Once you click the Install now button, you’ll see the beginning of the information collection phase of the installation procedure.

Figure C To get started, just click the Install now button. Figure B The first step in the installation is to specify your language settings.Īs soon as the initial steps are taken care of, you’ll see the Windows Setup screen shown in Figure C and will click the Install Now button. When you do, Setup will perform some more initialization tasks in the background. Figure A The new light blue Windows flag is introduced.Īfter a few minutes, you’ll see the Windows Setup screen shown in Figure B and you will specify your language settings before clicking Next. I was kind of hoping that the flag would be animated, but the only animation was the dots spinning in a circle. This image remained on the screen for a few moments while Setup was initializing. After all, you really can’t have too many backups, can you? Getting startedĪfter booting from the DVD that I created from my download, the first thing I encountered was the new light blue Windows logo on a black background, as shown in Figure A. You might even want to do both operations. You can use Windows 7’s Backup and Restore to create a backup or you can simply copy your data files over to an external hard disk. Of course, before you get started, you should back up your data. This blog post is also available as a TechRepublic Photo Gallery.

Instead, I decided to blow away Windows 7 along with all the partitions, and perform a clean install of Windows 8.Īs I was formulating my plan, I thought that I would document the entire procedure so that those of you who decide to go the clean install route will have a roadmap to follow and know what to expect. After weighing my options, I decided against a dual-boot configuration thinking that if I could easily access Windows 7, it would turn into a crutch and I would find myself frequently returning to the familiar environment just because I could. When the download was complete, I was contemplating installing Windows 8 in a dual-boot configuration, but decided to sleep on it. I decided to download the Windows 8 Pro Upgrade. Greg Shultz documents the entire Windows 8 clean install procedure so we have a roadmap to follow and know what to expect.Īs I wrote last week in Take advantage of the $15 Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Offer, I purchased a new system back in August, an ASUS CM1740 with an AMD APU A8-3820 (2.5GHz), 8GB RAM and running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit.

The complete guide to a Windows 8 clean installation

Windows 7 fresh install