How to Remove Windows Installation Media in Windows 7, 8, 10, 11
Contents
- What is Windows installation media?
- How to remove Windows installation media in Windows 7, 8, 10?
- Method 1. Delete Windows installation media with Disk Management
- Method 2. Remove Windows installation media via powerful partition manager
- Further reading: How to remove Windows.old foler after installing
- Conclusion
What is Windows installation media?
To upgrade or reinstall Windows on your PC, you can create a Windows bootable USB flash drive as a Windows installation media, which contains the necessary files to boot your computer into the installation program, but cannot be used as a storage device until you delete the installation files.
After installing Windows, you may wonder how to remove the installation media from your USB drive to restore it to its normal state. The answer can be found in the article, which provides a straightforward solution in the following part. By following the steps outlined there, you can easily remove the installation media and restore the USB drive to its original functionality.
How to remove Windows installation media in Windows 7, 8, 10?
The starting and system files on a Windows installation media can be removed by formatting the drive, which will delete all files and rebuild the file system, making the drive reusable.
Method 1. Delete Windows installation media with Disk Management
Disk Management is Windows' built-in drive manager that helps you format your Windows media quickly. To use it, you can follow the steps in detail, which include using the Disk Management utility to create, format, and manage partitions on your computer's hard drive. This utility allows you to resize, delete, or create new partitions, and even format a drive to a specific file system, such as NTFS or FAT32. By using Disk Management, you can easily manage your computer's storage and ensure that your Windows media is properly formatted and configured.
Step 1. Press "Win + R" key to open "Run" box, and type "diskmgmt.msc" on the box, and press Enter.
Step 2. You will see all connected drives are demonstrated on the Disk Management. Right-click on the installer drive, and choose "Format".
Step 3. Choose a proper file system, and hit "OK".
✍Note:
● File systems are the ways of data storing, each with different features, allowing users to choose the best one according to their specific needs.
● NTFS and FAT32 are commonly used file systems in computer storage devices, but FAT32 has a limitation: it can't be used to format drives larger than 32GB. If formatting the installation drive with DM fails, an alternative method should be considered.
Method 2. Remove Windows installation media via powerful partition manager
Disk Management can only format a drive in a simple and limited way, and may not work when trying to format a USB flash drive. If this happens, you can use a third-party partition manager like Qiling Disk Master Standard to format a USB drive, SD, HDD, SSD, or TF card in Windows 10, 8, 7, XP, or Vista.
Apart from formatting a Windows media without size limit, the software supports formatting it to FAT32, NTFS, Ext2, Ext3 and other file systems. To use it, simply download the software and follow the steps below.
Step 1. Launch Qiling Disk Master, right-choose the installation media, and click "Format Partition".
Step 2. Choose a file system in this window.
Step 3. Then you can preview the result of the formatting. Then click "Proceed" on the main interface to confirm the operation.
Formatting the media will take seconds, and any recovered data can be accessed afterwards. If you're looking to sell the installation media, wiping the external drive completely will protect any sensitive information.
Further reading: How to remove Windows.old folder after installing?
If you're not happy with the new Windows system, you can restore it to the previous version by going to "Settings > Update & Security > Recovery" and selecting the previous OS to restore. The Windows.old folder contains the old system and data, allowing you to revert back if needed.
If you're satisfied with your new OS, you can also remove the Windows.old folder by following these steps.
1. To access the properties of the C drive, you can open "This PC" (or "Computer" on older Windows versions), right-click on the C drive, and select "Properties" from the context menu. This will open the drive's properties window, allowing you to view and manage various settings related to the drive.
2. Under the "General" tab, choose "Disk cleanup".
3. Check the "Previous Windows installation(s)" and click "OK" to begin the cleaning process.
Conclusion
The process of removing Windows installation media in Windows 10, 8, and 7 can be completed using two methods, regardless of whether the media is a USB flash drive, CD, or DVD. This allows for the easy deletion of Windows installation files, making it a straightforward process.
Besides, the partition manager-Qiling Disk Master efficiently manages disks and partitions, allowing for tasks like creating, deleting, and resizing partitions. The professional edition offers additional features, including converting between MBR and GPT partition tables without data loss and changing a USB's serial number.
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