Win 7 Clean Install

My computer hasn't been very happy for a while now. Probably due to the fact that some of the IE9 files got deleted from my Win7 computer.

I am planning on doing a fresh install on my computer and had a couple of questions. I have already backed up my personal files (pics, vids, docs) to an external hard drive.

So questions are how long does a fresh install take? Is there anything else I should do besides the backup before I start the install?

Lenov0 core duo p8700 2.53 Ghz, 4mb Ram, 64 bit. Win 7 Home Premium was upgrade from the installed Vista.

Thanks in advance this is my first fresh install ever nervously excited.

 

Win7 is pretty quick install less than 30 minutes. It depends on the needed updates. And you may have to download SP1 after it is up and running. I'm not sure if it will update to sp1 during install or not (during install I remember seeing a screen saying "checking for updates" so I believe that it does some updates during install if you are connected to the net.

As far as drivers it seems to be pretty good at those as well. Most are automatic. You will have to check Device Manager after install to see if you are missing and drivers but they should be available on the lenovo site. You may want to navigate to your model to see if it needs any extra numbers for the model (or use autodetect) so you can see what Win7 drivers are available. http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/default.page?

One thought I had is if this was an upgrade is the disc an upgrade disc or a full Win7 disc. I'd have to check on the rules as it has been a while but I think you must let the upgrade disc see your Vista installation so it can be validated before installing. Once validated you can do a full format on the Vista partition if you choose but you can't do it before Vista is seen.

 

Before you reinstall Win7 go to the Lenovo site and download the appropriate network drivers making sure you get the 64bit versions. Put them on a removable drive. This way if your NIC is not detected you will be able to load them and then hit the net for the other drivers as needed.

 

Sach Thanks it is an upgrade disc and has been used previously to upgrade the computer. I believe when I did it I did the "merge" version not the fresh install version. I'll check around and with Lenovo to see what they say about using it for a clean install.

Spidey thanks I'll definitely get the network drivers on a thumb drive so I can use them if needed.

I know enough to be dangerous so I try and ask questions appreciate the quick responses!

 

You can bypass installing Vista first. If you have a valid windows 7 key for the upgrade disk, then read here. http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media

 

Okay dummy me. I read everything you suggested double checked my backups and am ready to go... I started in boot mode and was already to go but now I have a question about partitions.

There were 3 partitions showing and it wanted to know where I wanted to do the install.

Main partition system 252 GB
Lenovo partition logical 30 GB
OEM partition OEM

I guess Win7 is now in the main partition. All the Lenovo drivers are in the Lenovo but I can't generally see the OEM partition that shows when I boot.
If my desire is to perform a clean install would I better off placing the OS in the main partition which will wipe that drive?
Do most people separate the OS into its own partition? If so is that better to do after the clean install?

 

I've installed Windows7 50 + times. The best advice was already given, download all relevant drivers prior to your install. That way if you don't have access to the internet through say another computer, you will have all you need. Unless there is some proprietary need for the other partitions, I usually just wipe the whole drive clean,and do a clean install. it's pretty straight forward, and doesn't take long...as far as installing it in separate partition, I would not do that. Back in the day, when we had like 16 megs of RAM, it made sense, but now, you should have enough resources on your computer, and you will wind up wishing you had a bigger hard drive if you partition it...service packs can be huge, and you will find it takes at least 10 gigs with all the upgrades, so you are better off having the largest drive available when you install it. That leaves you extra room for all the good stuff you put on your PC...

 

Sorry this is my 1st install of anything... When I go into the boot mode and it asks me what to install should I delete the two partitions that have been created via the factory? The lenovo and the OEM? I assume that one of those partitions carries the Lenovo drivers and the other has all the junk that comes on a new computer these days.

I do have the Network drivers on the thumb drive and if needed I could back up the D:/Lenovo, if that is advisable, so that I would have any necessary drivers. I don't have any other drivers backed up on my external drives, should I download all relevant drivers or just the network driver?

Thanks for all the help.

 

Hi,

First I would keep the Lenovo and OEM drives. The Lenovo drive is your factory Vista image which is always good to have should you need it to reinstall Vista. Not that you would want to do that but no reason to delete it and an upgrade disc always requires a previous install available before it will work so having the ability to put Vista on there for the upgrade disc to see is advisable. Those two partitions are completely separate from your OS and will not effect how smoothly/quickly it runs--there is no interaction between them and Win7.

So you want to choose the Main partition for the install.

Go ahead and get your other drivers since they will easily fit on the thumb drive. Win7 will probably install most of them but it can't hurt to have them available ahead of time. (If there are like 50 downloads available for your model you don't need them all, some manufacture's keep all their updates on their site, you just need the basics video, lan/network so you get a good picture and have access to the internet to get anything else you need.)

****
As far as the clean install goes, I've only loaded Win7 a couple of times and am a bit unsure exactly how it works. I know after selecting your Main partition you could choose to format it at the bottom of the screen which is a quick format. That would wipe out all your old files. But it seems to me if you don't format it, Win7 just puts all your old personal documents in a Windows.old folder and then wipes out all the old system files and starts fresh and installs all the OS files anew. So I don't know that there is any great benefit in formatting first as it is only a quick format. I think I would just select the Main partition and let it do its thing. If it you want to do it differently you can always do it a second time but maybe going with defaults would be best for your first time.

 

Thanks Sach. Space isn't really an issue since those two drives are taking up maybe 30gb. But its good to know what they are. I'll continue my efforts later and see if there's any other complications I can make up...

 

If you are looking for a complication then I could address your question about whether or not to create a separate data partition. I, personally, do create a data partition and keep all my documents and downloads on it. I like having the OS separate so I don't have to scramble to backup files when I have a problem with the OS. You can definitely change the size of the OS partition after install as Win7 has a built in shrink partition option in disk management so no need to address that during install.

On formatting the main partition during installation it is still an option. I've never done an upgrade with Win7 but I keep seeing that once it sees the old installation you can format with no problems.

So you could follow this guide for a clean install or at least look at to see the progression: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html I'm not sure why they suggest manual activation but I guess it is to make sure activation goes through immediately rather than wait for Win7 to do it at some random time.