Solved! Wiping a computer

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brucedtx

Commendable
Sep 22, 2017
3
0
1,510
Hi!
I have an issue that's just a little bit different from the responses here. I have a desktop PC that's currently running Windows 7. it has no other hard drive on it other than the main drive and partition. It was my late father's and I want to sell it or possibly just give it away.

All i want to do is completely wipe the hard drive of everything, including the OS, since I don't have a Windows 7 install disk. I plan on selling it without an OS, or if someone wants to pay me a little extra, I'll reinstall an OS after buying an ISO.

My question is how the heck do i wipe the drive clean and leave it at that? I know how to do it if I had a Windows 7 CD, but I don't. I've read several things online as to creating bootable USB, but I don't see how to do that on 7 and the CMD prompt directions I've found don't seem to yield what I want.

Am I making sense? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Bruce
 
Solution
You can get a fresh download of Windows 10 directly from MS and use it to wipe the current system during the installation process. Assuming you have a legit Win 7 system, the current product key can be used to perform the upgrade for free (still).

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

If you just want to wipe the system for someone else to load an OS on, you can use DBAN:

COLGeek

Cybernaut
Moderator
You can get a fresh download of Windows 10 directly from MS and use it to wipe the current system during the installation process. Assuming you have a legit Win 7 system, the current product key can be used to perform the upgrade for free (still).

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

If you just want to wipe the system for someone else to load an OS on, you can use DBAN:

 
Solution

brucedtx

Commendable
Sep 22, 2017
3
0
1,510
You can get a fresh download of Windows 10 directly from MS and use it to wipe the current system during the installation process. Assuming you have a legit Win 7 system, the current product key can be used to perform the upgrade for free (still).

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

If you just want to wipe the system for someone else to load an OS on, you can use DBAN:

Thank you so much! I think that dban utility will be exactly what I'm looking for.

I would love to reload Windows 10 but it really need additional memory and I just don't want to spend the money. I would rather sell it without and let someone else bother with it.

Thanks again!
 

COLGeek

Cybernaut
Moderator
Thank you so much! I think that dban utility will be exactly what I'm looking for.

I would love to reload Windows 10 but it really need additional memory and I just don't want to spend the money. I would rather sell it without and let someone else bother with it.

Thanks again!
It would cost zero to upgrade to Win 10. Adding memory, yes.

You could also "wipe" by installing a Linux distro on the old laptop.
 
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