How do you reformat Windows?

Answer 1

1)To reset your PC

2)Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings. ...

3)Tap or click Update and recovery, and then tap or click Recovery.

Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows, tap or click Get started.

4)Follow the instructions on the screen.

Answer 2

There are several ways in which you can format a Windows computer. If you want to save data and settings; you will need USMT (User State Migration Tool). You'll also need something to save the data from USMT. Next, you'll need either your original Windows CD that came with your computer (or recovery/restore disc), a boot disc which has formatting tools, or an HP Recovery Drive. First, I'll say this: I do not recommend HP Recovery Drive. Many people have used it and have had a bad experience with it. Also, it's not very efficient. In fact, I won't even explain how to use it. Next, if you have a boot disc with formatting tools on it. Most commonly these will be Linux Distros. Then you can run that disc on startup and run the formatting program on your primary drive. However, you won't be able to install Windows without the original CD. Make sure that you have your BIOS setting are set to boot from the Disc befor the Hard Drive. The BIOS is different for every manufacturer. Most commonly you can enter the BIOS by pressing "delete" at the first splash screen on boot up. Here is a list of BIOS manufacturers with their corresponding keys to enter BIOS settings: http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm When you start your computer with a windows CD inside; you will see "Press any key to boot from disc...". So, when you press something; the Windows CD will load some generic drivers. The first screen you get will say "Welcome to Setup" and gives you a few options.

1. Setup Windows [ENTER]
2. Repair Windows with Recovery Console [R]
3. Quit the Setup [F3]

If you don't wish to format your computer and simply wish to fix Windows; you should try to use the recovery console. Be sure to consult someone who knows how to deal with your specific problem. The recovery console is not made for the average user. Assuming that you've now hit enter; you will be brought up with a screen diisplaying the Windows Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to continue. The next screen wil be titled something like "Windows XP Home Edition Setup". You have three options on this screen.

1. Setup Windows on selected item [ENTER]
2. Repair Installation [R]
3. Create a partition [C]
4. Delete the selected partition [D]

If you wish to simply make a reapir installation; select R. Windows system files will be overwritten with the new ones on the CD. Thus, this would fix any problems with system files or perhaps a missing system file. To continue with our formatting; we must delete the partion with [D]; press [L] to confirm. If you wish; you may create a partition with [C]. This is useful if want to have a dual boot feature or perhaps a backup partition or partition as virtual RAM. On that screen you can select the size of the partition. Once you have highlighted your partition you wish to install Windows on; press [ENTER]. From there; you can format using NTFS (New Technology File System) or with FAT (File Allocation Table) also known as the Old Technology File System. I recommend you format with NTFS (Unless you have a really small hard drive). You also have the option of formating "Quick" or not. Simply said, the quick format simply overwrites the tables/headers on the Hard Drive. Whereas, a normal format Overwrites the tables/headers and the data. If you do a quick format; the data will not be recognizable anyway (Except with certain software which recovers "Ghost Images"). So, I recommend you do a full format. The overwritten data will provide your computer with better performance and your files will be less likely to get fragmented.

Your computer will then be formatted and will run a setup asking for "Regional and Language Options", your name and organization (You can put N/A or leave blank), your Windows Product Key (found on the case of your CD or on the side of your computer tower), the name of the computer (for networking), and the Date and Time. The computer will reboot and ask you to add at least one User with up to 5 others. Click Finish and Login.

Now, you need to activate Windows, either by telephone or internet. Then, use Windows Update to give security yo your computer (must have internet). At first, do these updates manually. You will need several reboots. Then set the updates to automatic. Make sure all your drivers are installed.

Answer 3

"Formatting" is wiping all files, programs, etc. off of the drive

How to Reformat Windows

This guide will wipe out your current Operating System - and the drive it's on - and start afresh, the new system will have no memory of the old. Please back up your data before continuing.

I STRONGLY recommend downloading all drivers etc for your system and saving them to a flash drive or burning to CD/DVD BEFORE you begin this process! Most device drivers are available on the PC manufacturer's website

1. Put the Windows CD/DVD into your CD/DVD drive
2. Restart your computer.
3. While your computer is booting, if a new message should appear: "press any key to boot from CD", Press any key, go to step 5
4. Pressing F5, F8 or F12 while the computer is booting should bring up the boot options where you can select from which drive you want to boot. It should tell you which key it is if you watch it booting. If you only have the BIOS setup, change the boot sequence to CD first instead of hard disk, save changes & exit.
5. Wait patiently for the CD/DVD to load up.
6. Choose the option which sounds closest to "partition editor" or "custom install"
7. Here you will see your hard drive partitions. The easiest way to reformat would be to delete all of them and create one new partition. You may need to enable advanced options to see these. You may also consider making one small and one large partition, the small one being around 15GB and the larger one for movies, games and personal data.
8. Either select a partition and click next, or go back to the menu and select something along the lines of 'install windows'.
9. The rest of the process is mostly automatic, it may restart automatically a few times, and it could take up to 2 hours, depending on the OS being installed, and the size/speed of the drive.
10. Follow instructions as they appear, it will ask you to set some things like a computer name and users.

Your reformat should be complete, and it should be just as it was when you bought it (with maybe a few pieces of software missing, but most of it should be in CDs provided when you bought your computer)

On a side note: Ninite is a free website that offers downloads of useful programs such as antivirus, web browser, office suites, and image editors, which is perfect to use after a clean install. you can find it in the related links below.

Answer 4

Reformatting Your Computer Why Should I Reformat My Computer? Sometimes viruses, spyware, or other programs can corrupt windows to the degree that they cannot be fixed or would take too long to fix. Reformatting windows will wipe your hardrive clean and start Windows fresh again, removing any problems that previously existed. Before You Reformat 1. Make certain that you back up all files that you wish to keep (papers, pictures, etc.) because they will be lost when you reformat. These are typically stored in the My Documents folder, although may reside in other locations depending on where you save files. 2. Make sure that you have your Windows XP CD, your Windows XP Product key, any driver disks that came with your computer or other hardware you installed, and the disks for any programs you installed. How To Reformat * Note: Some computer manufacturers such as Dell, eMachines, and Gateway have begun selling computers without an operating system CD. These computers instead have an option to restore to their original system state. For example, Dell users with this option can reformat using this method: Dell PC Restore. If you do not have a Dell and also did not receive an operating system CD when you purchased your computer, you may want to contact your computer manufacturer for advice on restoring your system back to its original state. 1. Place the Windows XP CD into your CD drive while in Windows. Note: If a window appears after putting in the CD, close it. Reboot your computer with the CD in the drive. 2. You now need to boot from the Windows XP CD. After restarting, you should see a screen that says "Press any key to boot from CD...". Press a key to start the reformatting process and continue to step 3 below. If you do not see this screen and boot into Windows XP normally, you may need to try the following: a. Reboot and when starting your computer before the Windows XP screen appears, press a key that allows you to choose your Boot Options (usually displayed somewhere on the screen while first starting up). For instance, Dell computers use F12. You should be prompted for booting options and should choose the CD Drive (or DVD drive). If this isn't available, try the next option- b. You may need to enter your computer's BIOS and change the boot order to allow the CD drive to boot before the hard drive. Changing this varies by manufacturer and should be accessible by contacting your computer manufacture's support site. 3. Your computer will now boot up using the CD. When asked what you wish to do, you wish to Install Windows. Note: If ResNet has required you to reformat your computer to get rid of a virus, you MUST completely reformat since running the "repair" or "re-install" will not get the virus off your computer. 4. You will be asked if you wish to create a new partition. First, select the partition that you already have, and press D to delete your existing partition, and then L to confirm that you wish to do this. This will completely erase all documents and programs (and viruses!) off of your computer. 5. You then need to create a new partition. To do, this select C. 6. When asked what size you wish to make your new partition, just press Enter to make your partition the maximum size. 7. Select the partition that you have created to install Windows XP on by pressing Enter. 8. Your computer will prompt you asking if you wish to do a quick installation or a regular installation. Either will work fine, but "quick" goes faster. 9. Now you need to select Format the partition by using the NTFS file system. 10. Windows XP will now be installed. This may take some time and then your computer will reboot. From now on all the screens during the installation process will look like the Windows XP screens you are used to. 11. Make sure you properly enter your product key. This is either on the CD that came with your version of Windows XP or on your computer's case. 12. Make sure you select the "typical" network settings. 13. Windows will now complete the installation. XP will likely detect the drivers for all of your hardware, but you may need to use the disks that came with your hardware to install some of your hardware. You will now also need to install any software you need. Most importantly, RUN WINDOWS UPDATE IMMEADIATELY TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER!!! If your connection has been disabled, you will not be able to run Windows Update. However, you can download the patches from our page on another computer and install them on your own. Make sure you double click on them and run them, don't just copy them onto your computer.

Answer 5

you should have your system disk avalibale to reinstall back to factory settings, copy everything you want to save then you would need to go to your start menu and restart your computer in MS DOS mode when you have a black screen up in front of you and you see C:> you can type in the words format c: this will ask if you are sure if you are not then click no everything will be erase from the hard drive if you select yes it will start to format the drive letter after it is format you will need to follow the directions on your CD that came from the manufacture make sure you have all you key code numbers or you will not be able to reload your software this is to help stop people from steling and sharing software.. Good Luck..

Answer 6

Generally you boot the computer from your OS disk. And then it will give the option to format it.

If you don't have your OS disk, you can always take out the harddrive, put it into another computer as a slave drive and then just format it using the computer management mmc. Or download a program (there's literally thousands out there) that will do it for you, some programs will even overwrite the drive first with lots junk before formatting just in case you happened to have alot of sensitive files on the drive.

you can download a .iso of the OS you want, then you burn to a disk then reinstall

if the computer isnt very old then you can restore with system restore

Answer 7

NOTE: This guide may not work if you try to install Windows XP or older after you reformat.

Assuming you will be reformatting a computer with Microsoft Windows on it, here is a simple set of instructions.

First, back up any important files you want to keep, such as media files (pictures, music etc.), documents and whatever you want to keep. DO NOT back up applications (files ending in .exe .dll .sys or other) as these could be infected by a virus. You can either back your stuff up onto a USB stick/external hard drive (make sure you buy one that has enough space to hold all your files) or if you have a computer with more than one hard drive (eg. Hard Drive A has Windows installed onto it, Hard Drive B is empty), back it up on the unused hard-drive. (in the example, you would back up onto hard drive B)

NOTE: The time to complete the following will vary greatly depending on your computer, anywhere in between half an hour to sometimes over 12 hours.

Now insert your Windows OEM/boot disk into your CD or DVD drive. Click on the Restart button. The screen will go black and the following text will appear:

Press any key to boot from CD/DVD

Press any key as said above and Windows will begin to load the files on the disk.

(If you are ever prompted a second time with this during the installation, don't press anything and wait for it to disappear. Failing to do this will restart the installation process all over again).

Continue selecting your preferences until you come to a menu that allows you to chose between "Upgrade" and "Custom". If you want to reformat your computer, select "Custom" (NOTE: You will not be given that option of you are installing Windows XP or earlier).

Next you will proceed to a menu that asks you where you want to install Windows. Select the hard drive with your old version of Windows currently installed on it. If you don't know which one that is, it is usually the primary hard drive or the one with the most data on it. DO NOT reformat the drive that you backed up your files on (if you chose that option). With that drive highlighted, click on "Drive Properties" and then click "Format". Wait a bit and the drive will be reformatted. Now install Windows on the drive you just reformatted.

The rest is easy, just set up your preferred settings and create a user account.

After you are done all this, you will be logged on and your newly reformatted computer is ready for use. Just remember to take the boot disk out when your done or your computer may try to launch the install process again.

Answer 8

how to-

reinstall with a disk

-download an .iso for the version of linux, windows or mac. mount to a hard drive then put it and run it.

restore to certain point (windows)

-go to start, search system restore then follow the steps to restore to a certain point

(you computer will make a restore point before installing most things, or you can set it to set for ever week or so)

then its restored to a certain point.

what does it do?

reinstalling deletes everything on the computer and re-installs the OS (opersting system again, basically a new computer inside.

people do this

• if they have downloaded a virus (system restores are better for this)
• if something wrong has gone wrong with your computer
• if its going too slow and want to 'start again'

you can get the .iso files off the os website, but only the linux one is free. you can get the others off of a torrent website (like thepiratebay.org or Google torrentz)

then get a crack to run on the computer that removes the windows free trial.

Answer 9

If you have win10 or 8 and 8.1 and 11 Go to settings > recovery > then press reset PC

Answer 10

right click on the hard disk and click format