How To Re-Install Windows?

[Supahh]

I'm planning to do a fresh re-install of Windows 10, but before I do this I must wipe both my ssd and hard drive clean and fresh for optimal usage. How can I do this? 

Also, when reinstalling windows, will the drivers I installed with my current OS for my bios, motherboard, realtek etc stay? Or will I need to reinstall my drivers for my pc.

 

After I've wiped the drives, how can I actually get rid of everything on this current OS and reinstall windows?

[lewdicrous]

You can just do a factory reset if you want to wipe everything from your drives.

If you delete everything then you gotta reinstall drivers.

Spoiler

Settings>update&security>recovery>reset this PC

 

[NelizMastr]

To do a full reinstall, you'll need a bootable USB stick with the latest Windows 10 build on it. From setup, you can wipe all drives clean by formatting them. Then install Windows and your drivers and software. 

[Turretgaming]

just boot to the installer usb/disk and then clean the drive when it has you select the dive to load windows on.

[Turretgaming]

or use duke nuke on the drives and then run them like a new pc install

 

[acv159357n]

when you bring your pc to factory mode, you can choose to wipe all drives. bios updates will not be affected. windows automatically downloads almost all drivers you need when you "look for updates" in the settings

[Worstcaster]

Before you start the new install make sure you have your windows key ready.  If you don't have it written down, you can find it under your account on the microsoft website.  You do not have to purchase windows again.

[Supahh]

1 hour ago, lewdicrous said:

You can just do a factory reset if you want to wipe everything from your drives.

If you delete everything then you gotta reinstall drivers.

  Hide contents

Settings>update&security>recovery>reset this PC

 

Will this delete my existing user too? Because when I reinstall windows, I don't want to have two users, my current one and the new user with my re-installation. I want to wipe this current account from my monitor completely for a fresh install, if that makes sense?

[lewdicrous]

2 minutes ago, Supahh said:

Will this delete my existing user too? Because when I reinstall windows, I don't want to have two users, my current one and the new user with my re-installation. I want to wipe this current account from my monitor completely for a fresh install, if that makes sense?

It will delete everything.

It's gonna give you a clean windows install, iirc

[LAwLz]

I don't recommend doing the "recovery" option which is built into Windows 10.

From what I know, it is not the same as doing a complete reinstall. 

 

What you want to do is boot from a Windows 10 installation disc.

Then when you are on the partition selection screen, show the advanced options and then just delete all partitions you see. That will mark them as being blank, and nothing from your previous Windows install will be left on them.

[Supahh]

19 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

I don't recommend doing the "recovery" option which is built into Windows 10.

From what I know, it is not the same as doing a complete reinstall. 

 

What you want to do is boot from a Windows 10 installation disc.

Then when you are on the partition selection screen, show the advanced options and then just delete all partitions you see. That will mark them as being blank, and nothing from your previous Windows install will be left on them.

When I've reset my current user, and I start re-installing windows.

When this pops up, you mean just delete every drive / partition that is shown apart from my ssd? By doing this, will it also 100% wipe the current 200gb / 2tb used on my hard drive so I can have the original 2tb for optimal usage?

[LAwLz]

16 minutes ago, Supahh said:

When this pops up, you mean just delete every drive / partition that is shown apart from my ssd? By doing this, will it also 100% wipe the current 200gb / 2tb used on my hard drive so I can have the original 2tb for optimal usage?

Yes that is the correct window I was referring to.

You should click delete on every drive, including the SSD. If you don't click delete on the SSD then you won't actually delete the current Windows installation, which I presume you want.

 

If you have 1 SSD and 1 HDD in your system, you want to click delete until you only have two things on that list and they should say "Unallocated Space". You want to delete everything, including the partitions labeled "recovery", "system" or other similar things. When you install Windows, it will recreate the necessary partitions. If you don't delete them, you may end up with two, and that's super annoying (shows up in Windows as a 50MB partitions).

 

If you do that, then it will be like you just took the SSD and HDD out of the package for the first time. You will have to reinstall Windows again and none of your old files will be accessible (except with data recovery tools).

 

 

Please bear in mind that Windows will only format the drive it gets installed on. If you have an SSD and a HDD, you will need to manually format it after the installation is complete. This is done in Windows through the "Disk Management" tool (built into Windows). Do not panic if your hard drive don't show up in Windows after following the instructions. It will show up once it has been formatted and marked as active.

If you want I can make a more detailed guide for you with images.

[homeap5]

I assume that you never installed Windows. And this is just first part of it. Then you'll have much more problems - drivers, programs, settings. If you have zero experience with that - just don't do it. Use your existing Windows without reinstalling. If you want to try - use some separate drive and try first, so you can always back to your working system if something will be too difficult.

[MandoPanda]

I'd just go for the full reinstall.