[SOLVED] I want to do a completely clean install of windows 10. How do I completely remove windows 7?

[jbhen]

I have a custom-built computer on which I installed an illegal copy of windows 7. Lately my computer has been acting up and I am under the impression I may have also gotten some malware on account of the system being outdated.

Now I would like to upgrade to a legitimate version of windows 10, but before I do that I want to completely wipe my computer clean to how it was when I bought it, that is to say, without any windows on it and completely empty drives.

My question is then: How do I wipe windows 7 and all data belonging to it off of my PC BEFORE I start installing windows 10.

 

[Dean0919]

When you get new Windows 10 iso, you need to install it on your flash drive. After that, you need to configure your bios so that you boot this flash drive before your hard drive. There you will see the installation window for Windows 10. You will have an option to to upgrade or do a custom installation. Choose custom. There you will be able to format your hard drive. Formatting will erase completely Windows 7. After that you can proceede to install Windows 10 on that hard drive. You also can completely delete partitions and then make a new partitions and install Windows. Deleting partitions also wipe out everything.

 

[USAFRet]

My question is then: How do I wipe windows 7 and all data belonging to it off of my PC BEFORE I start installing windows 10.

You can do that during the install.
Have only one drive connected.
Boot from your WIn 10 install USB.
When it asks where, you'll be presented with a list of all the partitions on the drive.
Delete ALL, leaving one blank space.
Continue...

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Burigeller]

Sometimes, it doesn't allow you to wipe the storage. Can be quite annoying if you are already in the process of reinstalling windows. Hit up F10 and a cmd window will show up, there you can clean disks with the "diskpart" command. Use your Phone to google the proper steps maybe but it's a piece of cake! GL reinstalling.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

It always allows you to format the drive During install there’s no need to use diskpart

Most users aren’t even going to know how to do that and it’s an old archaic program that’s virtually useless now. Follow the instruction that the moderator has posted And read that link

 

[Burigeller]

It always allows you to format the drive During install there’s no need to use diskpart

Most users aren’t even going to know how to do that and it’s an old archaic program that’s virtually useless now. Follow the instruction that the moderator has posted And read that link

Well i guess i'm one of the few unlucky then

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Well don’t take it the wrong way a lot of us old guys can do this but some of the new whippersnappers might be lost LOL

Most users I know don’t like using the command prompt as much as a lot of more experienced users

 

[jbhen]

Thank you for your replies everyone!

The windows 10 I bought will arrive ready on a flashdrive already so I can skip that step, but otherwise this sounds very doable 🧀

 

[DSzymborski]

Thank you for your replies everyone!

The windows 10 I bought will arrive ready on a flashdrive already so I can skip that step, but otherwise this sounds very doable 🧀

You'll still have to install it.

 

[TerryLaze]

It always allows you to format the drive During install there’s no need to use diskpart

Most users aren’t even going to know how to do that and it’s an old archaic program that’s virtually useless now. Follow the instruction that the moderator has posted And read that link

No, fdisk is the old archaic one.
Diskpart is the current disk partitioning tool that windows uses,
it wouldn't surprise me if disk management is just a frontend for diskpart.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

right. I think you are right that disk management is the gui over diskpart, just mean that most users find it very confusing to do stuff on cmdline

 

[TerryLaze]

If you are really paranoid...
a flashdisk can be accessed by malware so using it at all even if you boot straight into that could at least in theory infect the flashdrive as well.
You could boot with a cd of dban and do a full format of your drive which would take hours but would really destroy anything on the drive before installing your new windows.

Again, this is more for paranoia than anything.