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My other Laptop has issues, i took out the hard drive and paid for a usb/sata cable - NOW i can connect that drive to my working computer. I've backed up my data. I want to do a clean install on the drive that is connect on the USB cable. I do not have the Windows Disc i have the original product key that was on the bottom on my Laptop-i downloaded the ISO file for windows 7 home edition.

what do i do next?

how to i erase everything on the drive and install windows 7 again?

please help

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  • "what do i do next?" - Delete the partitions within WinPE and install Windows.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 14:40
  • ok what? im not a techie.
    – Varoon
    Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 15:31
  • Boot to the installation environment, delete the partitions, install Windows.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 16:27

1 Answer 1

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What you need to do next is to reboot your computer and boot from said image(go to the bios menu and change the boot order, or if your bios has the option to boot from what you want select it).

I will strongly recomend "Rufus" to burn said image to a thumb drive. Anyhow, once you have sorted that out, Windows 7 install will give the options to do a Hard Format, or Soft Format. Pick Hard(slow), go out shopping, have a meal, etc, while it will replaces every bit of data with 0's because that will take a long time.

cheers

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  • ok i have rufus and the iso file. how to i erase and prep the drive for install?
    – Varoon
    Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 15:36
  • @VaroonRamtahal As I said, just boot from the "Windows 7 Installation disk", It will guide you throught formating and installation. For Rufus, just pick the iso, pick the thumbdrive(you have to plug it into your computer) and burn the image.
    – dmb
    Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 15:39
  • ok my drive is messed up, it will not boot, thats why i have it on a sata/USB connection on my working laptop
    – Varoon
    Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 15:48
  • @VaroonRamtahal Then hook it up to your computer back again and follow the instructions above. Installation needs to be done in that computer. Booting an installation disk, has nothing to do with booting your old hdd. In the windows installer you can erase everything on that drive, and give it a proper format so you can boot up again. If you insist on doing it on other pc via usb. Go to Administrative tools > Disk Administration > Right click on your drive and format. Then pop the hdd back on your old pc and boot up "Windows 7 Installation disk"
    – dmb
    Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 16:26
  • THANK YOU GUYS VERY MUCH-now my new issues are i since i reinstalled win7 now i cannot get online. on my DEVICE MANGER it says i have a yellow icon near these : Ethernet controller- network controller - pci simple communication controller - sm bus controller. where do i get these and how do i install them?
    – Varoon
    Commented Feb 5, 2018 at 14:10

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