Help formatting drive or ??? for new installation of windows

I recently picked up a Dell 5567 laptop cheap .... 5 or 6 years old ... would not run unless plugged in ... put in a new battery (first time I had a laptop apart) ... works great.

It had no disks with it ... has windows 10 home version.

I wanted to put a new clean installation of windows 10 on it.

I figured out how to make a bootable USB ... did the F12 ... got it to find the USB (didn't at first something about UEFI vs legacy so I burned a new USB using MBR option in RUFUS) and start the installation ...

Now I have problems.

It won't upgrade without the original disc .. no problem as I wanted a fresh install.

I tried the custom install option ...

It has 4 partitions ... system ... MSR (reserved) .. primary ... recovery

The drive is 1 TB

It won't let me install into any of them! It gives a message saying "cant install in partition ..... part of ..."

So what do I do?

Do I delete the partitions ... or format them or ???

If I delete them, do I make new ones ... how big ??

Just not sure what to do here ... no really a computer guy .. more of a "mr fix it"

I have include a picture of the screen I am stuck on.

Thanks!

Mike

Delete everything and then choose unallocated space then new. All partitions will create themselves.

itsme1 said:

Delete everything and then choose unallocated space then new. All partitions will create themselves.

Awesome! I was going to try that but was afraid of messing things up. I am a machinist by trade ... machines I understand ... computers still frighten me.

Thanks so much !!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

Okay nice.
The software part of the machines is complex, I know almost nothing about it, IT is quite vast.

didnt you bother to click where it says (Show details) ?

Megahertz said:

You have a nice laptop
7th Generation Intel Core i7-7500U Processor (4MB Cache, up to 3.5 GHz)
16GB 2400MHz, DDR4
1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
DVD_RW BT

For sure your laptop has a UEFI BIOS so you should install as UEFI-GPT
Don't use Rufus. Let MCT create a Win 10 USB installation drive.

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a UEFI BIOS, you should install as UEFI-GPT

During POST, press F12(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name).
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.

You should buy a small (128 or 256G) SSD for windows and programs and install the HDD into a caddy to replace the ODD (CD/DVD drive). You will have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost.
Universal 12.7mm caddy
Universal 9.5mm caddy

- There are many 128G SSDs .
This FanXiang is cheap (US$16) and fast.

This is a old (11 years) i3 HP laptop that I installed a 128G SSD and replaced the ODD with a HDD caddy. (it cost me only US$25)

WOW ... first, thanks for the help ... second, great idea on the SSD ! I did not realize how cheap they have become!

This computer will be for my wife. She directs a small community choir and needs a laptop.

For the price I did not think I could go too far wrong.

Thanks again !

Mike

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SIW2 said:

didnt you bother to click where it says (Show details) ?

I actually did ... and it said it was part of (I forget G??) . I was just not smart enough to know what that meant ... thus I am here asking for help.

As I said, I am a 60 year old machinist. Mechanical things ... simple electrical ... no problem. Heck, I am even pretending to be a carpenter and building a 4500 sq ft workshop (put every nail in myself).

Now computers ... that is another story. I don't mind installing and using software ... I just don't know a lot about it.

Thanks again !

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bro67 said:

Nor just clicked on the big red X after highlighting each partition.

That is what I was going to do ... just didn't want to "kill" the computer. I can get myself into a lot of trouble.

Thanks!

bro67 said:

How would you "Kill" the computer by deleting previous partitions?

OK ... maybe "kill" is the wrong word. I didn't want to do something that requires a special program or something I can't do here. I was not sure if deleting a system partition would cause the computer to lock up or ??? making it not boot and unusable.

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OK ... while I got you guys here ....

I had never thought about a SSD ... I didn't even know how the optical drive came out till I watched a video on how to change the battery.

So ..... just watched another video and a must a git confused (nothing unusual about that) ....

I looked at my optical drive .. the face is curved under and becomes part of the bottom of the computer (dell 5567) ... do you just take off that metal cover (kink of looks like it is a channel that goes into the bay about 1/2" (12mm) .. then down the side and curves under the bottom) and put that metal cover onto the new caddy?

Also, how to I know if it is 9.5 or 12.7 mm ... do you just measure the slot or the part that ejects or ?

For the price seems like a great upgrade.

I "guess" you would then install Windows and any other program files onto the new SSD and leave the hard drive for data storage?

See ... you can teach an old dog new tricks

Mike

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OK ... I am sure it is something I am doing wrong ....

I got to the screen with the partitions ... deleted all of them.

Then hit new ... it made a "system" partition and a "primary" one.

I then said to install windows and it did

But when it shut down, it would not start again ... it says no bootable hardware found.

Am I suppose to format the new partitions or ????

Thanks

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Just tried formatting the primary drive ... still the same ... no bootable device found.

What am I doing wrong?