[Step-by-Step Guide] How to Delete Windows from SSD?

Why delete Windows from SSD?

Some users might wonder why people want to delete Windows from SSD. Well, there is the main reason that makes some users want to delete Windows from SSD: changing the system disk to another disk.

After you got a new SSD, for a better computer experience, most users would like to use the new disk as the system disk, therefore, the old HDD/SSD might be used as a data disk in the future. In this situation, users must delete old Window from the old disk. And if you wish to give the old disk to another user or sell the old disk, you’ll need to erase all data on your SSD completely.

How to delete Windows from SSD?

It sounds easy to delete Windows on the computer. Since Windows OS is booted from C drive, once it is deleted, the Windows is removed. However, if you use Disk Management, the task will not be allowed. Because after deleting Windows, there’s no OS on the PC, your PC won’t boot.

Then, how to remove Windows from hard drive or SSD? In this part, we’ll show you 2 ways to solve this issue.

Before we start, first make sure your new disk can boot successfully. If you haven’t set your new disk up, you can check: How Do I Transfer OS to a New PC? or How to Set up a New Computer with Windows 10?

Method 1. Delete Windows from hard disk via Windows bootable media

Because your PC won’t boot after deleting Windows, you need to use another media to boot your PC. If you have Windows installation CD/DVD, you can use it. But if you don’t have bootable media, then you can use a USB to create a Windows installation USB. After that, we can start to delete Windows from your PC.

Section 1. Make a Windows bootable USB

Step 1. Prepare a USB with at least 8GB and back up important files in the USB, the procedure will format all data.

Step 2. Insert a USB Flash drive into your PC. Navigate to Microsoft’s Download Windows 10 page and click Download tool now under “Create Windows 10 installation media”.

This will download a file named MediaCreationTool.exe to the Downloads folder. Find it and run it.

Step 3. Click Accept when prompted. The tool will continue on “Getting a few things” ready. Select ”Accept” in the license terms screen.

Step 4. Select “Create installation media for another PC”, and then select Next.

Step 5. Choose the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) for Windows 10.

Step 6. Choose ”USB flash drive” and click “Next”.

The program will download a fresh copy of the Windows 10 installation files to your device.

Section 2. Remove Windows from SSD

Step 1. Plug the USB into your PC, and boot your computer from it.

Step 2. Follow the guide to finish all settings, then, during the new operating system installation, pick the current Windows partition(s) and format or destroy it.

After that, you can finish the process and then unplug your USB.

Way 2. Delete Windows from system SSD

Another way to delete Windows from the system disk is to use a third-party tool which hasn’t have the limitation of the wiping system disk, so if you have already prepared your new system disk, you can directly delete Windows from old SSD or erase the whole disk and reformat it for reusing.

To safely and easily remove OS from SSD, we recommend AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, a disk and partition management tool for Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP. This multifunctional tool has many helpful features. If you only wish to delete Windows OS, you can choose “Delete Partition”; if you want to clear SSD, you can go to “SSD Secure Erase” to clean all data and format the disk to reuse.

Step 1. Launch this tool, right-click on the C drive, and choose “Delete Partition”.

Step. 2. Choose a way to clean data. The example chooses only delete partition, you can also choose “Delete partition and wipe data on it”.

Step 3. Click “Apply” and “Process” to confirm the task.

Then you can format the disk and reuse it.

If you want to erase the whole system SSD, you can go “SSD Secure Erase”.

Tip: You need to install this tool on a Windows 7 PC and connect your SSD to this Windows 7 PC.

Step 1. Click "Wipe" menu, and choose “SSD Secure Erase” to start the program.

Step 2. Select the SSD that you want to securely erase and click "Next".

Step 3. Double-check the SSD identification information in case of erasing the wrong SSD because the data is unrecoverable after the Erase. Now, you will see the SSD is in a frozen state. To continue, you need to perform a hot-swap.

Step 4. Click "Next" to start the SSD Secure Erase.

Then your system disk is cleaned.

To sum up

Now, do you know how to delete Windows from SSD? After you clean the data and system from your SSD, you can reuse it and save your cost. AOMEI Partition Assistant can also clone disks and transfer OS only to help you set new PC. If you need it, it has many helpful features like “Convert to MBR/GPT”, “App Mover” and so on.

In addition, you can choose the Server Edition to manage Windows Server 2022/2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2)/2003.