removing os

g0ated · December 31, 2022

I would like to know how I can wipe my pc and all its partions as if it had nothing installed on it when it was built thanks in advance

SleepDeprivationTheITGuy · December 31, 2022

Windows/Linux install USB, wipe all drives from there, reinstall your OS of choice using the aforementioned install USB.

BlueChinchillaEatingDorito · December 31, 2022

1 hour ago, swabro said:

I would like to know how I can wipe my pc and all its partions as if it had nothing installed on it when it was built thanks in advance

Boot into a Windows install media, open the command prompt by pressing Shift + F10. Then launch diskpart.

diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.22621.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: 
DISKPART> list disk
  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online         1397 GB      0 B
  Disk 1    Online          232 GB  1024 KB        *

Select your target disk by entering select <Disk ###>. I'll use disk 1 as an example as it's my boot drive. Don't worry I'm not actually doing it, just simulating it. After selecting it, type clean and it'll wipe the drive of all partitions. If you want to erase the data (i.e. zero out that drive), you can do clean all. Be warned clean all will take longer to perform because it'll be writing data throughout the entire drive.

select disk 1
clean

And you should have a blank drive now with no partitions. Repeat with the rest of the drives as needed.

Don't try to do this when booted into an actual Windows install, even if the drive you want to wipe is connected as a secondary drive. Windows will fight you when you try to clean anything that it recognizes as a Windows installation, even if it's not the one currently booted up. Windows PE which is what the installer would be running is more lenient as it needs to in order for people to re-install Windows.