How to properly reinstall windows 7 on a laptop. Reinstall Windows from disk using the correct method

Almost everyone has a PC or laptop, so the issue of reinstalling the system is always relevant. Many people turn to computer services that provide similar services. There is also an option to reinstall Windows yourself. It may seem difficult at first, but it's actually not that difficult if you follow the instructions.

Disk with operating system

In order to reinstall the OS you will need a distribution kit with the required version of Windows. In this case, it is Windows 7. You can download it on the Internet, and then burn it to disk or use a flash drive.

Finding Windows 7 on the Internet is not difficult. There are a lot of resources that provide working download links. After you download the OS, burn it to disk and proceed to the next stage of reinstalling the OS.

Before starting the installation, you need to make certain settings in the command menu of your computer - in the BIOS. This is done so that when the device starts, the installation window for the new OS opens. Otherwise, you simply will not be able to download it or reinstall it.

To configure the BIOS, press the function buttons several times during the system reboot. On some laptops or PCs this may be "delete", but often you need to press F1, F2, F3 or other keys in this row.

If everything goes correctly, a blue screen with settings should soon appear. Please note that in this mode your mouse will not work; all manipulations must be done on the keyboard using the arrow keys.

Go to section Advanced Bios Features – First Boot Device, then set the CD-Room parameter and save the changes with the F10 button.

After saving all the settings, the computer will reboot itself. Note that the BIOS version may be different, but they all have the same functionality.

Installing a new OS

If everything was done correctly, the words “Boot from Cd” and “Press any key to boot” will appear on the screen. Press any key, after which Windows will start loading from the disk or flash drive. Next, you need to directly reinstall Windows. This entire process will take about 10 minutes.

Next, the computer will ask you to select a language. Here you can already use the mouse. Make the settings you need, click “Install” and proceed further. After a few minutes, a window with a license will appear. You must accept all terms and conditions and continue downloading.

The next step is to format the old operating system from the disk. To do this, in the Windows installation section, select the desired disk and click “Format”.

Note!

Data from the disk will be permanently deleted, so before reinstalling the OS you need to take care of the safety of the information you need.

Installing Windows 7

The next stage is the actual installation of the OS.

In fact, all manipulations at this stage are automatic and require only minimal intervention. It will take approximately 20 minutes to unpack the files, so you can go about your business for now as there is nothing you need to do.

After the installation is complete, a personalization window will appear, enter your name, password and key. Click the “Next” button and in the next window set the recommended parameters item.

After some time, the usual window with the Desktop will appear. This completes the Windows installation process. Next, you will need to configure the OS, in particular download drivers for your laptop or PC. We recommend that you download them from the official websites of the manufacturers.

If you managed to reinstall Windows 7 yourself, then the process of setting up the system will not be difficult for you.

the site has prepared step-by-step instructions on how to reinstall Windows 7.

Proper reinstallation of the operating system consists of the following steps:

1. Saving data to external media.
2. Creating a boot disk.
3. Formatting the hard drive (optional).
4. System installation.
5. Copying a working system using Acronis True Image.

The first and last points are required if you are afraid of losing important files when reinstalling.

Saving data

There are two options for reinstalling the system:

1. The system is installed on top of the old one.
2. Everything is removed and reinstalled.

In the first case, all data is saved (settings, passwords on sites, files, etc.), but glitches may also be saved. If you install on top, then this section about saving data is irrelevant for you.

Formatting a disk deletes all data. There are several ways to avoid losing the necessary files:

• Copy your personal information to another drive on your computer. Suitable if you have 2 hard drives.
• Dump the files to an external storage device (HDD, flash drive, memory card, smartphone).
• Save files in the cloud (Yandex Disk, Dropbox, Google Drive).
• Confidential files can be saved to a WinRar archive with a password and sent to yourself by email. After reinstalling Windows, the archive will remain in the mail.

What to copy from old Windows? Check out the following places:

• Desktop, My Documents, drive C.
• Browser bookmarks.
• Browser and torrent download folders.
• Save games.
• ICQ/Skype correspondence.

Additionally, you can add all installed programs (Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features), so that after installing a clean OS you can easily remember all your favorite programs. Upload the screenshot to VKontakte or Facebook, then it won’t be lost.

Creating a boot disk

If you have a licensed DVD with Windows, you do not need to create a boot disk (flash drive, memory card), you can skip this section.

More often than not, there is no disk, then you need to download a Windows 7 image from the Internet and correctly burn it to an external drive. We recommend looking for an image of Windows 7 Maximum (aka Ultimate), if you have more than 4 GB, then choose not the x86, but the x64 version.

Simply copying the image will not work; you need to make a bootable drive, for example, through UltraISO. To do this, you will need to download the program itself and find a drive with a capacity of 4 GB or more:

• • Run UltraISO with administrator rights.

• • From the File menu, click Open.

• • Select the downloaded OS image file.

• • Select it, click “Boot” at the top, and then “Burn Hard Disk Image...”.

• • In the new window, check: 1 – whether the flash drive/memory card/external drive is selected correctly; 2 – the same image file; 3 – the recording method should be “USB-HDD+”, click the “Record” button.

• • All information from the flash drive will be deleted.

• • The image recording process will begin.

• • Wait, successful completion of the operation looks like this.

The device is ready, now you can reinstall Windows from it. Save it, it might come in handy later. By the way, you can use the drive after this - upload any files to the free space, the main thing is not to accidentally delete the “system” ones.
Video on burning an image to a flash drive via UltraISO:

How to set boot via BIOS

Restart the computer, look carefully at the messages displayed, somewhere they will indicate which button to press during boot to get into the BIOS. This could be Del, F1, F2, Esc, Tab or another. As a last resort, use the “scientific poking” method.

Bios are different. Something like the following will be waiting for you. In the first case, you need to go to the “Advanced BIOS Features” section.

In the second “Boot”, control the arrows on the keyboard.


In any case, this setting is somewhere nearby, you will find the boot order (may look like First/Second Boot Device), first select the drive where you installed the Win7 image.

Look for the section where you exit Bios Setup Utility and save the settings. The computer will reboot and boot from the image, which will begin the installation of Windows 7.

Operating system installation

As we have already said, reinstalling Windows 7 is possible in 2 options: over the previous copy of Win and by removing the old system. If you want to put it on top and save all the data on the disk where you install the OS, then do not format it.

Tip: If you have only one physical drive, but a fairly large one (200 GB or more), first copy important data, and then divide it into logical drives C and D. It is convenient to install Windows on C with formatting, and on D to permanently store files . This is also useful for Acronis True Image. You can partition the disk during the OS reinstallation process.

• • You copied the important files, made a boot disk, set the boot in the BIOS, and rebooted the PC. The loading will be shown to you for about a minute.

• • Then Windows will present you with a window, check your language settings, click “Next”.

• • Accept the Microsoft license terms.

• • Select your installation type. At the top is “install over the old OS or update”, at the bottom is “complete reinstallation of Windows 7”.

• • Specify which disk to install the OS on. You can format it if you wish (do not format it if you want to save data on it), click “Next”. If it gives an error that it is impossible to install on this disk, then turn off the computer, disconnect all other disks and USB drives, and run the installation again. Also here you can divide a physical disk into logical ones, carefully - do not confuse which one you want to divide, when dividing, all information is deleted from it.

• • 10-20 minutes of copying files. After this, the computer will restart. This means that the copying of files is completed, and further installation occurs from the hard drive. You need to disable booting from the image in the BIOS and set it back from the HDD. The flash drive is no longer needed, you can get it from USB. If you do not change the BIOS settings, then after a reboot, loading from the flash drive image and copying will begin again.

• • After the reboot, a window will appear asking you to specify your username and password (it is not necessary to enter a password).

• • If there is a key, enter it, if not, just click Next.

• • Select update settings. The license is updated without problems; the pirated version may fail to activate. Postpone the decision until later if you don't know what to do. Many people disable updates.

• • Specify your time zone.

• • A little download and you're in Windows 7.

Video on reinstalling Windows 7:

• Disable hibernation mode (relevant for systems on SSD, it allows you to free up disk space).
• If the OS is on an SSD, transfer , temporary files and browser files to the HDD.
• Disable updates (there will be no unnecessary traffic consumption, activation will not fail, and you will not have to wait several minutes for updates to install before turning off).
• Install drivers for your video card and sound card.

After installing all the applications and configuration, use Acronis True Image to make a “clone” of the local disk. In case of problems, you can restore an exact copy of the system and the entire C drive in 5 minutes, and you do not need to reinstall everything again.

After this, you are the happy owner of a customized, clean OS, and no experiments or failures are now scary. If something goes wrong – 5 minutes and everything is fine again!

In this article I will talk about how to independently install the Windows 7 operating system from a disk onto your computer or laptop.

I offer detailed and step-by-step instructions with a visual demonstration of screenshots of installing the Windows operating system.

If you think that installing an operating system is something complicated and incomprehensible that only a specialist can handle, then I will disappoint you: this is not true. Now you can see for yourself.

All you need to install Windows 7 (or Windows 8) is a computer or laptop, a disk with the operating system (since in this article we will install Windows from a disk), detailed instructions, which I will now provide you with, and, perhaps, attentiveness! Hopefully after installation you won't look like . 🙂

After installation, I recommend installing it immediately. You understand that in our time of electronic payments this is very important. Also now (yet) nowhere without Adobe Flash Player. What's his name Right install read . You may also be very interested in not bad. If you store it on your computer private information, create a .

Important: The majority of all possible problems that arise when installing Windows 7 are associated with an incorrectly prepared installation disk and (or) the quality of the “OS build” recorded on it. You can read the article on how to correctly burn an operating system image to disk.

Remember: if this disc is not out of the box, that is, purchased in a store, then you need to use only original images from Microsoft MSDN. It is the original image, which is just as accessible on the Internet as various assemblies, that is the key to the successful installation of Windows and its normal functioning.

Do not use assemblies of unknown origin. You install all third-party fixes, corrections, and homemade assemblies at your own peril and risk. The consequences may be irreversible.

Before installing Windows 7:

Remember two basic things to do before installing Windows.

First- this is to decide in advance on which partition of the hard drive the system will be installed. As a rule, in most cases this is the C:\ drive. You should remember (or create) the volume label and size.

Remember, your desktop is entirely located on the C:\ drive, or rather, here: C:\Documents and Settings\ Username\Desktop. Think in advance about the integrity and safety of files that are important to you, copy them from your desktop, that is, from drive C, to another drive or flash drive.

All programs installed on the C:\ drive will also be deleted, but this is not a reason to drag the entire folder with programs to other drives. It is much easier to reinstall these programs on a clean system. Don't be lazy, it's not every day that you reinstall Windows.

Second moment - these are drivers for your computer or laptop. They need to be taken care of in advance. Most laptops come with them included, but if they are not available (or need to be updated), look for them on the manufacturer’s official website and download them in advance.

I recommend reading everything you need to know about installing drivers in the article “Installing Drivers or Five Iron Rules,” which is located.

If you skip this important point, then after installing Windows, you may be left without the Internet, because it is not a fact that the Windows distribution will initially contain drivers for your network card.

Installing Windows 7 from disk:

Insert the disk with the Windows operating system into the drive and restart the computer. By the way, if you don’t have a disk drive, you can install the Windows operating system using a regular one.

Let's continue. Our task is to configure the computer to boot from a DVD. This can be done in 2 ways:

• 1. select the device (DVD) in a special boot menu;
• 2. change the boot priority in the BIOS (from HDD to DVD).

The first method, selecting a device in the boot menu, is simpler and more convenient. After installing Windows, there is no need to return booting from the HDD (hard drive). However, on older computers this function is not available and in this case you will have to go into the BIOS and change the boot priority.

Start - reboot, wait until the screen goes dark and at the first sign of the system waking up (the logo appears), press and hold the Delete key on the keyboard. Why the Delete key? These can be the keys F1, F2, F3 + F2, F10, Ctrl + Alt + Esc, Ctrl + Alt + S, Esc.

There is no universal button for entering the boot menu or entering the BIOS, and it all depends on the computer manufacturer (motherboard). The surest way is to read the instructions from the computer or motherboard. The table below shows a clear example of such keys.

The boot menu looks something like this:

Press F10, agree and confirm the exit with saving (Save and Exit) by selecting “Ok”.

Phoenix Award

Let's consider the second interface option. To boot from disk, you need to change the priorities so that the first device is the DVD drive. Find the item “Advanced BIOS Features” and use the arrows to switch to the first device (First Boot Device), change to CDROM.

Press F10 and confirm Save and Exit.

If you have problems at this stage, I recommend watching this video.

Let's continue. If everything was done correctly, we will see the following window with the inscription: “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD.”

Here you need to press any key, for example, spacebar. This is only done 1 time and only at this stage of installation. We see the following window with the inscription “Windows is loading files”.

The files are being extracted, after which we will see the message "Starting Windows" and the Windows 7 installation window itself. Windows installation has begun!!

Select the desired language and click “Install”.

Next, we need to select the edition of Windows 7. Select the one for which you have a key or which you are going to activate. On laptops, it is usually indicated on a piece of paper with a key located on the bottom of the laptop. Entering the serial number itself will be a little later; it has been moved to the end of the installation.

A few words about the possibility of installing a 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit version of Windows. If you have more than 4 GB of RAM (also known as RAM, Memory), then install 64-bit, if not, then 32-bit (x86).

Let's read and agree to the license terms. Next, we need to select the installation type - select “Full installation”.

Now you need to select the partition on which Windows will be installed.

If you have this partition reserved by the system (note, it is still in megabytes (MB), not gigabytes), for example, as in the following screenshot, then select Disk 0 Partition 2.

To avoid such excruciating pain when choosing a partition, before installing Windows, look at how many gigabytes your C drive occupies.

If you have one partition on your hard drive and it is larger than 250 GB, then it would be more correct to create two local disks. One section is specifically for Windows (usually about 50-100 GB), and the other is for storing your personal information (how much will remain, XXX GB).

Note: The partitions you create should be named Disk 0 Partition 1, 2, 3..., not “Unallocated Disk Space”. Otherwise, the operating system simply will not see sections with such names.

If necessary, create a section or sections and click “Apply”:

Attention: At this stage, problems may arise - when Windows 7 asks for a driver for further installation or when the system does not see your hard drive to continue installation.

Or install (if prepared) hard disk controller drivers. If you already have two or more partitions on your hard drive, then you can skip the above point. So, we have selected the “System” section, and now we need to start formatting.

The installer warns that all our data will be deleted. This is what we need, because we are interested in a clean installation of Windows. We agree and wait. Usually the whole process takes a matter of seconds. After formatting, we see that there is more free space, calmly click “Next”.

And here is the beginning of the installation, the process has started. You can already exhale).

We're waiting... Usually it takes 15–25 minutes. When our system is installed, it will prompt you to enter your username and computer name. Let's enter.

If you wish, you can enter a password and a hint. Next, Windows will prompt you to enter your serial number. Enter (if available). If not, then skip this step and uncheck the “Automatically activate when connected to the Internet” checkbox.

Is it worth bothering yourself with the problem of how to reinstall Windows when you live two steps away from a service center, and next door you know a specialist who is always ready to come to your aid? In this case, knowing and being able to use several simple OS installation rules is everyone’s choice. On average, the cost of this procedure is low, and this despite the fact that 99 percent of it is performed automatically. Hand on heart, this money is better spent on this. This is where sometimes a real specialist really has to work hard, although this procedure can be mastered and carried out independently.

But often, by mastering science, we simply save time. Despite the appearance of the seventh version of the windowed OS from Microsoft, many users are in no hurry to part with the proven Windows XP, which was initially considered experimental. To reinstall Windows of any of the above versions, you will need to perform similar operations.

Immediately before starting the OS installation procedure, several preparatory measures must be taken. Since the system will format the disk while preparing space on the disk, you need to save all the necessary files on a removable device or transfer them to a nearby local disk.

Sometimes computers are initially configured so that the user has one large disk corresponding to the size of the hard drive. In such situations, it makes sense to split it into several sections. A convenient tool for performing this operation is Acronis Disk Director.

We launch the program, select automatic mode, in the appropriate item select the disk on which we will allocate “territory” for the new partition, and set its size. We notify the utility that we intend to create a logical partition. We will give preference to NTFS as a file system; select any letter for its name. You can make any entry to the “specify disk label” request, but usually leave it empty. In the new window, after admiring the expected result of the work, click the “finish” button.

Disk Director may reboot your system several times, but it will keep you informed of its progress. When everything is over and after the next reboot the familiar Windows window pops up, you can continue working.
Before reinstalling Windows, let's audit our files and folders, save only the most necessary things, and simply get rid of the rest of the garbage.
When all the preparatory operations have been completed, we proceed directly to the reinstallation. For example, we will describe how to reinstall Windows XP. The seventh version almost completely repeats these steps.

We insert the distribution disk into and the message “Press any key to boot from CD...” will appear, fulfill this requirement and press any button.
Sometimes in the BIOS settings the item “boot” is set not from the drive, but from the hard drive. Then you'll have to change them. To do this, you must press Delete before starting the system. So far, the most common are two BIOS options.

In an AMI BIOS with a dark blue design on a gray background, select the Boot tab at the top and install our drive there as the first boot device. For the hard drive we set the second place. We control either the “plus”, “minus” or PageUp and PageDown buttons.

For Award BIOS with a yellow-red design on a bright blue background, you need to go to Advanced BIOS Features and configure the First Boot Device line. Exiting the BIOS occurs by pressing the Save & Exit item or the standard F10 key.
Some modern motherboards use the Qiuck Boot Menu to determine the boot device. It is usually assigned to F8 or F12.

After the installation begins, we ignore all system suggestions until selecting a partition on the hard drive. Traditionally, this is drive C. We agree to quick formatting in NTFS.

At the final stage, when it is successfully installed on your computer, we will go into the BIOS again and return the hard drive to the place of the first device.

This is where the instructions on how to reinstall Windows can be completed, since what follows are the usual user settings, which are not difficult to deal with.

After reading this article, any user will be able to install the operating system via the Internet independently and for free on a desktop computer, laptop or even a netbook.

This reinstallation job is not very complicated and consists of several stages.

It should be noted that these steps can be performed using different methods, each user can choose to their liking.

At the first stage, you need to copy the Windows 7 image to your computer from the Internet and, using a special program, write it to a laser disk or external storage device via USB.

The second step requires you to boot from these media and begin reinstalling Windows 7.

At the third stage, proceed with the installation of the necessary software (if required).

How to find Windows 7 on the Internet?

First, you need to select a system image online that matches your computer’s parameters and download it. On the vast majority of resources it will be completely free.

If the RAM in the PC is more than 4GB, then x64-bit Windows 7 will do, otherwise you will need to download x86. There are several excellent online resources for downloading Windows 7:

1. http://fost.ws/ ;
2. http://nnm-club.me/ ;
3. http://torrent-soft.net/torrent-windows-7/.

The process of copying a system image from the Internet

There are other options, such as: “vipfiles”, “depositfiles”, “letitbit”, etc. But it is not recommended to take a Windows 7 image from them, since, without VIP privileges, it will take considerable time to copy it.

How to save an image to disk?

Requires special software. There are freely distributed utilities, for example, “Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 Free”, “UltraISO”, “Nero Burning ROM”. The memory capacity of the disk used should not be less than 4.7 GB. Recording Guides:

How to save an image to a flash drive

It is necessary that the amount of memory on the flash drive be at least 4 Gb.

Attention! In this case, all information on it will be deleted.

Before recording, it is required, for example, using the HP Format Tool application.

If you are using an external hard drive, you do not need to format it with the specified program.

Starting a PC from a disk or external memory

To start a computer from a newly prepared disk or external drive, you need to specify the appropriate option for the PC. It is possible that the PC will immediately start booting from them, but otherwise you will need to perform several manipulations first.

You need to enter the BIOS and specify the boot path, for example, from a DVD, from a flash drive, etc. You can enter it by pressing a special key during system boot. They are different for different models and manufacturers, so you need to find out how to enter the BIOS from the instructions included with the computer. Then you need to go to the “Boot” tab and in the “Boot Option Priorities” part in the “Boot Option #1” line, specify the boot path, for example, hard drive, flash drive, DVD. If the PC fails to start from the specified device, you need to set “UEFI/Legacy Boot” to “Legacy Only” in the “Startup” tab. Determine the required download path and press the “Enter” key. When exiting the BIOS, you must save the changes made using “Save and Exit”.

A few videos to help:

Windows 7 installation process

Having started from external media, you need to reinstall Windows 7. The necessary steps to install or reinstall the system are almost the same. The only difference is that when reinstalling, you do not need to mark up areas on the computer’s hard drive, but only format the disk where the reinstallation is performed. It is recommended that you first save your personal files to another medium.

How to activate the operating system

After reinstalling the system, you will need to activate it. Official Windows 7 this operation is carried out using a specially designed program via the Internet. Unofficial Windows will need to be activated using applications developed for this.

You can use the special application “RemoveWAT”. You need to follow the steps specified in the manual that comes with it (usually downloaded from a torrent along with the program).