How to Format a Laptop

way to clean your computer. The procedure to reformat a laptop is rather simple in today's world. The manufacturer either provides the owner with a copy of the operating system (OS) or they create a restoration partition on the hard drive. Before beginning, however, it is important that you back up all of your information on an external hard drive or CDs and DVDs or else you will lose all of it in the process.

Method One of Two: Reformatting your Laptop with Installation CDs Edit Image titled Reformat a Laptop Step 1 1 Back up your hard drive. Reformatting your laptop will cause you to lose all of your information so it is recommended that you back up your hard drive on an external hard drive, CDs, or DVDs if you wish to keep it. Image titled Reformat a Laptop Step 2 2 Determine which method of restoration is provided by the manufacturer. If you received a set of installation CDs with your machine, then use this. If you did not, your computer may have a restore partition set up, which means you will need to employ a different method.[1] Image titled Reformat a Laptop Step 3 3 Insert the operating system disk into your CD/DVD drive. It normally auto-runs and will open to a menu, or options page. Select the option for installing a fresh copy of the operating system. If the CD doesn't run by itself, double click on "My Computer," and then right click on the drive with the OS disk. Click "Auto-Run." Image titled Reformat a Laptop Step 4 4 Wait for the CD to proceed automatically. If you are away from the computer for awhile, it will pause at the next point, awaiting any required input from you. Follow the prompts, be patient and avoid the temptation to intervene. This process may take a few minutes.[2] If you are reformatting your laptop hard drive, you will accept the default offerings/settings that the installation disc is asking for. Image titled Reformat a Laptop Step 5 5 Wait for the installation to complete. When the operating system installation is complete, a completely fresh desktop will appear.

Advertisement No Was this method helpful? Reformatting your Laptop with Installation CDs Yes Method Two of Two: Reformatting a Laptop Using Restoration Partition Edit Image titled Reformat a Laptop Step 6 1 Restart your computer. While the machine is rebooting, repeatedly press the F10 key on your keyboard until the machine boots. This will take you into the partition offering you options for repair or restore (reformatting and reloading). Image titled Reformat a Laptop Step 7 2 Select the option for installing a fresh system. The beauty of this system is that you don't have to do anything else. The restore partition will completely run the program to format, reload the OS, install drivers and install all of the original software that came with your laptop. Image titled Reformat a Laptop Step 8 3 Wait for the reformat to complete. This process will usually take around 30 minutes to complete.

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