Dell inspiron clean install windows 7

Select the Disk 0 Unallocated Space and hit new. After creating the new partition and selecting it hit next. At this point the installation begins to copy the needed files. About 35 minutes later the installation checklist should complete, although the time may vary based upon your installed memory. I performed the installation with 1GB of memory which took approximately 35 minutes. After the checklist is complete the machine will automatically reboot.

I chose Brad Groux for the username and Echoplex for the computer name. Hit next after making your entry. Next up is the Windows update settings… always choose Use Recommended Settings unless you have a reason not to.

Make sure your date, time and time zone are correct; mine was off by 7 hours. I was hardwired to a network so this was the screen that I saw. After the previous step, Windows will take 1—2 minutes to finalize your settings. It is buried deep inside the laptop. Browse Community. Windows General. Inspiron 15R Special Edition. Turn on suggestions. Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.

Showing results for. Search instead for. Did you mean:. Last reply by dibyaranjan16 Solved. How do I do a clean install of Windows 7 on Dell Inspiron a. My laptop was able to boot up from the retail disk. Could someone tell me where and how to locate the mass storage driver? All forum topics Previous Topic Next Topic. Solutions 2. Accepted Solutions. Community Accepted Solution. Replies Than try reinstalling the Windows again and see if it works. We will take the Inspiron desktop and install Windows 7 64 bit for example.

On the Dell ftp website the user should generally ignore Legacy Drivers but its sometimes worth checking especially if the user is looking to install an unsupported Operating System. The user should download only the latest drivers for their system which correspond to their Operating System. However ensure that the OS you wish to install is under the supported OS in this case we would want revision A00 for Windows 7 64 bit and not revision A04 for Windows Vista 64 bit.

Finally one thing to note is that certain categories, in particular Network Wireless Card and Video Graphics Card were customisable and have several variants, you must select the correct ones for your system. Downloading from the ftp website is faster but designed for advanced users.

However due to the sorry state of the drivers and downloads page I recommend all users to use the ftp website. Pay attention to driver install order Step 5c. All the drivers should be downloaded and saved to a USB stick.

The way this guide is intended Steps are preparation for installing Windows so the user has everything they need when installing Windows. This is why Step 5 downloading drivers and Step 10 installing drivers are independent. If however the user has already attempted to install Windows likely they won't be able to access the internet to get the drivers and will need to use a working system to download them.

If you are planning to install Windows 7 and see that there are no listed Windows 7 drivers available for your system. Note that:. There are few exceptions to this rulein particular bluetooth which integrates with Windows Explorer. If you only have XP drivers listed then ask on the forums for assistance; however if Vista or 7 drivers are unavailable for your system it is likely you will get a low Windows Experience Index running these operating systems on your hardware, so I would not recommend switching in this case.

There are a couple of unofficial driver sets listed for selected laptops and desktops provided by me. These are likely to work but theres no g uarantee.

When downloading drivers for a clean install I recommend using the same folder structure as me to prevent confusion and to ensure that you install all the drivers in the correct order. S ee here for more information about Dell Desktop Software.

Not all systems will have this. Note there are the drivers and the applications. The applications should increase system performance.

If a full installer isn't present then it is likely the preinstallation drivers see Step 6. Video Driver - Under Video. Generally there are several variants for Video Driver e. Ignore any for TV tuners at this moment. There may be a few variants of graphics cards for a laptop and you must select the correct ones. I n desktops if there is no dedicated graphics card in the card slot, then they have the onboard generally Intel driver. Generally there are several variants of graphics card per desktop model and you need to pick the correct one.

Conexant Drivers - Under Communications. Drivers for Modems are often natively included in Windows 7 if its not there don't worry. Modems are becoming obsolete also. For newer systems if modem drivers exist, they may fail to install as a modem is not present. As modems are becoming obsolete the modem is not always installed as default for a Windows 7 laptop. Network Ethernet Driver - Under Network. Sometimes Intel, Atheros but the later two can be the wireless card.

Wireless Card - Under Network. Not present for all Desktops but most that come with Windows Vista or later will have a wireless card included. There are generally several variants of Wireless Cards and you will need to pick the correct one. For some newer systems the wireless and bluetooth card are one and the same.

Touchpad usually mentions Synaptics or Alps - Input. Generally for laptops only. There may be additional drivers if you purchased a non-standard keyboard for a desktop e. Audio - Under Audio. Ensure you install any drivers before Audio Applications. Again pick the correct one for your system, there is generally not that many variants in the Audio. This is a dedicated soundcard. There will be a driver available but you may be able to get a later driver from the Creative Website.

There is sometimes also Creative Applications available for the onboard Audio. Many systems don't have these and are only added via customisation. Bluetooth If applicable - Under Network. For some newer systems the wireless and bluetooth card are one and the same and the driver will be installed alongside the wireless driver.

This is for the power settings and Fn keys. Usually this is for laptops only. Webcam Driver found - Under Input. For many laptop systems the Webcam Driver is included in Windows 7. Most desktops won't have a webcam driver or will use a dedicated Logitech or Creative webcam which can be downloaded from the perspective vendors. Note for desktop systems with a webcam integrated into the monitor, the webcam driver may be found bundled with the monitor driver.

Installation of the monitor driver will install the webcam. Mobile Broadband Drivers - under Communications. Most users don't have these but the drivers are there for users that do. These are the main drivers and I have tried to give a basic guide to cover all systems. There will of course be some other variants from model to model and customisations within the same model such as mobile broadband cards, TV tuners and other drivers depending on your systems configuration.

There may also be security drivers for Latitude and Optiplex series. The check for any missing drivers is via the Device Manager Step 12 and you should post on the Microsoft OS forum if you run into problems there. These can be updated if you wish but I would recommend leaving these well alone. Sometimes if these updates go wrong, things seriously break. If you have no problems with any of these devices then leave them be.

You may look through Applications to see if you find anything else useful. The BIOs can also be updated see Step 17 for more information about this. In the case where newer hard drives are fitted several errors may occur during Widnows 7 Reinstallation:. Downloading the. You will need to extract the file with 7zip as shown. First download and install 7zip from here , selecting the 32 bit. Look in this folder for a F6flpy-x86 32 bit or F6flyp-x64 folder 64 bit and copy this to a USB stick.

Select the correct one to match the version of Windows you are installing. Note if there are additional folders and a setup. Note some of the items under "SATA Drivers" are applications these should be installed alongside the system drivers. See the downloads page below for example. The 2 Applications should be installed at the end of the installation while the two drivers should be loaded onto the USB stick.

The 2 Firmware may be installed at the end of the installation if desired. For the Intel Drivers the F6flpy-x86 and F6flpy-x64 should be offered as seperate. Download the correct one and extract it with 7zip then copy the extracted folder to your USB stick.

If you get one of the error messages above start a new post in the Disk Drives forum stating your model number, your type of hard drive if you know, for example if you purchased one and what Operating System you have tried to install. In addition it may be worth mentioning what SATA drivers you have attempted to use. Step 7a is for advanced users, most regular users should skip it.

Not all systems have card readers. DBAN will then load. The easiest way to use DBAN is by typing autonuke and then pressing enter. You should get these two screens. DBAN will then begin to securely format your hard drive. Note DBAN can take a very long time to securely format a large capacity hard drive.

When completed you should get a screen like this. Hopefully it will say DBAN succeeded although sometimes it mentions an error. Most of the times that it has mentioned an error to me it has actually fully formatted the drive and ran for the same length of time as it should i.

You may also re-enable the UEFI and secure boot. Note using DBAN may sometimes cause some issues with product activation if using upgrade product keys as the original version of Windows is not there. Some people have reported that a double install of Windows 7 will work in this case see here. Others reinstall the old operating system, activate it and then proceed with a clean install Windows 7. This step is only for systems shipped with Media Direct.

These systems will have a MediaDirect button in close proximty to the power button as shown below. If your system doesn't have this button skip this step. The partitions for Media Direct must be set up before the installation of Microsoft Windows otherwise pressing the Media Direct Button while the system is powered down can corrupt your Operating System.

It should look like the following:. Power down your computer. Select option 1 recommended or option 2. Note: The application must be installed after the system drivers while on the Windows Desktop Step Ensure everything documents and the downloads listed above is copied over onto the external hard drive. Note: It is recommended to unplug any unecessary peripherals You need keyboard and mouse. Note: Where possible use USB 2. Note: Ensure that the keyboard and mouse are plugged in USB 2.

Note: For systems with only USB 3. Next one that says Starting Windows. You will then be prompted for your language, time and currency format and keyboard settings. Mine are all set to U. Select Install Now.

Read the license, check to select and then select Next. There are always some bugs when selecting "Upgrade" on this screen and this seriously hinders your systems performance. Ensure that "Hide drivers that are not compatible with hardware on this computer is ticked" it should be set like this by default. Select all the drivers listed and then click next. It will take you back to this screen. Select "Drive Options". This will reveal the drive options.

The tools are rather self-explanatory. For a new hard drive you will need to select New to make a new partition case below. You should get a message saying some space must be "System Reserved" and a System Reserved Partition is made, don't worry about it, it is very small.

The Dell Factory setting won't work in either case. I recommend deleting or formatting but you must take the 3rd option if you have not carried out Step 1 and wish to keep your data.

Note: if you have not backed up all your data onto an external hard drive. Do not select any of the drive options particularly format or delete. In this scenario all your files will be saved in a folder called windows. Type in your "username", by default the PC name will be "username-PC" but you can change this as desired. Next type in your password, retype it and leave yourself a hint.

Alternatively just select next to have no password - not recommended but optional. If using retail media you will be prompted for a product key. A Dell OEM disc should not require you to input this key and this screen should not display. Once you have input your key select Next. The following screen will display if you have input the wrong key. Alternatively you may skip this step and get a 30 day trial of Windows 7 which is recommended for testing Windows 7 on your machine.

Once you have input the correct key, this should lead you to here, generally select Use recommended settings should be selected. In this case the system is a home desktop connected to a router via an Ethernet cable. You may alternatively be asked about connecting to a wireless network. Note the above screen should show only if your system can connect to the internet.

Often the network drivers are needed to be installed before connecting to a network so this step may not show or if it does skip it if you cannot connect. Now that you have Windows 7 installed. Ensure that you have the latest Service Pack installed. It often works out better installing the latest Service Pack and Internet Explorer before installing the system drivers.

Doing so in this order prevents a great deal of problems with Windows Update and conflicts with system drivers. You should have downloaded these onto a USB stick at Step 4 if your installation media didn't include them and have them readily accessible on a USB stick or External Harddrive. Ensure you keep to the order listed above for best results. You should again have downloaded these at Step 4 and have them readily accessible on a USB stick or External Harddrive.

Running the. Unfortunately often no installer runs and the file just extracts.