I received an old HP laptop from my cousin that she claimed to have wiped clean, but it turns out there's still a password. After trying to reinstall Windows 11 from a USB stick I created, I encountered an issue with the MBR partition. My dad helped me wipe the drive, but now I find myself in a bind with only two small partitions showing up during the installation process. I'm looking for a way to completely reformat the SSD into a single 500 GB drive so I can install Windows 11 without any partitions interfering. I'm also searching for a reliable program to load onto a USB stick that won't require me to log into Windows first. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
You can try using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool to create a bootable Windows installer on your USB. Make sure to set the boot priority in the BIOS to boot from this USB. During the Windows installation, you should have the option to format the hard drive and delete the existing partitions. That should allow you to start fresh!
Make sure you're running the installer as an administrator; you might need to access the drive management options from there.
Download the Windows ISO image and use Rufus to create a Windows bootable USB stick. When you run the installer, you can delete all of the existing partitions until you just have one empty hard drive visible, then you can install Windows on that.
Yes, Rufus can help you create a bootable drive that supports UEFI and MBR, which should help with the installation. Just ensure you're choosing the right options.
Will Rufus help me get past the MBR restrictions I've been facing? That's my main issue.
I'm having trouble even deleting the partitions during the install process. It just won’t let me do it.