Step 1 - Back up your data
You must backup all of the files you created or any other data you can’t afford to lose no matter where they are stored on the hard drive. When you format the hard drive, it will erase EVERYTHING on the hard drive. So backup up everything you don’t want to lose to DVDs or a second hard drive. Personally, I use a second hard drive and backup everything. That way I don’t lose anything. If I have enough room I will save the files uncompressed. If not, I save each top level folder as a zip file.Step 2 - Print out your hardware configuration
It’s always useful to know exactly what hardware devices you have installed on your computer. You may need this information to find drivers for the hardware especially if you can’t find the original installation CDs.The easiest way to print out you hardware configuration is to:
- Open the Control Panel
- Select the System icon
- Chose the Hardware tab
- Click on Device Manager
- Select Action -> Print from the top menu
Step 3 - Shut down and Reboot from the windows installation CD
You must do the formatting from the CD. If you are not sure how to boot from your CD, check you computer’s user manual. If you can’t find it and it doesn’t tell you on the black boot up screen, go to the motherboard (or computer if it a name brand) manufacturer’s website and download a pdf version of your user manual. You cannot boot from your C drive because we are going to delete that partition.Step 4 - Start the windows installation
I am using windows XP screen captures for this article. The screens may be slightly different with windows 2000 or vista. When the screen below appears, press Enter.
- Follow the onscreen directions. At some point you will get to the screen shown below
- Press Enter. The screen shown below will appear.
- Using the down arrow key, highlight the Format the partition using the NTFS file system option
- Press Enter to continue
Step 5 - Install hardware drivers
You now need to install all of the drivers for your hardware. The most important one will be the driver for your network card so you will be access the internet. As long as that one is working you will be able to download all of the others if you can’t find them. You can use the hardware print out to make sure you don’t forget to install any drivers. When you finish installing all of your hardware drivers, test you hardware to make sure that it is working. Test the printer, scanner, speakers, sound, camera, microphone, etc to make sure that everything is working properly. Go online and download any missing drivers and install them. When everything is working, go to the nest step.Step 6 - Update windows
Either click on the update windows icon or go to Microsoft’s website, and select your version of windows and select update. Your system files will be updated with the latest patches.Step 7 - Install all of your applications
After you windows operating system is updated to the latest service pack, it’s time to install all of your applications using the original installation CDs. This can take anywhere from several hours to several days depending on how many applications you have to install. After you install the applications make sure they are working properly. They should be.The reason I told you to wait until after you did the windows update to install your applications was just in case a newer version of a dll one of your applications needs was installed during the update process. By waiting you will install the one your application needs to work properly.
Step 8 - Restore your files
If everything else is working properly, you can now copy all of the files you created back to your hard drive. You have a fresh install of both your windows operating system and all of your applications. Do not copy any system or application files…only the files that you created or downloaded.Congratulations, you have successfully formatted your hard drive and reinstalled windows and all of your applications. Now take yourself out for a treat.
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