How to Wipe Only C drive and resintall OS?


  1. Posts : 2
    Windows 10, Ubuntu
       #1

    How to Wipe Only C drive and resintall OS?


    Hi, my laptop became a bit slow and explorer crashes often. So, to clean install, I am guessing "Reset this PC" should work.
    There are 2 options "Keep my files" and "remove everything". I have partitioned the hard drive space it to 4 local disks and installed windows 10 on C drive. I want only C drive to be cleaned and rest of the disks data to be intact. Which option to choose?

    Additional Info: My laptop came with Windows 8 and I upgraded to W10. So I am hoping this reset option wouldn't mess with activation.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 17,661
    Windows 10 Pro
       #2

    The very next dialog after the "Keep my files" or "Remove everything" asks if you want to remove the content of all drives or just the Windows system drive C:. See the tutorial: Reset Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums, Option Two steps 5 & 6.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 985
    Windows 10 Home 21H1
       #3

    Kari said:
    The very next dialog after the "Keep my files" or "Remove everything" asks if you want to remove the content of all drives or just the Windows system drive C:. See the tutorial: Reset Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums, Option Two steps 5 & 6.
    Hi, After reading the thread it appears to say that this option just applies to partitions on the Windows drive.
    However, When I checked and did a quick runthrough of Reset PC without performing the Reset it recognised more than one drive and asked if I wanted to remove content from all drives. The other drive listed when I clicked the link underneath to show the drive that will be affected it was Drive D:/
    Drive D:/ on my PC is a 1 terabyte internal HDD. It contains games and other software.
    Drive C:/ is the Windows 10 system drive. It is a 128GB SSD

    I only ever use the remove everything option (Reset) so I get a proper clean installation. I don't use the Refresh option.
    Does that any drives on the PC including a separate HDD can have all files removed and not just the Windows Drive and its partitions if you select to clean all drives?
    This would be good for me if that's what it does because if I clean install with Reset PC I could also clean the D:/ drive at the same time as well as the C:/ Windows 10 drive. I would then install all Games and software on the D:/ drive again from scratch afterwards.

    This would be great if thats how it works because Im guessing when Reset PC is performed anything that was installed on the D:/ drive before performing Reset PC wouldn't work correctly anyway because those games would have written entries to the registry on the C:/ system drive. So Reset PC would overwwrite the registry on the C:/ drive and that would break any links to the games installed on the D:/ drive meaning that they wouldn't run correctly
    Last edited by sportsfan148; 21 Mar 2019 at 15:14.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 308
    Win10
       #4

    You don't want to do the RESET, what you want is a refresh. Read the thread again.

    What you want will install a fresh installation and move your current windows into a windows.old folder. Everything else, to include most settings will stay in place.

    If you want to do a fresh install and lose all apps and settings, then my suggestion would be do a new install and where it ask what drive to put it on, delete your current C:\ drive then create a new one and put the install there. It shouldn't mess with your other drives but I would have a backup because stranger things have happened.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 985
    Windows 10 Home 21H1
       #5

    Soapm said:
    You don't want to do the RESET, what you want is a refresh. Read the thread again.

    What you want will install a fresh installation and move your current windows into a windows.old folder. Everything else, to include most settings will stay in place.

    If you want to do a fresh install and lose all apps and settings, then my suggestion would be do a new install and where it ask what drive to put it on, delete your current C:\ drive then create a new one and put the install there. It shouldn't mess with your other drives but I would have a backup because stranger things have happened.
    I don't want the refresh option.. I never use Refresh at all. Its the clean installation using Reset PC that I use.
    I also use the Media Creation Tool clean install method too but only when necessary. Most times Reset PC and select remove everything is sufficient
      My Computer


 

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