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I had to reformat the hard drive in my dell desktop. How can I redownload the version of windows it had for free? I can't run the restore program because the hard drive has been reformatted and the partition is no longer there.
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Just download the latest version of Windoze directly from the m$ site, along with the media creation tool which will extract the download to a USB stick (must be at least 8GB size:
You didn't say whether this was Windoze 10 or 11, so I can't guide you to the link, but you can use DuckDuckGo to find the download yourself.
You might also need to download the disk controller driver from the Dell site, if the disk isn't visible during installation. Also, when you get asked for the product key, just click on “I don't have a product key”.
@MASQ has the correct solution for Dell systems.
I never recommend the versions which PC manufacturers provide. They come with tons of useless bloatware which you end up with hours of identifying & removing. Besides the builds you get are old so you have to do plenty of upgrading before you can start using the PC. Directly using the m$ downloads gives you the newest build without the extra bloat.






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Just download the latest version of Windoze directly from the m$ site, along with the media creation tool which will extract the download to a USB stick (must be at least 8GB size:
once that is done and windows reinstalled, i would install dell command update as it will download and install any missing drivers. i don't like using windows update for drivers as it has a tendency to replace oem drivers with older windows drivers because it thinks it's better
https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER11914075M/1/Dell-Command-Update-Application_6VFWW_WIN_5.4.0_A00.EXE
You might also need to download the disk controller driver from the Dell site, if the disk isn't visible during installation.
unless you have some funky setup, shouldn't need that
i have never needed to get any 3rd party storage driver for dell desktop or notebook
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This topic area includes legacy versions of Windows prior to Windows 2000: Windows 3/3.1, Windows 95 and Windows 98, plus any other Windows-related versions including Windows Mobile.