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You’ll then walk through a series of configuration pages: Step one is to simply boot from the Windows installation DVD and eventually the Windows Vista Setup program will begin:

We’ll examine it both for Windows Vista, and Windows XP, since they’re quite different. Boot from that, erase the disk, and then boot from your Windows installation media to reinstall Windows from scratch.Īs it turns out, the Windows setup program can be used to erase or format the hard disk as well it’s just not obvious where in the setup process you can do so. If you want to take this two-step approach then my tool of choice to erase a hard disk that’s been in use is DBAN. The first option gets complicated since you can’t reformat or completely erase a hard disk that’s in use – i.e. I’ll spend most of my time on the second option, since it’s all that most people need. Just run Windows Setup, and let it reformat the disk.Reformat or erase the disk, and then run Windows setup.You’ll also need all the installation media for everything you plan to install, including your original Windows installation disk and its product key. The process we’re about to embark on will erase everything from your hard drive. I don’t care how – be it an image backup of the entire machine (my preference), or a careful backup of all the files and any other data that you want to keep – but you must do this before you begin. If you have an existing computer that you’re about to reformat and reinstall, there’s a very important first step: It also encompasses the fact that you’ll also need to reinstall all the application software you use, as well as restoring all the data you might want to continue to have available. Reinstalling is the process of copying Windows back on to your hard drive and reconfiguring it to your needs.This step deletes everything on your hard drive. Reformatting is the process of initializing a hard disk to an empty state.Reformatting and reinstalling is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: It’s conceptually very easy, but also somewhat time consuming.Īnd if not done with the proper preparation, you could lose absolutely everything on your computer.

“Reformat and reinstall” is the computer’s equivalent of erasing the chalkboard and starting over.Īnd I do want to emphasize the “erasing” part. ( Click here for a newer version of this article covering Windows 10.)