I need to factory restore my pc

[MynameBilly]

so i need to restore my pc to factory settings as if it was new but i cant since i dont have an optical drive and when i try to restore it windows ask me for external drive. my pc has only one hard drive in it. i have a bootable usb with windows 7 how do i wipe out my hardrive and redo everything?
PS my pc is custom built

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Home-built/Custom-built rigs don't have factory-restore feature, only factory-built rigs & laptops have that (factory- get it?)

Boot your PC from the pen drive.
When Windows Setup shows existing Windows partition, select option to format it.
When format is done, select option to install Windows on that freshly-formatted volume.

 

[little_me]

Bios should allow you to change boot order from hard disk being 1st to USB/removable media being first.
Boot from USB (windows 7 installer)
select custom install (I think it was something like that in win7)
Delete all partitions on hard disk
Install windows 7
Change boot order back to normal.

If your windows 7 installer usb stick wont work as boot device, you are pretty much stuck until you can get it to work or manage to get external USB dvd drive (costs like $25 i think) and win7 dvd.

 

[MynameBilly]

Home-built/Custom-built rigs don't have factory-restore feature, only factory-built rigs & laptops have that (factory- get it?)

Boot your PC from the pen drive.
When Windows Setup shows existing Windows partition, select option to format it.
When format is done, select option to install Windows on that freshly-formatted volume.

Bios should allow you to change boot order from hard disk being 1st to USB/removable media being first.
Boot from USB (windows 7 installer)
select custom install (I think it was something like that in win7)
Delete all partitions on hard disk
Install windows 7
Change boot order back to normal.

If your windows 7 installer usb stick wont work as boot device, you are pretty much stuck until you can get it to work or manage to get external USB dvd drive (costs like $25 i think) and win7 dvd.

see the thing is my pc is working great right now but im selling it and i need to remove all the files and i dont remeber how i did it in bios

 

[little_me]

Bios would have it's own part called "Boot" where the boot order can be changed.
Most common keys to get in Bios include DEL, F2, F10 and F12
F12 is often also quick shortcut for "select boot device from list" which could work here just as well as changing boot order

it is not as clean solution but you could likely get it done also by plugging win7 installer USB in while in windows, running installer from there and selecting custom options and then clean install.

 

[MynameBilly]

Bios should allow you to change boot order from hard disk being 1st to USB/removable media being first.
Boot from USB (windows 7 installer)
select custom install (I think it was something like that in win7)
Delete all partitions on hard disk
Install windows 7
Change boot order back to normal.

If your windows 7 installer usb stick wont work as boot device, you are pretty much stuck until you can get it to work or manage to get external USB dvd drive (costs like $25 i think) and win7 dvd.

your a life saver i would wish if you please would buy a physical copy calendar to remind your self to give your self a pat on the back every day for the rest of your life for helping me thank you so much