How To Reinstall Windows 11 With Or Without Losing Data?

If you are experiencing slow and laggy Windows lately, it might probably be the time to reinstall Windows. Reinstalling Windows is always a good idea if your Windows is not performing correctly or facing stability and startup issues.

Reinstalling Windows comes in handy whenever a system fails to boot up, suffers from Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors, or gets affected by bloatware and malware. It helps restore the missing or corrupted system files and ensures the smooth performance of your system.

In this article, we will cover some of the easy methods to reinstall Windows 11.

Methods to Reinstall Windows 11

While reinstalling Windows 11, you are provided with two options. You can either choose to remove everything and perform a fresh installation or only remove apps and settings and keep your personal files.

Reinstalling Windows obviously takes a bit more time, however, it is not a difficult job to do. From using Windows settings to the bootable USB, you can easily reinstall Windows 11 with the methods mentioned below. Let’s learn about them in more detail.

Using Settings

The easiest method to reinstall Windows is from the settings option available in Windows 11. Follow these steps to reinstall Windows using Settings:

Click on the Start button and go to Settings.
Click on the System tab on the left side and then the Recovery option on the right side.
Inside the Recovery options, click on the Reset PC button.
In the next window, you will be shown two options:
- Choose Keep my files if you just want to remove apps and settings but keep your personal files.
- Choose Remove everything if you want to remove all of your personal files as well as apps and settings.
On the next screen, you need to choose between the Cloud download or the Local reinstall option.
- Selecting the Cloud download option will download new Windows system files from Microsoft servers.
- Selecting Local reinstall will make the use of existing files.
  
  Cloud download option is more reliable because Local reinstall makes use of existing files that may be damaged or corrupted.
In the next window, you will be shown the final settings that are going to be applied to your system. Review it and click on the Reset button.

Once you complete these steps, a fresh copy of Windows 11 will be installed in your system.

Using Windows Recovery Mode

Sometimes, you might not even be able to login into your system or you might be facing issues with the startup of your system. In such case, you need to follow these steps to reinstall Windows using the Recovery mode:

Enter into the recovery mode by pressing keys like F11, F12, or F9 as soon as the PC starts. The shortcut key may vary according to the PC manufacturer.
Inside the recovery environment, select the Troubleshoot tab and click on Reset this PC.
After that you will be shown two options:
- Choose Keep my files if you just want to remove apps and settings but keep your personal files.
- Choose Remove everything if you want to remove all of your personal files as well as apps and settings.
Next, you need to choose between the Cloud download or Local reinstall option.
- Cloud download option is more reliable because it will download fresh Windows system files from Microsoft servers.
- Local reinstall makes use of existing files that may be damaged or corrupted.
In the next window, you will be prompted with two options: Select Only the drive where windows is installed to format only the Windows installer drive. Click on the All drives option if you want to format all of the drives.
After that click on Just remove my files.
If you want to wipe out your PC entirely and do not want to recover it later, click on the Fully clean the drive option.
Finally, Windows will show your preferred settings for resetting the PC. Review it and click on the Reset button.

It will Reset your PC and you are all set to use the fresh copy of Windows.

Using Bootable USB

Using bootable USB is one of the most effective and faster methods of installing fresh copies of Windows. You will need Windows 11 ISO file and a minimum 8GB USB flash drive for this purpose. At first, we will learn how to make USB bootable.

Making USB Drive Bootable

You don’t need any third-party application for this. You can use the Command prompt to make the USB bootable. Follow these steps:

Insert a USB flash drive into your computer.
Open Command prompt as an administrator.
Type diskpart and press Enter.
Type the following commands and press Enter after each command:
- list disk
- select disk X where X is the number of your flash drive shown after typing list disk
- clean
- create partition primary
- select partition 1
Type format fs=ntfs quick and press Enter.
Note: If your system supports UEFI mode, you should format the flash drive as FAT32. In such case, use format fs=fat32 quick . Otherwise, you may face problems during the installation process. You can find out if your system supports UEFI mode by checking the BIOS settings.
Type active and then click Enter.
Type exit and click Enter.

Installing Windows Using Bootable USB

Once you finish making the USB bootable, extract Windows 11 ISO file and copy all the installation files to your flash drive. Now follow these steps to install Windows using USB:

Turn on your computer and enter the BIOS settings by pressing the required key depending upon the manufacturer. (normally F12 or DEL key)
Get to the Boot tab on your BIOS settings.
Set USB storage device in the first place of boot device priority.
Save changes and Exit.
Restart your computer to boot from USB.
Once you boot from the USB, you will see the Windows Setup screen after some time. Select your preferred language, time format, and keyboard layout and click on Next.
Click on the Install Now button.
Choose the edition of Windows you wish to install, accept the agreement and click Next.
In the next window, you will be prompted with two options: If you want to remove everything and perform a fresh installation, click on the Custom: Install Windows only(advanced) option. If you want your files, settings, and application to be safe, click on the Upgrade option.
Now select the partition where you want to install the Windows and click Next.

Installing Windows can take up to an hour and your system will restart several times which is totally normal.

Note: Once the installation process is completed, you should remove your flash drive and allow the system to boot from the Hard drive. Otherwise, it will again boot from the flash drive and you will see the Windows Setup screen repeatedly.

Using ISO File

If you don’t want to bother making USB bootable and still can log in to the system properly, this option is for you. You need to download a Windows 11 ISO file for this process.

You can easily download it from Microsoft’s official website. It provides reliable and high-speed download.

Locate the Windows 11 ISO file on your PC. Right-click on it and click the Mount option. Now the ISO file will be shown as one of the drives inside the Device and drives menu on This PC.
Now open that drive and run the setup.exe file.
A new Windows 11 Setup screen will open.
Agree to the terms and conditions and click on the Next button.
Click the Change what to keep option.
You can choose between the options: Keep personal files and apps, Keep personal files only, or Nothing.
Click the Next button and Install button.