How to get rid of dual boot/ too many disk partitions

[Jerochy]

Hey guys,

 

Recently I picked up a laptop for a great price from a collateral office, and it came with all the previews guy's info on it (I guess someone didn't make their payments). It had an unactivated version of windows 8, so I just figured I'd clear the whole thing with a clean legit install of windows 10. When I got to the screen to choose a partition, I believe there was 3 of them. There was the OEM reserved one which I don't think I can mess with, a system partition, and some other one. I installed windows 10, to find I accidentally kept the windows 8 and I have some dual boot action going on.

It turns out the laptop isn't supported by windows 10 and it acts a little strange using it (I can't turn down brightness, there is no sleep option, apparently I can run into issues with a black screen when the dedicated GPU is switched on), so I just thought it would be for the better to throw windows 7 on it. My question is, is there an easy way to clear all the other OS's when I install windows 7? Should I just format all the partitions except for the OEM reserved one? Thanks

[JPotze]

7 minutes ago, Jerochy said:

Hey guys,

 

Recently I picked up a laptop for a great price from a collateral office, and it came with all the previews guy's info on it (I guess someone didn't make their payments). It had an unactivated version of windows 8, so I just figured I'd clear the whole thing with a clean legit install of windows 10. When I got to the screen to choose a partition, I believe there was 3 of them. There was the OEM reserved one which I don't think I can mess with, a system partition, and some other one. I installed windows 10, to find I accidentally kept the windows 8 and I have some dual boot action going on.

It turns out the laptop isn't supported by windows 10 and it acts a little strange using it (I can't turn down brightness, there is no sleep option, apparently I can run into issues with a black screen when the dedicated GPU is switched on), so I just thought it would be for the better to throw windows 7 on it. My question is, is there an easy way to clear all the other OS's when I install windows 7? Should I just format all the partitions except for the OEM reserved one? Thanks

when you make a fress instal for windows. in i believe the first step there is an option to format the disk before installing. you can also make new partitions. just delete the partitions and make 1 big one or 2, whatever and go on with the installation.

[mrgooglegeek]

Format all, including the OEM one. Thats probably a recovery partition for the OS that came on the system. Do a clean install of 7 and upgrade to 10. If 10 is too buggy you can always roll back to 7. If 8 worked, then so should 10.

[Jerochy]

2 minutes ago, mrgooglegeek said:

Format all, including the OEM one. Thats probably a recovery partition for the OS that came on the system. Do a clean install of 7 and upgrade to 10. If 10 is too buggy you can always roll back to 7. If 8 worked, then so should 10.

Is there any way I can use the recovery partition to revert back to windows 7? The computer came with windows 7 ultimate from dell, but the COA sticker on the bottom is too worn to read anything. The idiot before me decided it was a great idea to install 8 on it and try to use a key generator to activate it.

 

I talked to a microsoft rep last night and he said if I did a clean install of windows 10 (not upgrading) that I can downgrade to windows 7. I'm just tryna get windows 7 on this machine haha.

[mrgooglegeek]

In the bios there may be a way. Go to the boot options menu (probably f12 on this machine) and look for anything resembling recovery.

[Jerochy]

12 minutes ago, mrgooglegeek said:

In the bios there may be a way. Go to the boot options menu (probably f12 on this machine) and look for anything resembling recovery.

Naa I couldn't find anything. However, windows 10 just finished installing all the updates and I am able to mess with the screen brightness and it can sleep now. The only thing I'm worried about now is that the battery is going pretty fast, and I'm thinkin it's using it's dedicated GPU instead of the integrated graphics. Or maybe it just needs a new battery.

I think I'm just gonna try to get rid of windows 8 on it for now. Thanks for your help.

[mrgooglegeek]

Replacing the battery might be a good idea especially if the laptop is more than 2yrs old.