming that you have no data you want to get off there first, delete all partitions on the drive until you only have Unallocated Space. Then create a new partition on the drive and install Windows to that partition. Any required partitions will be automatically created when you create the new partition.

OK. I'll just give that a shot & it should work. Thanks!

[Kjennings92]

1 other thing I just thought of: since the system drive is 2TB, how big should the new partition be?

[Godlygamer23]

5 minutes ago, Kjennings92 said:

1 other thing I just thought of: since the system drive is 2TB, how big should the new partition be?

The default value. Windows will do the rest. 

[Kjennings92]

1 minute ago, Godlygamer23 said:

The default value. Windows will do the rest. 

OK then. Thanks a bunch!

[Godlygamer23]

8 minutes ago, Kjennings92 said:

OK then. Thanks a bunch!

After you get everything set up, if you want to change the partitioning later, you certainly can. 

 

It just makes simpler now so Windows doesn't potentially do goofy things. Perhaps I'm being too paranoid though. 

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Windows

[Master Disaster]

13 hours ago, Kjennings92 said:

OK. I'll just give that a shot & it should work. Thanks!

For future reference you can actually skip a step. Delete all existing partitions so all you see is unallocated space then just click next, Windows will handle creating all your partitions for you automatically, you don't need to create anything yourself.

[zombiepixel]

stop being a commoner and use linux like a real man

[Kjennings92]

7 hours ago, zombiepixel said:

stop being a commoner and use linux like a real man

That did occur to me, but I'm just so much more familiar/used to Windows! Lol

[Kjennings92]

UPDATE:  Was told just today by a Microsoft agent that I need to reinstall Windows 10 with the latest ISO in order to reach version 2004. Since I haven't received it via WIndows Update yet which I found rather weird. But I thought you were able to update/upgrade to a newer version via Windows Update? Is MS for some strange reason(s) just not allowing it anymore? 

[KnightSirius]

3 hours ago, Kjennings92 said:

UPDATE:  Was told just today by a Microsoft agent -snip-

Ah a good lesson, don't listen to these "Microsoft Agents", I'm assuming this was through the MS forum. They always provide the most useless canned responses. MS has the Windows 10 Update Assistant which will allow you to update to the latest available version. Simply download, run it, and follow the instructions it'll do the rest.

[zombiepixel]

On 10/10/2020 at 9:36 PM, Kjennings92 said:

That did occur to me, but I'm just so much more familiar/used to Windows! Lol

i was just like you, but start with linux mint. eventually you get use to using the terminal and slowly you will start to think linux is better

[Kjennings92]

13 minutes ago, zombiepixel said:

i was just like you, but start with linux mint. eventually you get use to using the terminal and slowly you will start to think linux is better

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think Linux Mint is for me. If I ever do choose to switch to Linux sometime in the future, I'd probably lean either toward Deepin or Manjaro as those are my top choices.