[JR50]

I tried reformatting my computer following this link Windows 7 Ultimate reinstall with format

using the "Reinstallation DVD Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit" disc that I have. I followed the steps and completed all the reinstallation although some of the steps on that link did not come up for me. When the hard drive set up came up next It showed 2 disk partitions then under those were the C drive and D drive, both showing the space that was used up on them before I began to reformat. I followed the instructions to select the drive which Windows currently resides on, which is C. When I clicked on C there was no "Drive Options (advanced)" option to click on like shown in that step on the link.

I followed through with the re-installation and waited through the steps. When I got to the account set up, I entered the fields and clicked next but there was no "Type your Product Key for Activation" step as shown in the link. I continued on and entered the date and time, and instead of bringing up the network options window it went straight to the home screen where I was able to log onto my account. However...it still shows my C: drive with only 131 GB of free space out of 456 and my D drive with 387 GB of free space out of 931. There's now a Recovery (F drive with 4.22 GB of free space out of 9.61.

Before attemtping to reformat, I backed everything that I wanted to keep on external hard drives. My intention was to reformat my computer so I can use it likes it is brand new again, with the Drives completely free of space. I was under the assumption that using the boot disc I used and following the steps on the link I provided that was given to me in another thread that I was going to be able to accomplish what I stated above. ON the leftside of the disc it does say "The Software is already installed o your computer. Use this DVD only to reinstall the operating system on a Dell PC" "The DVD is not for reinstallation of programs and drivers". Does this mean this is the wrong disc if I want to completely reformat my computer? This is the only Windows 7 installation disc I have.

 

[sobeit]

is your dell installation disk for that specific computer? You can always use dban to format the drive first.

Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing

 

[JR50]

I don't think so because I don't see the specific model of my Dell written anywhere on the disk. This is the only re-installation disk (I think) that came with my PC though, or at least the only one I can find. And it says "For distribution only with a new Dell PC".

What are my options here? Should I use Dban then just run the reinstallation disk again?

 

[cluberti]

You won't need to use DBAN, and what you saw with the Dell DVD is normal (it's pre-activated on certain Dell machines that match the BIOS to the certificate used in Windows.

As to cleaning the disk, boot to the Windows 7 DVD and click the "Install now" button on the first screen. At the next screen, press SHIFT+F8 or SHIFT+F10 (can't remember which) to bring up a cmd prompt. Run diskpart, run list disk, and make sure disk 0 is the hard drive you want to format/install to. Then, run select disk 0, then run clean all (this can take some time to finish, especially on larger disks). Once that's done, close the cmd prompt and continue with Windows setup as normal.

Note that the clean all command *will* get rid of everything on the disk selected, so if you have user data there make sure it's backed up first.

 

[JR50]

okay thanks a lot. After I ran "clean all" in the cmd prompt no more text followed and the dash marker is blinking under it unmovable. Is this normal? If it matters disk 0 is my D drive, not the drive that I'm installing Windows to (C. I'm going to have to run this all again to clean C as well before continuing with the Windows setup.

 

[JR50]

Nevermind, it took several hours but the D drive (Disk 0) was cleaned. When I try to clean the C Drive (Disk 1) I get this error

Virtual Disk Service error:
Clean is not allowed on the disk containing the current boot, system, pagefile, crashdump, or hibernation volume.

In the CMD prompt it shows Disk 1 (C with 0 B free. My C disk only has 127 GB free out of 456 GB though even after I ran the Win 7 Reinstallation DVD earlier. How can I clear the C: drive either prior to or during the Windows 7 Reinstallation so I have full space of the drive?

 

[[email protected]]

1. Insert the Dell Resource CD (Dell Drivers & Utility CD) into a CD or DVD drive....2. Restart the computer, and then tap to enter the One-Time Boot Menu....3. Select the CD or DVD drive and press ....4. When you see a message that says Press any key to boot from CD, press a key on the keyboard....5. When prompted to start diagnostics, press Q to choose Quit without any action (Return to DOS)....6. At the command prompt, type A: and press ....7. From the A:\> prompt, type the following commands, and then press after each command:debug- A 100xxxx:0100 INT 13xxxx:0102 (Leave this line blank. Press to continue.)- RAXAX 0000: 0301- RBXBX 0000: 0200- F 200 L 200 0- RCXCX 0000: 0001- RDXDX 0000: 0080- P- Q The screen returns to the A:\> prompt, and all data has been removed from the hard drive....now remove the Resource CD & insert the Operating System DVD..restart the system & install the Operating System..

 

[JR50]

The only other CD I can find is the Dell Drivers and Documentation CD for my flat panel monitor. I guess I'll have to try to use Dban.

edit: Just realized I need to burn Dban to a blank disk. Are there any other methods for cleaning my drive?

 

[cluberti]

In the diskpart prompt, do a list disk and see which one is the 500GB disk - if it's disk 1, that's the one you clean. If it's disk 0, then we might have an issue (although not that big of an issue that can't be worked around). There's no reason to resort to DBAN, diskpart does work.

 

[JR50]

In the diskpart prompt, do a list disk and see which one is the 500GB disk - if it's disk 1, that's the one you clean. If it's disk 0, then we might have an issue (although not that big of an issue that can't be worked around). There's no reason to resort to DBAN, diskpart does work.

The 500GB disk is disk 1 but it won't let me clean it. The 1TB disk (my 2nd internal drive) was disk 0 which got cleaned fine. In the prompt after I select disk 1 and it reads "Disk 1 is now the selected disk" I typed "clean all" and I got this error.


Virtual Disk Service error:
Clean is not allowed on the disk containing the current boot, system, pagefile, crashdump, or hibernation volume.

 

[[email protected]]

Try to arrange any Dell Resource *(Drivers & Utilities) CD for any dell computer..the main purpose is too boot in command prompt..so even if you have a Win 98 CD that will do the commands we need to enter (i will give it again) is in command prompt outside Operating System...so once you get in command Prompt outside OS...Type the commands..

 

[[email protected]]

At the command prompt, type A: and press enter.... From the A:\> prompt, type the following commands, and then press enter after each command : (1) debug (2) A 100 (3) "xxxx:0100" INT 13 (4) "xxxx:0102" (Leave this line blank. Press enter to continue) (5) RAX (6) "AX 0000:" 0301 (7) RBX (8) "BX 0000:" 0200 (9) F 200 L 200 0 (10) RCX (11) "CX 0000:" 0001 (12) RDX (13) "DX 0000:" 0080 (14) P (15) QThe screen returns to the A:\> prompt, and all data has been removed from the hard drive....now insert the Operating System DVD..restart the system & install the Operating System.. **the text in " " will appear when you type the previous command,you need to enter the text after " "....

 

[JR50]

ugh...I found the box where I stashed old CD's but still couldn't find any Dell drivers and utility CD. The closest thing I found was a Dell Dimension Dell System Updates For Windows 98 Disc. Don't know if this will work but I'll try doing what you described with this CD.

edit: I don't know if it's due to the CD or what but I tried following your instructions and wasn't able to accomplish anything.

1. Insert the Dell Resource CD (Dell Drivers & Utility CD) into a CD or DVD drive....2. Restart the computer, and then tap to enter the One-Time Boot
I did this then on restart hit F12 to get to the boot options. Under please select boot device I highlights CD/DVD and hit enter.
4. When you see a message that says Press any key to boot from CD, press a key on the keyboard....
I don't get this message, windows stars up as normal and brings me to the user account menu.
.

 

[cluberti]

Are you booting from disk1? I ask because the only time you should see this is if it thinks it's actually booted from that volume. If you're booting from the Win7 DVD (as the first boot item in the BIOS or you select it from the BIOS boot menu), you shouldn't get this message.

 

[JR50]

Weird I could have sworn I made a post a couple hours ago but I guess I forgot to hit the post button. Anyway, my apologies because I was doing it wrong before but I was able to clean disk 1 without any problems this time. I just have one more question. I'm at the "Where do you want to install Windows?" screen of the Win 7 reinstallation. Disk 0 is shown as the 1 TB disk and Disk 1 is the 500 GB. It doesn't make a difference if I install Windows on Disk 1 instead of Disk 0 right? I ask this b/c I want my D: Drive/2nd internal to be the larger drive b/c I will be dedicating it strictly to a DAW (Pro Tools 9) and all of it's components.

 

[cluberti]

No, there's no issue - your bootsector and boot information will likely be stored on Disk 0 (as the BIOS is reporting that drive as the first in the enumerated list), but otherwise Disk 1 will be C:, and other partitions will get whatever letters you assign later.

 

[JR50]

Okay thanks, I completed the reformat fine. 2 things though that I need to ask before I get everything is squared away and good to go.

1. Where do I have to go to activate disk 0 as my D drive? The only drive that shows under Hard Disk Drives is the 500GB C drive.

2. I have a Linksys Router and use a wireless-N USB network adapter to run internet on the PC I just reformatted. When I go the the Network and Sharing Center and click on "Connect to a network" it now says No connections are available.

 

[cluberti]

If you run diskmgmt.msc, you will get to the disk management console. From there you can online, partition, and format the disk as you desire.

You will (very) likely need to have the driver for your USB adapter and install it (open devmgmt.msc, and you'll probably see a few unknown devices, and that is likely one of them).