No Nonsense, Hardcore Tips: A Comprehensive Guide to Reinstalling Operating Systems!
No Fluff, Just Hardcore: The Ultimate Guide to Reinstalling Your OS!
How many ways are there to reinstall an operating system? And how do you actually do each one? This article lists every feasible method for reinstalling your OS—no theory, just hands-on practice!
Any new system is born from the system that came before it.
Installing Directly from an ISO
Download the Windows ISO image you need from the official Microsoft website:
(Windows 10: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10)
(Windows 11: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11)
Then, simply open the ISO file.
- If your current system is Windows 7 or earlier: Use 7-zip (https://www.7-zip.org/download.html) to extract the ISO into a folder.
- If your current system is Windows 8, 8.1, 10, or 11: Double-click the ISO to mount it.
Double-click setup.exe inside to start the Windows installation. Just follow the prompts and click “Next” all the way through.
Tip:
Before running setup.exe, it’s recommended to disconnect from the internet to prevent unnecessary updates from downloading.
The setup.exe in Windows 11 ISOs does not require a product key. If Windows 10 forces you to enter one, check out my 55th article and feel free to use any key listed there.
Your computer will restart multiple times automatically. Just sit back, wait, and click a few buttons to gradually enter the new system.
Installing from a USB Drive
Write the ISO downloaded from the official website directly to a USB drive to install Windows. Recommended tools include UltraISO and Rufus (https://rufus.ie/en/).
Using Rufus:
- Insert your USB drive.
- Open Rufus—it will automatically detect your USB drive. Make sure the correct device is selected under “Device.”
- Under “Boot selection,” choose “Disk or ISO image (Please select)” and click “SELECT” on the right to pick your downloaded Windows ISO file.
- Set “Partition scheme” to MBR and choose the target system type as needed.
- Click “START” to begin. Wait a moment for the ISO to be written to the USB drive.
Booting from the USB drive:
- Look up the boot menu key for your computer (e.g., F12 for Huawei).
- Press the power button and immediately start tapping the boot key (on laptops, you may need to press Fn + the key simultaneously).
- When the boot menu appears, use the arrow keys to select your USB drive and press Enter.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to install the system.
Installing Windows via a USB PE System
To install using a PE system, you need to create a PE bootable drive first. We recommend WePE—it’s clean, fast, bloat-free, and has a solid reputation over the years.
Download WePE:
https://www.wepe.com.cn/download.html
Generally, just download the latest version.
Creating the PE bootable drive (make sure to close your antivirus software first):
- Open the WePE Toolbox.
- Click the USB drive icon in the bottom right corner to install PE to your USB drive.
- The software will automatically detect the USB drive you’ve plugged in.
- Keep the installation method as the default “Option 1.”
- Check “Include DOS Toolbox.”
- Click “Install to USB Drive Now.”
Wait a moment for the PE installation to complete.
In File Explorer, copy your Windows ISO file to the large partition on the USB drive. Then, boot your computer from the USB drive to install the system.
The method for booting from a USB drive is exactly the same as with Rufus.
Enter the WePE system.
- Open File Explorer and format the partition that originally contained your system. (Note: The C drive in PE may not be the same as the C drive in your actual system! Identify it by size or other clues!)
- Open Windows Installer (WinNTSetup).
- For the first field, select the ISO file on your USB drive.
- The second field is usually auto-selected by Windows Installer. If not, click the dropdown and choose the partition highlighted in green. If there are multiple green partitions, pick the one on your computer’s hard drive, not the one on your USB drive.
- For the third field, select the C drive you just formatted.
- Below, choose the version of the operating system you want to install (Professional/Pro is recommended for daily use).
- Click “Install” in the bottom right corner, then confirm all prompts.
- Wait for the progress bar to finish, then restart your computer to enter the new system.
Installing Windows via a Local PE
Open the WePE Toolbox, click “Install Now into System,” install PE, and restart your computer. On the OS selection screen, choose WePE to enter the PE system.
The rest of the process is identical to the USB installation method.
Installing via setup.exe in PE
Enter the WePE system using any of the methods above. Double-click the Windows ISO file to mount it.
Double-click setup.exe inside. The software will automatically recognize that you’re in a PE environment (not a real Windows system) and proceed with the normal PE installation flow. Choose your preferred settings and click “Next” all the way through.
The Core Principle of Installing an OS Never Changes.
On the surface, it might seem like some methods use PE and others don’t. In reality, every method uses a PE system. The difference is that WePE makes it visible, while the native installation method’s PE interface just isn’t obvious to us.
Who says a PE system must have a desktop? And who says a system must have a user-visible interface?
The purpose of using a PE system is simply to create another system. Use a system to generate another operating system.
So, who says you must use a PE system to install an OS? Can’t a normal Windows system also serve as a “PE system”? It’s just that this “PE system” might be far too feature-rich and powerful compared to others!
Any New System Is Born from the System That Came Before It.
PE relies on UEFI to be loaded into memory, and Windows relies on PE to be written to disk.