How to remove Windows 7 from a computer through BIOS and using Acronis Disk Director

The content of the article

• Preparing the computer to remove the operating system
• How to remove Windows 7 through BIOS
• Windows Acronis Disk Director Removal Tool
• How to install new windows and remove old
• How to remove a previous version of windows 7
• If the new OS is installed on the disk with the old OS
• If multiple operating systems are installed at the same time

The Microsoft operating system is currently the most popular environment for working on a PC. There are situations when it is necessary to reinstall Windows in order to clean the system of “junk” files or fix some critical errors. It is important to correctly reinstall and delete old Windows 7 files so that they do not take up space on your hard drive and cause conflicts during loading.

Preparing the computer to remove the operating system

Removing windows 7 must begin by creating a boot disk and copying all the important documents that are on your PC. Remember that most of the documents are stored on drive C, which will be formatted completely, nothing will remain. This also becomes the reason why programs on other sections of the hard drive will not work either (the registry with their data is in C).

Decide on which media you will have the boot file from Windows. Some modern laptops and PCs do not have cd-rom, so you will need a bootable usb-fdd. It should have special software on it, it will start during the installation of the operating system on the computer. To do this, you need to use Acronis Disk Director or another program in advance to create bootable flash drives with the Windows distribution.

How to remove Windows 7 through BIOS

The seventh version of Windows was very successful, so most users chose it. Reinstallation is sometimes required because the system inevitably becomes clogged and starts to fail. Clients even refused newer versions (8 or 8.1), so they simply removed the old OS and installed exactly the same on top. You need to uninstall the system in stages, so as not to remove something important and the computer will continue to work without problems. One option is BIOS formatting.

First you need to uninstall the previous version, and then install a fresh operating system. To do this, you must first set the correct settings in BIOS:

1. Insert a disk or flash drive with the Windows distribution into your computer.
2. Next, restart the computer to enter the BIOS. A welcome message from the motherboard developer will appear and a button or buttons are written below that allows access to the BIOS. This is usually a Del or F2 key. It depends on the presets of the motherboard creator company. Press this button several times until the BIOS environment boots..
3. Find in the menu the item that is responsible for the order of loading. By default, there is a hard drive, but you need to expose the device where the system’s boot file is located – a disk or a flash drive. The section usually has the word BOOT in the title.
4. Next, press F10 to save the changes and restart the computer..
5. When downloading, a special menu will appear where you specify the language.
6. Next, a special interface will appear, where you must select a disk for the operating system and click “Format”. This will remove the previous OS version..
7. After that, you can continue to install the latest version of Windows.

Windows Acronis Disk Director Removal Tool

The beginning of the procedure completely repeats the first 6 points of the step-by-step instructions in the previous section. You need to debug the BIOS so that the system starts from the media. First you need to install the operating system distribution kit on the USB flash drive or disk and Acronis Disk Director is a program for removing Windows 7 from a computer. After setting the necessary parameters for the download, you must do the following:

1. Reboot the computer with removable media already inserted.
2. After turning on, a blue window will appear, on which there will be an item for selecting Acronis Disk Director.
3. Click on it, the working environment of the application will appear in front of you. Click on “Launch Management Console”.
4. A window opens with a list of hard drives installed in the computer. Right-click on the section from which you want to remove Windows 7. Click on the “Format”.
5. It remains only to click on the item “Apply planned actions”. The program will start the process of deleting information, it cannot be restored.

How to install new windows and remove old

There are two ways to upgrade your operating system. One implies the removal of Windows already during the installation of a fresh OS, when the distribution prompts the user to select the hard drive directory and format it before starting. In the second case, you can install Windows on top of an existing one. This will cause two system folders to appear on the computer. This will entail the need to select the “Main” operating system at the boot stage. In this case, you can still remove the old Windows and leave only the new.

If you saved all the necessary files from the hard drive, it is recommended that you perform a clean installation of Windows with formatting the system volume. To do this, you can use the two methods described above:

• installation via removable media via BIOS;
• Windows installation using Acronis Disk Director.

How to remove a previous version of windows 7

If you do not format the disk with the old version of the operating system, you will have to manually remove Windows 7. When switching to drive C, you will see a folder called Windows.old., It contains files of the old OS, which can affect the performance of the new one. You will have to prioritize the boot every time you start your computer. You should delete the unnecessary folder to avoid problems with Windows. Two typical situations that beginners face are described below..

If the new OS is installed on the disk with the old OS

If you skip the step with formatting the root directory on the hard drive, you will have to delete the old Windows from the computer separately. Use the following procedure to complete this procedure:

1. Click on the “My Computer” folder, right-click on the system drive.
2. Find the “Properties” item, in the new window you need the “General” tab.
3. Click the “Disk Cleanup” button.
4. Next, click on “Clear System Files”.
5. Check the box “Previous Windows Settings” and click “OK”.
6. Then a notification will appear where you must confirm the desire to get rid of old data.
7. Wait for the procedure to complete..

If multiple operating systems are installed at the same time

When a person violated the installation algorithm, forgot to format, he could perform several erroneous OS installations, which led to the existence of several system folders at once. This can affect the performance of Windows, consume PC power, cause crashes or conflicts between device drivers. In the best case scenario, the user should have 1 main OS. To remove unnecessary versions of Windows, the user must adhere to the following procedure:

• format the disk with its contents where Windows 7 was installed;
• remove the corresponding item from the start list.

How to remove an old version of the OS has been described above. After that, you need to clear the launch list using the following steps:

1. Go to Windows with the latest version, run the command line as administrator using the combination Win + R.
2. You will need a configuration section. You can open it through the msconfig command.
3. A new window will open, click on the “Download” tab.
4. Click on Windows 7 and then Uninstall.
5. Click OK and restart the computer.