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▌ Method 1. Format Windows 7 laptop to factory settings via “Control Panel” – 1. Click Start, then choose Control Panel, Click System and Security, 2. Select Backup and Restore displayed on the new page. 3. In the Backup and Restore window, click on the Recover system settings or your computer, 4. Next, select Advanced recovery methods, 5. Now you’ll be provided with two options: Restore files from a system image backup and Return Your Computer to Factory Condition, Select the second option. ✎Note: If your computer doesn’t have a recovery partition, then the factory reset option is not available and you’ll see the “Reinstall Windows (requires Windows installation disc)” option instead.6. 7. Click the Restart button to reboot your Windows 7 laptop and to start the factory reset process. Then your laptop will shut down and restart after a while. After that you will receive a new notification asking you to select a keyboard input method. Click “Next”.

How can I format my laptop Windows 7 without CD?

FAQs about Formatting Windows 7 without CD – If you have further questions about formatting Windows 7, follow the questions listed below and find answers here instanatly.1. How can I format my PC without CD? Back up all valuable files on the PC to an external hard drive in advance. To format a system drive on a PC, use EaseUS Partition Master:

• Launch EaseUS Partition Master and right-click on the system drive, select “Format”.
• Set a new file system format, and click “OK”.
• Click “Execute * Task” button.

To format a non-system drive on PC, use Disk Management:

• Open Disk Management, right-click on a non-system partition and select “Format Volume.”.
• Set a new file system format and click “OK”.

2. How do I wipe Windows 7 computer clean?

• Run EaseUS Partition Master and select a disk on Windows 7, right-click on it and select “Wipe Disk”.
• Click “OK” and “Execute * Task” to confirm the wipe of the disk.

If you want to keep Windows 7, right-click non-system partitions to wipe. To wipe Windows 7 with existing disk data, repeat the above steps.3. How do I force a Windows 7 format?

• Open Control Pane, click “System and Security”.
• Select “Backup and Restore”.
• Click “Recover system settings or your computer’ in the Backup and Restore window.
• Select “Advanced recovery methods”, and select “Restore files from a system image backup” or “Return Your Computer to Factory Condition”.
• Click “Backup Now” or “Skip”.
• Click “Restore” to force Windows 7 format thoroughly by starting the factory reset.

: How to Format Laptop or PC Windows 7 Without CD (Full Guides)

How can I completely format my laptop?

Factory reset a Windows laptop – Ready to clean the drive and reinstall Windows? Go to Settings > System > Recovery, At the top of the window, you’ll see Reset this PC. Click on Get Started and select Remove Everything from the box that appears. From there, you can select to reinstall Windows from the local drive or download it from the cloud. After that, Windows cleans the drive of all software, settings and data. When it’s done, the laptop will start in its setup assistant mode. You can then stop and shut it down for a fresh-out-of-the-box experience or do some setup, which is a nice touch, especially if it’s going to a family member so they can use it right away.

What is the shortcut key to format a laptop Windows 7?

Download Article A simple guide to formatting your Windows hard drive Download Article Formatting a drive will delete all of the data on it and create a new file system. You’ll need to format a drive in order to install Windows on it, or to start using it if you’re installing an extra drive. You can format a drive to quickly erase all of the data on it.

1. 1 Backup any important data. Formatting your drive will delete all of the data on it and remove the operating system. Make sure that you have any important files backed up to another location, such as an external drive or the cloud.
   • If you’re trying to securely erase the data on a drive before disposing of it, see the Securely Formatting a Drive section of this article instead.
2. 2 Insert your Windows installation disc. You’ll be using your Windows installation disc to format your drive. This is the easiest way to format the primary drive, as you cannot do this from within Windows itself. You don’t need to use your own installation disc, as you won’t actually be entering a product key (unless you proceed with reinstalling Windows).
   • Windows 7 – You can download an ISO file for Windows 7 be entering your product key here, You’ll then be transferring this ISO file to a blank DVD or USB drive using the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool which you can download here,
   • Windows 8 – You can download the Windows 8 Media Creation tool from Microsoft here, This program will download and create Windows installation media on either a blank DVD or USB drive (4GB or larger). Run the tool and follow the prompts to create the installation media.
   • Windows 10 – You can download the Windows 10 Media Creation tool from Microsoft here, Run this program to download and create your Windows 10 installation disk on either a blank DVD or USB drive. Most users should download the 64-bit version of the tool. If you aren’t sure, see How to Check if Windows is 32-Bits or 64-Bits,

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3. 3 Set your computer to boot from the installation drive. In order to run the installer and format the drive, you’ll need to set your computer to boot from that drive (DVD or USB) instead of your hard drive. The process for this varies depending on whether your computer came with Windows 7 (or older), or if your computer came with Windows 8 (or newer).
   • Windows 7 (and older) – Reboot your computer and press the BIOS, SETUP, or BOOT key that is displayed when the computer first starts. The most common keys are F2, F11, F12, and Del, In the BOOT menu, set your installation drive as the primary boot device.
   • Windows 8 (and newer) – Click the Power button in the Start screen or menu. Hold ⇧ Shift and click Restart to reboot into the “Advanced startup” menu. Select the “Troubleshoot” option and then “Advanced options”. Click “UEFI Firmware Settings” and then open the BOOT menu. Set your installation drive as the primary boot device.
4. 4 Start the setup process. Windows will load the setup files and then start the installation process. You’ll be asked to select your language and accept the terms before you proceed.
5. 5 Select a “Custom” installation. This will allow you to format your hard drive during the installation.
6. 6 Select the partition you want to format. After proceeding through the initial installation screens, you’ll be shown all of the hard drives and their partitions. You will typically have several partitions on your computer, one for your operating system, one recovery partition, and any additional partitions you may have created or drives you may have installed.
   • You can delete partitions on the same drive to combine them all into a single unallocated partition. This will delete any data on the partitions. Click the “Drive options” button to see the “Delete” option for partitions.
   • If you delete all of your partitions, you’ll need to create a new one before it can be formatted. Select the unallocated space and click “New” to create a new partition. You’ll be able to set the size of the partition out of the available free space. Note that you typically cannot create more than four partitions on a single drive.
7. 7 Format the selected partition. Click the “Format” button after selecting the partition or drive. If you don’t see the Format button, click the “Drive options” button to reveal it. You will be warned that the format process will delete all data on the partition. Once you agree, the format will happen automatically. This may take a few moments to complete.
8. 8 Install your operating system. Formatting your primary removes the operating system, so you won’t be able to use the PC until you install an operating system again. You can proceed with the Windows installation after formatting the drive, or you can install a different operating system such as Linux. To install Windows, follow the rest of the prompts in the setup program after formatting. To install Linux, you’ll need Linux installation media. See How to Install Linux for instructions on installing a variety of different Linux versions.

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1. 1 Open the Disk Management utility. When you connect a new external drive or install a new internal hard drive, you’ll need to format it before it appears in Windows Explorer. You can do this using the Disk Management utility.
   • Press ⊞ Win + R and type diskmgmt.msc to launch Disk Management. In Windows 8 and 10, you can right-click on the Start button and select “Disk Management”.
   • It may take a few moments for all of your installed hard drives to appear.
   • If you’re trying to securely erase the data on a drive before disposing of it, see the Securely Formatting a Drive section of this article instead.
2. 2 Partition the new drive (if prompted). If you’re opening Disk Management for the first time after installing a new drive, you’ll likely be prompted to initialize the disk. Don’t worry if this window doesn’t appear.
   • Select “GPT” if the new disk is 2TB or larger. Select “MBR” if the new disk is smaller than 2TB.
3. 3 Select the drive you want to format. All of your drives and partitions will be listed in Disk Management. If you’ve just installed a new drive, it will likely be on its own row with the “Unallocated” label. Expand the “Status” column to see more details about each partition.
   • You cannot format the “Boot” partition in Windows, as this is the partition that Windows is installed on.
   • Formatting will delete all of the data on the disk, so make absolutely sure you select the correct one.
4. 4 Create a partition (if necessary). If the drive is Unallocated, you will need to right-click on it and select “New Simple Volume”. Follow the prompts to create a partition out of the Unallocated space.
5. 5 Right-click on the drive or partition and select “Format”. This will open the Format window.
6. 6 Set your formatting options. You can give the drive a new name (Volume label), as well as choose its file system. For Windows, select “NTFS” as the file system for maximum compatibility. You can choose whether or not you want to perform a quick format. Only uncheck this option if you are worried that your drive is damaged.
7. 7 Wait for the format to complete. Click the Format button once you are satisfied with your settings. The formatting process may take a few minutes. Once the formatting is complete, you can use the drive to store files and install programs to it.

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1. 1 Open the Disk Management utility. You can shrink any of your existing drives to convert the free space on them into a new partition. This can be useful if you have a lot of free space on a drive and want to create a dedicated drive for specific files, such as media.
   • Press ⊞ Win + R and type diskmgmt.msc to quickly launch the Disk Management utility. You can also right-click the Start button in Windows 8 and 10 to select Disk Management from the menu.
2. 2 Select the partition that you want to shrink. You can shrink any partition that has some free space. You’ll likely want to choose one that you can at least get several GB out of to make your new partition useful. Make sure to leave enough space for the existing partition, especially if it is your boot partition. Windows performs best when it has at least 20% of the partition free.
3. 3 Right-click the partition and select “Shrink volume”. This will open a new window after Disk Management determines how much space is available to create a new partition out of.
4. 4 Enter in the size of your new partition. The window will display how much space is available to shrink the existing drive in megabytes (MB).1024MB is equal to a single gigabyte (GB). You’ll need to enter in the size you want to shrink the drive by (creating a new partition that size).
5. 5 Start the shrinking process. Click “Shrink” to carve out the space that you specified in the existing drive. It will appear in Disk Management as Unallocated space on the same drive as the old partition.
6. 6 Create a partition. Right-click on the unallocated space and select “New simple volume”. This will start the Simple Volume Wizard.
7. 7 Follow the prompts to create the partition. You’ll be able to select how much of the Unallocated space you want to use for the new partition. You’ll also be assigning a drive letter.
8. 8 Format the new partition. During the wizard, you’ll be prompted to format the partition. You can format it with a file system now, or do it later by performing the steps in the previous method.

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1. 1 Download DBAN. DBAN is a free hard drive formatting tool that can securely overwrite your data so that it cannot be recovered. You’ll want to perform this if you are donating, selling, or recycling your computer or drive to prevent identity theft.
   • You can download DBAN from dban.org, The free version will be suitable for most users.
   • You cannot use DBAN to securely wipe solid state drives (SSDs). You’ll need to use a paid program like Blancco instead.
2. 2 Burn DBAN to a blank DVD or CD. DBAN is small, and will fit on a blank CD or DVD. If you are using Windows 7 or later, you can right-click on the downloaded ISO file and select “Burn to Disc” to burn it to a blank disc in your drive.
3. 3 Set your computer to boot from the DBAN disc. You’ll need to set your computer to boot from your optical drive in order to launch DBAN.
   • Windows 7 (and older) – Reboot your computer and press the BIOS, SETUP, or BOOT key that is displayed at the manufacturer logo screen. The key is usually F2, F11, F12, or Del, Open the BOOT menu and set your optical drive as the primary boot device
   • Windows 8 (and newer) – Click the Power button in the Start screen or menu. Hold ⇧ Shift and click Restart to reboot into the “Advanced startup” menu. Select the “Troubleshoot” option and then “Advanced options”. Click “UEFI Firmware Settings” and then navigate to the BOOT menu. Set your optical drive as the primary boot device.
4. 4 Start DBAN. After setting the boot order, reboot the computer to launch DBAN. Press ↵ Enter on the main DBAN screen to start the program.
5. 5 Select the drive you want to wipe. Use the arrow keys to highlight select the hard drive that you want to erase, and then press Space to select it. Be careful selecting drives if you have data you want to keep, as there is no going back once you’ve started. You can easily erase your Windows installation if you aren’t careful.
6. 6 Press, F10 to start the wipe. This will use DBAN’s default settings which will securely wipe your data. It will be next to impossible to retrieve data after performing this wipe. The default DBAN wipe will likely take several hours to complete.
   • If you want to be extra sure that everything is absolutely erased, press M on your selected drive and select “DoD 5220.22-M” or “Gutmann Wipe”. These will take a lot longer to complete, but the wipe will be even more secure.

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Add New Question

• Question How much does it cost to format a PC? Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years. Computer & Tech Specialist Expert Answer
• Question If you use DBAN (or similar) programs to securely format a drive, can you then reinstall an OS on it e.g, Windows 10? Ganesha Sharma Community Answer No, Windows 10 does not like it on a Hard drive/USB (external ones connected via USB are considered a USB stick in most OSes). A lot of USBs have a filesystem called “FAT32”. So, no.

Ask a Question 200 characters left Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Submit Advertisement Article Summary X 1. Back up your important data.2. Insert a Windows installation disc.3. Boot from the installation disc.4.

How do I wipe and format my computer?

Wipe Your Drive in Windows 10 – To wipe your drive in Windows 10, go to Settings > Update & security > Recovery, and then click the Get Started button. When prompted, choose the option for Remove everything, You should then choose the Local reinstall option to reinstall Windows from your computer. At the Additional settings window, click the Change Settings link and turn on the switch next to Clean data, Click Confirm and then click Next, Click Reset to start the process. After the drive is wiped, Windows is reinstalled. If you plan to keep the computer, you can go through the Windows setup process again. But if you plan to get rid of the PC, just shut it down at this point.

Do I need a CD to format my laptop?

Method 2: Full Format with Resetting your PC – You can choose to use ‘Full Format’ for the Windows 10 partitions. It will help you format the drive partitions entirely and check for the bad sectors on them. However, it would take many hours depending on the size of the Windows partition.

• Go to Settings and then select Update & Security.
• Then go to Recovery and click Get Started. (See Image 4)

Image 4: Select Get Started under Recovery in Windows Settings

On the next prompt, click ‘ Remove everything’ to eliminate your system data, including system settings, apps, software, drivers, etc. (See Image 5)

Image 5: Remove everything

Select either ‘ Remove your files. This is quicker but less secure’ or ‘Remove all files only from the driver where Windows is installed.’ (See Image 6)

Image 6: Select either options to remove your files

• A warning message will appear on the screen; click Next,
• Next, when prompted, click Reset > Continue, (See Image 7)

Image 7: Choose to reset the PC

• Once done, close the window and restart your system.
• Your Windows 10 will be formatted.

I’ve successfully formatted my system but unsure whether the data is permanently deleted. How do I delete my data in a way that no one can recover it? Your data can be recovered from a formatted (& re-formatted) drive partition using an efficient data recovery tool. Therefore, it is necessary for you to not just delete or format the drive but erase it.

Why can’t I format my laptop?

Causes of Windows Unable to Complete Format Error – There are many causes that may prevent Windows from completing the format process on your devices. Here is a list of the main reasons that explain why Windows is unable to format the USB, SD card, or external hard drive, etc., devices: #1. The device contains the file system error When a storage device displays as RAW or contains an unsupported file system such as Linux Ext2/3/4, Windows won’t be able to directly format the device by using File Explorer or Disk Management. To fix this error, you will need a third-party formatting tool for help.

2. Presence of bad sectors on USB, SD When a storage device contains a certain number of bad sectors, you won’t be able to format it using Windows built-in tools. To make your device accessible again and complete the format on a USB/SD card, you can run disk error checking and a bad sector repair tool to clear the errors on your device.

#3. Virus or malware infection When your storage device is infected by a virus or malware, you can neither access the saved data nor format the device in a normal way. You need to clear the virus at first and then complete the formatting process. #4.The device is locked or write-protected by third-party software If your USB or SD card gets locked or write-protected by third-party software, you cannot format the device either.

How do I hard format my Windows laptop?

Related links – Recovery options in Windows To reset your PC, go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC > Get Started, Then, select Keep my files, choose cloud or local, change your settings, and set Restore preinstalled apps? to No, Open Recovery settings Note: If you don’t see the option to Restore preinstalled apps, it means your PC doesn’t have preinstalled apps configured. In versions of Windows 10 prior to version 2004 this feature was called Fresh Start and to use it you’d select Start > Settings > Update & security > Windows Defender > Device performance & health, Under Fresh Start, select Additional info > Get Started, Important: Resetting your PC (or using Fresh Start ) will remove most of your apps, including Microsoft Office, third-party anti-virus software, and desktop apps that came pre-installed on your device. You will not be able to recover removed apps, and will need to manually reinstall these apps. You may also lose your digital licenses and digital content associated with apps, which may impact your ability to use these apps or app-related content you paid for. Learn more about resetting your PC

How do I factory reset my laptop and delete everything?

Click Start > Settings > Update & security > Recovery. Here, you should see various options. Each performs a different type of recovery. On the Recovery screen, click Get started under Reset this PC, which offers you two choices – Keep my files or Remove everything.

What is Ctrl Alt Del in Windows 7?

What Does Ctrl+Alt+Delete Do? – If the Ctrl+Alt+Del command is executed before your Windows reaches a point where it can interrupt the command, then, BIOS can simply restart your computer. The Ctrl+Alt+Del command may also restart your computer if Windows is locked up in a certain way.

1. For instance, if you use Ctrl+Alt+Del during the Power-On-Self-Test, your computer may reboot.
2. For the previous Windows versions like Windows 3.x and 9x, if you quickly press Ctrl+Alt+Del twice in a row, Windows will perform a restart without safely close any open programs and processes on your computer.

Although the page cache is flushed and the volumes are safely unmounted, it is quite possible that the running programs are not closed cleanly and your works/documents are not saved properly. That is why you need to reboot your computer properly. If you are still using these Windows operating systems like Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, you can use the Ctrl+Alt+Del command to log in to a Windows user account. If you have logged on to Windows 10/8/7/Vista, you can use Ctrl+Alt+Del to start Windows Security. This can help you lock your computer, switch to a different user account, log off, use Task Manager, or shut down or reboot your computer.

Does a factory reset delete everything?

Get ready to factory reset – Important: A factory reset erases all your data from your phone. If you’re resetting to fix an issue, we recommend first trying other solutions. Learn how to troubleshoot Android issues, Know Google Account username & password To restore your data after you reset your phone, you must enter security info.

1. Be sure that you know a Google Account on the phone.
   • Open your phone’s Settings app.
   • Tap Accounts, If you don’t have the option to tap “Accounts,” get help from your device manufacturer,
   • You’ll find a Google Account username.
2. Be sure that you know the password for the Google Account on the phone. To confirm, sign in to that account on another device or computer. If you don’t remember the password, get sign-in help,
3. If you’ve set a screen lock, be sure that you know your phone’s PIN, pattern, or password. If you can’t unlock your phone, learn what you can do,

Tip: If you recently reset your Google Account password, wait 24 hours before you perform a factory reset. Back up your data to your Google Account A factory data reset erases your data from the phone. While data stored in your Google Account can be restored, all apps and their data will be uninstalled.

1. Charge your phone to at least 70%.
2. Connect your phone to Wi-Fi or your mobile network. When the factory reset completes, you must be connected to sign in to your Google Account.