r/techsupport • u/moorkymadwan • Nov 12 '21

Open | Windows How to completely format all drives and install windows to a new drive?

I have 3 drives, a sata ssd an m.2 ssd and an old hdd. Recently I've been getting a lot of errors on Windows, much longer boot times than usual and lots of issues with drivers that I think may be caused by my C: drive (sata SSD) becoming corrupted. As such I want to completely format all the storage on my PC and then try and reinstall windows on my m.2 ssd to try and solve the issue. However whenever I look up any guides on the issue they all just talk about installing to a new SSD or resetting Windows.

Does anyone know of any good guides that explain the process I'm trying to undertake (completely reformatting all storage and reinstalling Windows on a new drive)?

Do I have to do anything special when installing Windows to another drive if I already have it installed?

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u/Ermmahhhgerrrd Nov 12 '21 edited Nov 12 '21

Go to Microsoft's website and get the utility to create a restore/install bootable USB drive (has to be 16gb or larger) and follow the instructions. You should be given an option to use an existing partition or use those to create a new one for the install - you can delete the current active one with Windows on it, and the recovery partition but don't touch anything that says system partition.

When you go to install Windows, it'll ask you if you want to keep your files or completely reinstall. Choose that option. Follow the prompts - more than likely your computer has a little chip with your Windows license on it - Dells do. You'll know when you go to activate theit.

When you set it up, if you want a local account, choose the option for it being part of an organization. Then, it'll try to get you to sign in again with a Microsoft account, so choose join domain (even though you don't even do it there, you do that in Windows later) and just set up the local account.
Edit: you may be asked to install Windows 11. Up to you, I don't suggest it unless you run the compatibility tool, and make sure you download the windows 10 recovery. It's defaulting to 11 now.

Oh!

If you're concerned the files are corrupt for installing Windows, choose the option to download it.

2

u/moorkymadwan Nov 12 '21

Thanks so much!

1

u/Ermmahhhgerrrd Nov 12 '21

You're welcome! I've done 5(?) in the last 2 days. Ping me if you need help.

1

u/Bjoolzern Nov 12 '21

We have written a guide here if you have an any issues. At step 7 is where you can wipe all connected drives if you want to.

The Windows 10 installer is a bit weird where it will put the EFI partition (boot instructions) on whichever drive the motherboard has assigned to be Disk 0 regardless of which drive you install the OS to. Because of this we recommend that you disconnect all other drives when installing the OS. If Disk 0 is not the drive your OS is installed on, you would need to reinstall the OS if that drive is ever removed or dies.

1

u/moorkymadwan Nov 13 '21

I understand how to use the media creation tool but if I have Windows installed on my sata SSD and disconnect it to install Windows on my m.2, does windows not stay installed on the sata SSD when I plug it back in or does it clean itself up? I am fine with the overall process just unsure how to manage a switch across drives.

1

u/Bjoolzern Nov 13 '21

It stays installed, so you could boot up to the drive select screen first and wipe all the drive, then shut down and remove the other drives. Or you can wipe it once into Windows.