HELP I FORMATTED MY HDD That had my OPERATING SYSTEM ON IT

[Natecarter212]

So I tried to set up a new external hard drive I just bought but ended up formatting my main hard drive and now whenever I start up my pc I get a message saying An operating system wasn't found. Is there any way to just recover the os like if I contact windows? Because Id really like to not have to buy a whole new os. 🙁

 

[jwcrellin]

Yikes, umm, I don't think you have an os anymore. Sounds like you know what you've got to do.

 

[Paul NZ]

It should have told you that you couldnt. You cant format the hdd you're using

 

[Sm0k]

Well firs of all forget about your current OS you just ¨erase it¨, if you windows copy is original you must have the original box with contains the activation code, if it so you just need to download a new non activated windows and after install you can activate it with your key.

EDIT:

You can find origuinal windows ISO files here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

 

[Neur0nauT]

If you have access to another system, you can download the MS Media Creation Tool which will allow you to get a full copy of Windows 10 ISO image which can be copied onto a bootable USB flash drive which you can boot with to reinstall Windows.

The only thing you will have to worry about then is the license key. If you were previously running Windows 10, then your digital license will be registered with your Microsoft login, and it should activate automatically once you sign in. Or the license may be held within your UEFI bios which would also activate automatically when installed. If you have a Windows 7 key, you can attempt to use it to activate.

 

[tom42]

Take the HD out, install it in another computer as the D: (or higher, as required) drive, then download an "unformat"software program, and run it for the "D or whatever" drive. Then reinstall it in the original computer. It might work.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm just curious how you caused the OS to format the drive it was running from.
Windows is smart enough to not allow that.