How to Format Laptop With Windows Vista? – First Time Install

Insert the DVD into the respective drive and start/restart your laptop. (If your laptop does not have a CD drive, visit How to Format Hard Drive Without CD)

As the laptop boots up, it will load required files and prepare itself for the installation. You will have to wait till you see a screen which lets you set the “Language to install”; “Tine and currency format”; and “Keyboard or input method”. Choose appropriate settings from the drop down menus for these and then click “Next”.

The next screen will display the “Install Now” button. Click on this.

You’ll then be asked for the Product Key. This is a 25 digit key that will be present on a sticker on your laptop, or on the CD cover. Enter this key in the space provided. You could also tick the “Automatically Activate Windows when I’m online” option and click on the “Next” button.

You’ll then have to accept the Windows license terms by clicking on the check box saying “I accept the license terms” and then click “Next”

You will then be presented with the type of installation you want. The choices you’ll be given are “Upgrade” and “Custom”. Choose the Custom.

The hard drive depicted by “Disk 0 Unallocated Space” will be displayed on the next screen.

Create a new partition by clicking on “New”. You’ll be given the option to set the amount of space to be allotted to the each partition during creation. You can create 2 partitions:- C: (Partition 1) and D: (Partition 2). The C: is usually reserved for storing the OS and other system files. The D: can hold all your files, like photographs, documents etc. This partitioning is done, so that you can easily format the partition (C:) and re-install the OS if needed in the future, without having to disturb your files on the D: partition. Else, if all system files and your files reside in the same partition of the hard drive, then you’ll have to take a back-up of your files when you need to format the hard drive. Plus, there are chances you will lose all your files in case some issue arises with the system, if there is no partitioning.

Once all necessary partitions are created, select the “Disk 0 Partition 1″ and click on “Format”. You might get a warning saying “If you format this partition, all data stored on it will be permanently deleted.”. Click “OK”.

Select each partition and format it similarly.

Then select “Disk 0 Partition 1″ and click “Next”. This is where you will be installing your OS. The installation process then starts. The laptop will restart automatically a couple of times. The entire installation will take a while.

You will then be prompted to “Type a user name” and to “Type a password”. Enter a user name and a password that you will remember. You’ll be asked to re-type the password and a hint for letting you remember the password. This user name and password you’ll have to enter each time you switch on your laptop. You can even select a different picture from the options available. Then click “Next”.

You’ll then be asked to “Type a computer name”. This is how your laptop ID when using a network. Here again you can choose a different picture to represent your laptop from the choices given. Once done, click “Next”.

Then come the time zone and date settings. After selecting the entries for these, click “Next”.

After this, you’ll be presented with a window that says “Help protect Windows automatically”. Choose “Use recommended settings”.

On the next screen which thanks you, click “Start”.

You will have to wait for a while till the Login screen appears. Type in your password and click on the arrow beside it.

A little more waiting to do and finally you reach your desktop. You might have to install some new drivers by running Windows Update.