Sometimes it becomes necessary to re-install Windows, or to format the drive on which Windows is installed (C: is default). The prerequisites for re-installing windows is that you must have the driver files for all of the hardware connected to your computer. In case you don't have the driver files, download it from the internet before re-installing.
Also, take a note that all the programs installed using the previous Windows will get erased in case they are installed in the same drive as that of Windows. In case they have been installed on a different drive, they may not work properly.
- Switch on the computer. When the computer is booting up, press DEL to open up the seutp. Under the boot menu, change the boot sequence and bring your CD/DVD drive on the top. The method for doing this depends on the type of BIOS your computer is using.
- Insert the bootable Windows CD/DVD in the disc tray, and restart your computer.
- You will be prompted as “press any key to boot from CD”
- Pressing any key brings up the Windows setup menu.
The Windows-setup menu is quite user-friendly. You can choose to install a fresh copy, or repair the previous installations. You also get options for choosing the file-system for the drive on which Windows is being installed. You can also choose to format that drive. The various options related to file systems are:
- Leave the file system intact(means not to format the selected drive-in this case, you'll get multiple copies of Windows on the same drive, which can cause errors)
- Format the drive using NTFS(Quick)
- Format the drive using NTFS
- Format the drive using FAT(Quick)
- Format the drive using FAT
Using these options, you can setup the file systems. You can also format the C:, which you cannot do in the usual way as Windows does not allow to format the drive on which it it installed.
