Will a clean install of Windows 7 delete my drivers?

[teflonfrog]

My PC is 1 year old, so I decided to "clean install". Will it delete my drivers? I don't care about the files. Thanks.

 

[USAFRet]

My PC is 1 year old, so I decided to "clean install". Will it delete my drivers? I don't care about the files. Thanks.

Yes.
You will need to reinstall everything, including the drivers.
Find those drivers, and copy to a USB stick or DVD before you do the OS install.

 

[boosted1g]

Clean install means that you start at a fresh clean zero state, so it deletes absolutely everything, including drivers and programs.

Now if you are installing windows from a CD then you will need to redownload the drivers for your computer (you should at bare bare minumum pre-download the ethernet/wifi driver so you can have internet connection to download the rest.

Now if this is an OEM computer (like HP, Dell, etc) then it likely has a recovery partition. You can tell the recovery partition to do a full reinstall (which deletes all files) but the OEM copy of the OS already has all of the drivers built into it.

 

[teflonfrog]

Clean install means that you start at a fresh clean zero state, so it deletes absolutely everything, including drivers and programs.

Now if you are installing windows from a CD then you will need to redownload the drivers for your computer (you should at bare bare minumum pre-download the ethernet/wifi driver so you can have internet connection to download the rest.

Now if this is an OEM computer (like HP, Dell, etc) then it likely has a recovery partition. You can tell the recovery partition to do a full reinstall (which deletes all files) but the OEM copy of the OS already has all of the drivers built into it.

How would I get to that recovery partition? It is an OEM computer, manufactured by Dell if that helps.

 

[boosted1g]

Google "Dell (your model number) recovery"

Every vendor does it mildly different, and even varies from one model to another. So looking up your specific model is the best way to go.

 

[USAFRet]

Clean install means that you start at a fresh clean zero state, so it deletes absolutely everything, including drivers and programs.

Now if you are installing windows from a CD then you will need to redownload the drivers for your computer (you should at bare bare minumum pre-download the ethernet/wifi driver so you can have internet connection to download the rest.

Now if this is an OEM computer (like HP, Dell, etc) then it likely has a recovery partition. You can tell the recovery partition to do a full reinstall (which deletes all files) but the OEM copy of the OS already has all of the drivers built into it.

How would I get to that recovery partition? It is an OEM computer, manufactured by Dell if that helps.

In the user manual, it will tell you the specific keystroke needed to invoke that.
This will completely wipe the drive, and bring it back to how it came from Dell on day 1.

 

[teflonfrog]

Clean install means that you start at a fresh clean zero state, so it deletes absolutely everything, including drivers and programs.

Now if you are installing windows from a CD then you will need to redownload the drivers for your computer (you should at bare bare minumum pre-download the ethernet/wifi driver so you can have internet connection to download the rest.

Now if this is an OEM computer (like HP, Dell, etc) then it likely has a recovery partition. You can tell the recovery partition to do a full reinstall (which deletes all files) but the OEM copy of the OS already has all of the drivers built into it.

How would I get to that recovery partition? It is an OEM computer, manufactured by Dell if that helps.

In the user manual, it will tell you the specific keystroke needed to invoke that.
This will completely wipe the drive, and bring it back to how it came from Dell on day 1.

I have lost the user manual, unfortunately. Should I follow boosted1g's advice and look it up online? I have an Optiplex 780.

 

[USAFRet]

Clean install means that you start at a fresh clean zero state, so it deletes absolutely everything, including drivers and programs.

Now if you are installing windows from a CD then you will need to redownload the drivers for your computer (you should at bare bare minumum pre-download the ethernet/wifi driver so you can have internet connection to download the rest.

Now if this is an OEM computer (like HP, Dell, etc) then it likely has a recovery partition. You can tell the recovery partition to do a full reinstall (which deletes all files) but the OEM copy of the OS already has all of the drivers built into it.

How would I get to that recovery partition? It is an OEM computer, manufactured by Dell if that helps.

In the user manual, it will tell you the specific keystroke needed to invoke that.
This will completely wipe the drive, and bring it back to how it came from Dell on day 1.

I have lost the user manual, unfortunately. Should I follow boosted1g's advice and look it up online? I have an Optiplex 780.

Yes, that user manual lives at Dell.com.

 

[teflonfrog]

Clean install means that you start at a fresh clean zero state, so it deletes absolutely everything, including drivers and programs.

Now if you are installing windows from a CD then you will need to redownload the drivers for your computer (you should at bare bare minumum pre-download the ethernet/wifi driver so you can have internet connection to download the rest.

Now if this is an OEM computer (like HP, Dell, etc) then it likely has a recovery partition. You can tell the recovery partition to do a full reinstall (which deletes all files) but the OEM copy of the OS already has all of the drivers built into it.

How would I get to that recovery partition? It is an OEM computer, manufactured by Dell if that helps.

In the user manual, it will tell you the specific keystroke needed to invoke that.
This will completely wipe the drive, and bring it back to how it came from Dell on day 1.

I have lost the user manual, unfortunately. Should I follow boosted1g's advice and look it up online? I have an Optiplex 780.

Yes, that user manual lives at Dell.com.

Ok, I will try the recovery partition. I will keep you updated.

 

[USAFRet]

Clean install means that you start at a fresh clean zero state, so it deletes absolutely everything, including drivers and programs.

Now if you are installing windows from a CD then you will need to redownload the drivers for your computer (you should at bare bare minumum pre-download the ethernet/wifi driver so you can have internet connection to download the rest.

Now if this is an OEM computer (like HP, Dell, etc) then it likely has a recovery partition. You can tell the recovery partition to do a full reinstall (which deletes all files) but the OEM copy of the OS already has all of the drivers built into it.

How would I get to that recovery partition? It is an OEM computer, manufactured by Dell if that helps.

In the user manual, it will tell you the specific keystroke needed to invoke that.
This will completely wipe the drive, and bring it back to how it came from Dell on day 1.

I have lost the user manual, unfortunately. Should I follow boosted1g's advice and look it up online? I have an Optiplex 780.

Yes, that user manual lives at Dell.com.

Ok, I will try the recovery partition. I will keep you updated.

And next time, try to encapsulate all these related questions into one thread. Makes things MUCH easier.

 

[teflonfrog]

Clean install means that you start at a fresh clean zero state, so it deletes absolutely everything, including drivers and programs.

Now if you are installing windows from a CD then you will need to redownload the drivers for your computer (you should at bare bare minumum pre-download the ethernet/wifi driver so you can have internet connection to download the rest.

Now if this is an OEM computer (like HP, Dell, etc) then it likely has a recovery partition. You can tell the recovery partition to do a full reinstall (which deletes all files) but the OEM copy of the OS already has all of the drivers built into it.

How would I get to that recovery partition? It is an OEM computer, manufactured by Dell if that helps.

In the user manual, it will tell you the specific keystroke needed to invoke that.
This will completely wipe the drive, and bring it back to how it came from Dell on day 1.

I have lost the user manual, unfortunately. Should I follow boosted1g's advice and look it up online? I have an Optiplex 780.

Yes, that user manual lives at Dell.com.

Ok, I will try the recovery partition. I will keep you updated.

And next time, try to encapsulate all these related questions into one thread. Makes things MUCH easier.

Unfortunately, there was an error. 0xc00000e9 was the code.

 

[USAFRet]

Unfortunately, there was an error. 0xc00000e9 was the code.

An error for what?

 

[teflonfrog]

Unfortunately, there was an error. 0xc00000e9 was the code.

An error for what?

I could not access the repair partition on the HDD. I have looked into it, should I disconnect keyboard and mouse (only plugging it in when I need to press something)?

 

[USAFRet]

Unfortunately, there was an error. 0xc00000e9 was the code.

An error for what?

I could not access the repair partition on the HDD. I have looked into it, should I disconnect keyboard and mouse (only plugging it in when I need to press something)?

Please describe the exact series of steps that led up to this error.
You are following the directions exactly, right?

 

[teflonfrog]

Unfortunately, there was an error. 0xc00000e9 was the code.

An error for what?

I could not access the repair partition on the HDD. I have looked into it, should I disconnect keyboard and mouse (only plugging it in when I need to press something)?

Please describe the exact series of steps that led up to this error.
You are following the directions exactly, right?

Yes I am.

I turned on the computer, pressing F8 around 7-8 times.
I pressed ENTER when I hit the Repair Your Computer option.
I waited, then I got the error.
My HDD is new, with locks on the SATA cable.

 

[USAFRet]

OK...let's back up about 18 steps.
For a 1 year old system, why are you looking for a clean install?

 

[teflonfrog]

OK...let's back up about 18 steps.
For a 1 year old system, why are you looking for a clean install?

My friend recommended it to me. Also, like in my other questions, this system has had its explorer.exe mess up and stuff.

 

[USAFRet]

OK...let's back up about 18 steps.
For a 1 year old system, why are you looking for a clean install?

My friend recommended it to me. Also, like in my other questions, this system has had its explorer.exe mess up and stuff.

Have you considered it might be a dying hard drive? Or other hardware?
memtest for the RAM, SMART and manufacturer test for the hard drive.

 

[teflonfrog]

OK...let's back up about 18 steps.
For a 1 year old system, why are you looking for a clean install?

My friend recommended it to me. Also, like in my other questions, this system has had its explorer.exe mess up and stuff.

Have you considered it might be a dying hard drive? Or other hardware?
memtest for the RAM, SMART and manufacturer test for the hard drive.

How would I test the RAM and how do I get SMART? The Dell Diagnostics gave me error code 2000-0146, which is HDD failure; I don't think this is right, as this is a brand new drive.

 

[USAFRet]

How would I test the RAM and how do I get SMART? The Dell Diagnostics gave me error code 2000-0146, which is HDD failure; I don't think this is right, as this is a brand new drive.

Dell Diagnostics says it is a failing drive.
Error code 0xc00000e9 points to a possible dying/dead drive.

"I don't think" does not count. Drives fail. I've had a brand new drive fail in 5 weeks.

What make drive is it? WD, Seagate, Toshiba?
Find their specific diagnostic tool, and run that.

 

[teflonfrog]

How would I test the RAM and how do I get SMART? The Dell Diagnostics gave me error code 2000-0146, which is HDD failure; I don't think this is right, as this is a brand new drive.

Dell Diagnostics says it is a failing drive.
Error code 0xc00000e9 points to a possible dying/dead drive.

"I don't think" does not count. Drives fail. I've had a brand new drive fail in 5 weeks.

What make drive is it? WD, Seagate, Toshiba?
Find their specific diagnostic tool, and run that.

Hello, sorry I haven't answered, life called and she needed me 😉
Anyways, I can boot into Windows 7. Explorer.exe crashed, again, no surprise there.
It is a WD Caviar Blue, with error code 0120 from WD LifeGuard.

 

[USAFRet]

How would I test the RAM and how do I get SMART? The Dell Diagnostics gave me error code 2000-0146, which is HDD failure; I don't think this is right, as this is a brand new drive.

Dell Diagnostics says it is a failing drive.
Error code 0xc00000e9 points to a possible dying/dead drive.

"I don't think" does not count. Drives fail. I've had a brand new drive fail in 5 weeks.

What make drive is it? WD, Seagate, Toshiba?
Find their specific diagnostic tool, and run that.

Hello, sorry I haven't answered, life called and she needed me 😉
Anyways, I can boot into Windows 7. Explorer.exe crashed, again, no surprise there.
It is a WD Caviar Blue, with error code 0120 from WD LifeGuard.

It is a dead/dying drive.
Brand new or not...🙁

 

[teflonfrog]

How would I test the RAM and how do I get SMART? The Dell Diagnostics gave me error code 2000-0146, which is HDD failure; I don't think this is right, as this is a brand new drive.

Dell Diagnostics says it is a failing drive.
Error code 0xc00000e9 points to a possible dying/dead drive.

"I don't think" does not count. Drives fail. I've had a brand new drive fail in 5 weeks.

What make drive is it? WD, Seagate, Toshiba?
Find their specific diagnostic tool, and run that.

Hello, sorry I haven't answered, life called and she needed me 😉
Anyways, I can boot into Windows 7. Explorer.exe crashed, again, no surprise there.
It is a WD Caviar Blue, with error code 0120 from WD LifeGuard.

It is a dead/dying drive.
Brand new or not...🙁

Hey.

So I just got a new HDD, also WD Caviar Blue, and..... It doesn't work. Surprisingly .

Any advice? I ran out of my warranty 4 months ago.

I ran a SMART test with Hiren's BCD, and SMART status was GOOD.