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jeffreylovitz/reformat.md

Last active April 11, 2017 15:04
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Reformatting a laptop
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reformat.md

Reformatting a laptop

  1. Choose an operating system
  • Windows
    • Hopefully, you have a Windows disk lying around somewhere. These used to ship with all new Windows computers, but I didn't get one with my latest laptop, so I don't know.
  • Linux
    • Linux is free, so just use the following download link:
  1. Choose an install method
  • The two options are to use a disk or to use a thumb drive; you'll want to just do whichever is more convenient. Thumb drives sometimes require a bit of extra effort, but don't require DVD burners.
  • Disk
    • If you already have a disk (such as a Windows CD) skip to the next step.
    • If you downloaded Ubuntu and want to burn it:
  • Thumb Drive
  1. Restart the ThinkPad with install media connected.
  2. If the computer boots without going to an install screen, restart and interrupt the boot with F2 or F12.
  3. There should be an option to choose what device to boot from (hard drive, disk drive, or USB), or a boot priority list that you can move hard drive to the bottom of.
  4. Follow install instructions.
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