How to wipe a "previous work laptop" completely clean & re-install windows?

Question

Hi there,

I have a girlfriend who asked me for some help with her laptop. Her current little netbook is having "power cable port issues" and isn't holding a charge. She has taken it to Microcenter, and it will cost $200 for the part and labor.

When she told me that, she then showed me two other laptops she had in the house from previous employment. One is an Lenovo Thinkpad T60 running windows XP, and the other is an HP Elite Book 8440p running Windows 7.

Both laptops turn on, but since they were once connected to the old company's network, the SecureDoc Boot Logon appears. After logging in there, you are then taken to a screen for a windows login requiring username/password.

I'm assuming she can't install additional software, or connect to a public wifi hotspot with all this old corporate IT protective ware. Since she no longer needs any of that added security or additional protection, I thought I could help her wipe both hardrives completely clean and start over.

We would have to re-install windows then, in which she could decide whether windows 7 or even windows 8 makes sense. I myself just upgraded to windows 8, so I think the HP Elitebook she has could perform well with it.

I am not computer illiterate, but I don't have a lot of "wiping hardrive experience." I am trying to make sure that if we wipe the hardrive clean, that will get everything off of it (including any old work security or data) so that when we start over it's basically up to us to re-install everything. She is in the process of moving and trying to sell a lot of her things, so Ebay/Craigslist, being able to connect to wifi at a starbucks/panera, load pictures, do research, use microsoft word and excel, etc. Basically she wants to turn these back into everyday laptop that can be for general use.

Again because of the old work part, I don't know if she has administrative rights on these computers (ie: corporate help desk used to troubleshoot all computer related issues) so we just need to find the easiest way to start from scratch. I have my laptop here if taking her hard drive onto my computer and wiping it clean makes sense.

I certainly appreciate any/all your help and advice, and if you have any ideas...it would be great if you could explain everything out, so that I could just follow step by step. Hope everyone has a great week. jp

Answer 1

I would tell her to buy a copy of windows 7 premium 32bit (not 64bit) and stick that on the thinkpad, they are great laptops, providing it is all working OK.

Power up the laptop and open the cd drive, put in the new windows disk and reboot or power off then on with it in the drive.

when windows gets to the install part where it asks "WHAT TYPE OF INSTALLATION YOU WANT" choose "custom advanced" then click drive options advanced. click on any and All partitions and delete them all. then click install. the rest will just be a case of inputing the product code and your user name etc. use network type home and dont bother with passwords.

When it has finished installing you MUST activate it to get updates and service packs etc BUT before you do this make sure you check in the device manager to see that all drivers are installed and working, once you have got them all sorted test the laptops hardware, ie sound, wireless, video etc, If all seems good then ACTIVATE windows and then do all the windows updates.

Any drivers windows cant find will be on the Lenovo Support website for you to download and install.

If the thinkpad has a major fault try installing on the other laptop in the same way butt remember only activate once you are sure it all works properly.

Using the custom advance menu to install windows will remove everything on the drive providing you delete the old partitions first.



Make sure she gives you a big kiss when its done. there is a good few hours work.

Answer 2

Easy! It will take alittle knowledge but you shouldnt have a problem doing it. to completely wipe the hard drive you can download DBAN whihch is deriks boot and nuke. Burn this iso to a cd and then boot you computer off of it by changing the boot priority in the bios. Once you boot from it just follow the instructions. Another thing that is easy to do if you are not worried about the security of the wipe is to just boot up from the new windows cd from using the same method as above and when it asks where you want to install the new os you can format the old os and it will wipe it from the hard drive so that you can simply install over it. This is not secure as far as information that was originally on the old os but if you could car less about it then it will cause you no trouble to simply write over it. I would recommend the first method but the second it easiest. If you have any other questions be sure to message me. Good Luck

Answer 3

when windows gets to the install part where it asks "WHAT TYPE OF INSTALLATION YOU WANT" choose "custom advanced" then click drive options advanced. click on any and All partitions and delete them all. then click install. the rest will just be a case of inputing the product code and your user name etc. use network type home and dont bother with passwords.

When it has finished installing you MUST activate it to get updates and service packs etc BUT before you do this make sure you check in the device manager to see that all drivers are installed and working, once you have got them all sorted test the laptops hardware, ie sound, wireless, video etc, If all seems good then ACTIVATE windows and then do all the windows updates.

Any drivers windows cant find will be on the Lenovo Support website for you to download and install.

Answer 4

Hello,



If in case, your friend has no need of the data from her previous, then you can go for a system format. When you insert the System OS CD, it will ask for repair or format (if in case of XP). Then you can go for system format, where it will pop up to first delete the present partition which houses the Operating system, reformat and reinstallation. It is easy and simple.



To get to that screen, as soon as you press the power button, the system starts boot up. As soon as it displays the system logo, it will ask to press a unction key, which it specifies to go for the windows basic operational skills. There you need to be little careful, as any kind of misalert can lead you into troubles.



Rest all will be fine and easy and will go swiftly.



There are also N numbers of password recovery software’s on internet. Anyway, since you are going for reformatting, it is better you use them and break the password. If it works, then you can also access your old office files. If not, you can go for a format then on. If you feel insecure about loosing data, then please go for professional help.



a few months gap, with over-confidence, i went for reformat and due to my silly mistake lost all the precious data of my work. I was very much disappointed with the move i made at that time.



Best of luck!