How To Wipe A Hard Drive And Reinstall Windows 10

How to reinstall your Windows 11 or Windows x, format the drive and reset everything – without losing your programs and files

In this article, we will learn how to reinstall Windows on your PC, and do a complete organisation wipe and refresh – while still retaining your programs, profile, settings, documents, pictures, music, movies, favorites, wallpaper and everything else.

A Windows wipe and reinstall is a useful procedure in many cases. Information technology could exist a virus infection, a Windows Updates failure, or simply Windows xi / Windows ten becoming besides deadening or problem-ridden for use. In these cases, PC repair professionals would sometimes recommend to support the calculator, wipe its hard drive, and reinstall Windows; then, to recover your stuff from backup.

Traditionally, this has been a cumbersome process, and what's worse – with traditional backups, y'all only get a partial recovery – user files just – losing all programs, settings, personalization, profiles, passwords etc. In this article, we'll see how to do a complete backup and recovery without losing anything!

How to Backup your Windows PC

The get-go footstep in a reinstall similar this is to back up everything you've got. After you reset the arrangement, your programs and data will be gone, and y'all volition need to restore them to become dorsum to normal. The product we volition be using for this is Migration Kit Pro, which allows to easily back upwardly, and almost importantly to hands restore programs, settings and files later on reinstalling Windows (even if you are switching to a different Windows version!). Alternatively, y'all can besides utilise any tertiary party backup product that can perform a full system paradigm backup, although that would but permit you to restore files, non programs.

How to fill-in your Windows so that you tin restore programs, settings and files after the reinstall

Earlier nosotros begin, the near of import part is to take a full, consummate fill-in of your reckoner. This is crucial – without this step, yous volition lose your programs and data if you wipe the organisation clean.

Download and run Zinstall Migration Kit Pro on your computer.
Apply its 3rd selection, "Moving from Machine to Container".
Select the C: drive on Source selection, and select a place to store your backup container (information technology'southward just a large file) in the Target browse option.
A good place to shop the container is a USB external difficult drive, but whatever place which is exterior the calculator we are wiping will do fine, such as a network drive, another hard drive in the computer etc.
Start the backup process. This should take a long while, and yous volition see a message confirming that the container has been created successfully.

That'due south information technology – with merely a few clicks, your stuff is now safe, and we can keep to resetting Windows on this figurer.

How to Reinstall Windows

In one case y'all have your backup, it's time to perform the actual Windows wipe and install. In that location are several means to do it:

Option ane: If you are on Windows 11 or Windows 10, it is quite easy to reset it, and y'all don't even to wipe the drive. Here'south how:

Open Start Bill of fare, and select "Settings".
In Settings, go to the System tab.
In that bill of fare, go to Recovery.
There, look for "Reset this PC", and hitting Get Started. This will open the Reset wizard.
Select the option to Remove everything.
Follow the prompts until the wizard starts resetting your Windows to its original "out of the box" land.

Once done, proceed to the "Restore your programs, settings and files from backup" section.

Choice 2: If y'all are not on Windows eleven or Windows 10, or the born Reset process does not work for some reason, attempt using the PC Manufacturer's Factory Reset option. Each PC vendor has different instructions on how to do that. Typically, you need to restart the computer, and then hitting one of the function keys (F2, F8, F9, F10, F11, F12) to admission the manufacturer manufactory reset carte du jour. Then, follow the instructions to completely reset the computer to factory state. Once washed, go along to the "Restore your programs, settings and files from backup" department.

Option iii: If all else fails, yous tin manually install a fresh re-create of Windows xi or Windows 10 on the computer, wiping the previous installation. Here is how to practise that:

Offset, nosotros'll create a Windows xi or Windows 10 USB installation bulldoze. Here is how:
On any working computer (you lot tin can practice that on the one y'all volition exist wiping), download Microsoft'southward Windows 11 or Windows 10 Media Cosmos Tool
The tool is available here:
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209
Once you download it, plug a blank USB stick into the computer.
So, tell the tool to create an installation media on that USB stick (DO NOT press "Upgrade Now", since that would upgrade the computer you are doing this on).
Once the tool is washed, have the USB stick and plug information technology into the calculator that we are wiping and reinstalling.
Reboot the reckoner that we are reinstalling and so that it runs from the USB stick and starts the Windows xi or Windows 10 installation process.
In the installation process, tell the tool to do a Custom install, and so use the wizard to wipe the existing Windows, and reinstall a new, fresh copy of Windows instead.

Once washed, proceed to the "Restore your programs, settings and files from backup" department.

How to Restore your programs and files from backup

One time you take your fresh new Windows installation, it is time to restore your programs, settings and files from the backup you've made before.
To do that, run Zinstall Migration Kit Pro and utilize the quaternary pick, "Moving from Container to Car".
Signal information technology to the backup container you've created in the starting time department, and it will restore everything, including programs, settings and files, to the new Windows.
If you don't want to restore everything, you can also exclude some programs / folders you don't want to recover.

That's it – yous have a successfully reset your computer, and kept your programs, accounts and files correct they should be!

Ready to go?

Ready to backup your Windows, wipe it so recover your programs and files? Get Zinstall Migration Kit Pro hither. Whatever questions? Need guidance? Looking for help with your Windows reinstall, backup or recovery? Our expect techs are continuing by!

Contact us past e-mail (support@zinstall.com), phone (877.444.1588), or chat (lesser-right corner of this folio).

We are looking forwards to assisting you.