Boot From the Windows 7 DVD or USB Device. Microsoft Office Word Cursor Problems Windows. Windows 7 Clean Install Step 2 of 3. To begin the Windows 7 clean install process, youll need to boot from the Windows 7 DVD if youre using a Windows 7 DVD, or boot from a USB device if your Windows 7 installation files are located on a flash drive or other external USB drive. Tip See our Windows Installation FAQ if you have Windows 7 as an ISO image that you need on a flash drive or disc, or a Windows 7 DVD you need on a flash drive. Restart your computer with the Windows 7 DVD in your optical drive, or with the properly configured Windows 7 USB flash drive plugged in. Watch for a Press any key to boot from CD or DVD. If youre booting from a flash drive, the message might be phrased differently, like Press any key to boot from external device. Press a key to force the computer to boot from the Windows 7 DVD or USB storage device. If you do not press a key, your computer will attempt to boot to the next device in the boot order, which is probably your hard drive. If this happens, chances are your current operating system will boot. Note If your existing Windows installation begins to boot or you see a No Operating System Found or NTLDR is Missing error here instead of the screen above, the most probable reason is that your computer is not setup to boot first from the correct source. To correct this problem, youll need to change the boot order in BIOS to list the CDDVDBD drive, or External Device, first. Note Its perfectly fine if, instead of the screen above, the Windows 7 setup process begins automatically see the next step. If this happens, consider this step complete and move on Show the Windows 7 Advanced Drive Options. Windows 7 Clean Install Step 1. In this screen, youll see each partition that Windows 7 recognizes. Since a clean install involves the removal of all operating system related partitions, if they exist, well do this now. Important If, and only if, youre installing Windows 7 on a new hard drive, which of course does not have an operating system on it to remove, you can skip directly to Step 1. Windows 7 setup considers partition management as an advanced task, so youll need to click the Drive options advanced link to make those options available. In the next few steps, youll delete the partitions containing the operating system youre replacing with Windows 7, be it Windows Vista, Windows XP, a previous installation of Windows 7, etc. Delete the Partition Windows Is Installed On. Windows 7 Clean Install Step 1. Now that all available drive options are listed, you can delete any operating system related partitions from your existing hard drives. Important Before continuing, please be aware that deleting a partition will permanently erase all data from that drive. By all data I mean the operating system thats installed, all programs, all data saved by those programs, all music, all video, all documents, etc. Highlight the partition you want to delete and then click the Delete link. Note Your list of partitions may differ considerably from mine shown above. On my computer, I am performing a clean install of Windows 7 on a computer with a small 3. GB hard drive that has previously had Windows 7 installed. If you have multiple hard drives andor multiple partitions on those drives, take great care in confirming that youre deleting the correct partitions. Many people, for example, have second hard drives or partitions that act as backup drives. Thats certainly not a drive you want to be deleting. Confirm the Partition Deletion. Windows 7 Clean Install Step 1. After deleting the partition, Windows 7 setup will prompt you to confirm the deletion. The message says The partition might contain recovery files, system files, or important software from your computer manufacturer. If you delete this partition, any data stored on it will be lost. Click the OK button. Important As I spelled out in the last step, please be aware that all the data stored on that drive will be lost. If you have not backed up everything you want to keep, click Cancel, end the Windows 7 clean install process, restart your computer to boot back into whatever operating system you have installed, and back up everything you want to keep. To be clear This is the point of no return Theres no reason to be scared, I just want it to be very clear that you cant undo the deletion of the drive you selected after you click this OK button. Choose a Physical Location to Install Windows 7 On. Windows 7 Clean Install Step 1. As you can now see, all the space on the installed hard drive is unallocated. No partitions exist on this computer. Please enable cookies and refresh the page.