Microsoft Windows can be reinstalled as a new installation or over a previous version. A fresh install is necessary for rootkit infections, but OEM discs may only allow fresh installations. Retail versions offer a repair option to keep settings and programs, but updates must be reinstalled. Reinstalling over an older version saves time, but a fresh install is necessary for some situations.
You can reinstall Microsoft® Windows in two ways: a new installation or an installation over a previous version. A new installation does not keep any previous settings, installed programs, or data. The system must be rebuilt from scratch. If you reinstall Microsoft® Windows over a previous installation, your settings and programs are kept. Sometimes a situation calls for one type of installation over another.
There are circumstances that require a fresh install, such as when a system is infected with a rootkit. Rootkits can infiltrate the operating system in such a way that removal is problematic if not impossible. The only way to be sure of eradicating a rootkit is to reformat the drive, destroying all data. Once the unit has been reformatted, you can reinstall Microsoft® Windows using the compact disc supplied with the machine or a retail purchased version.
The operating system (OS) disc that comes with a computer is sometimes referred to as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) disc. This CD may differ from a retail version in that it may have fewer options for repairing the operating system. In some cases an OEM CD only allows for fresh installations. It should, however, allow you to boot from the CD and reformat the drive to prepare it for the new installation. Booting from the CD may require changing your motherboard BIOS settings, which are probably configured to boot from the hard drive first.
In some cases, even after changing BIOS settings, an OEM CD will transfer the boot process to your hard drive as soon as it detects that a copy of Windows is installed. If this happens, you can use a utility like FreeDOS to make a bootable CD, by booting from the FreeDOS CD instead of the Windows CD. Once booted into FreeDOS, use the fdisk command to remove hard drive partitions. This destroys all data on the drive. You can now boot from the Windows OEM CD. It will detect the drive, ask if you want to partition and format the drive, then reinstall Microsoft® Windows for you.
Retail versions of Windows (and some OEM disks) come with an option to repair Windows. Use this option when you want to reinstall Microsoft® Windows over a previous version to keep your settings and installed programs. The process takes nearly as long as a fresh install, and the alternate versions of the Windows system files will be replaced with the originals. This means that you will need to reinstall any Microsoft hotfixes or updates that were released after the CD was manufactured once the installation process is complete.
It’s always best to reinstall Microsoft® Windows over an older version, if you can get away with it, as it saves incalculable time. A fresh install means starting over, modifying the system from scratch, reinstalling each program, and reconfiguring each program as desired. It also means replacing data files from a backup source or losing them, if backed up was not done. In some cases, however, a fresh install is the only way to fix a damaged or infected system.
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