how to wipe hard drive

Question

how to wipe hard drive

Michelle Brown 0

how can i use the command line on a surface book 2 to completely wipe the hard drive and reinstall a fresh os

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Before you begin

Back up any files you want to keep.

Ensure the Surface is plugged into power.

[32 GB is large enough to fit any recovery image]

Option 1: Wipe the drive using DiskPart (recommended)

Boot into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE):

Turn the Surface off.

Hold Shift while selecting Restart, or boot from a Windows installation USB and choose Repair your computer.

Go to Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Command Prompt.

Start DiskPart:

diskpart

List the disks:

list disk

Select the internal SSD (usually Disk 0):

select disk 0

Verify it's the correct disk:

detail disk

Erase the partition table:

clean

Or, for a full overwrite of every sector (takes much longer):

clean all

Exit DiskPart:

exit

At this point, the SSD is blank

Option 2:

Use the official Surface Recovery Image (recommended for Surface devices)

Instead of a generic Windows installer, Microsoft provides a Surface recovery image containing the correct drivers and firmware for your exact Surface Book 2 model.

This is often the best choice if you want the device restored to factory software.

Useful DiskPart commands

diskpart

list disk

select disk 0

detail disk

clean

convert gpt

exit

After reinstalling, immediately grab Surface-specific drivers/firmware from the Surface Driver and Firmware Update pack for Surface Book 2, since Windows Update sometimes lags on Surface-specific components

Answer 2

For a Surface Book 2, the supported way to completely wipe the drive and reinstall Windows is to use a Surface USB recovery drive.

Important: this process deletes all personal files, resets settings, and removes installed apps. Creating or reformatting the USB drive also erases everything on that USB drive.

On a working Windows PC, download the correct Surface recovery image for the Surface Book 2.
Prepare a USB drive:
- 32 GB is large enough for any recovery image.
- It must be FAT32.
- USB 3.0 or higher is recommended.
Create the recovery USB in Windows:
- Open Start and search for Recovery Drive.
- Select Create a recovery drive.
- In User Account Control, select Yes.
- Clear the Back up system files to the recovery drive checkbox.
- Select the USB drive, then Next > Create.
Open the downloaded recovery image .zip file and copy all files from it to the USB recovery drive. If prompted, select Replace the files in the destination.
Boot the Surface Book 2 from the USB recovery drive.
In recovery:
- Choose the language.
- Choose the keyboard layout.
- Select Troubleshoot.
- Select Reset your PC.
- Select Next.
- Select Yes, repartition the drives.
- Select Just remove my files or Fully clean the drive.
- Select Reset.

If the Surface does not boot from the USB drive, check Surface UEFI:

Enable Boot from USB devices must be On.
If a boot order is configured, Enable alternate boot sequence must be On.
If needed, reformat the USB as FAT32.

If the USB must be reformatted from command line, these diskpart steps are provided in the Surface USB boot guidance. Warning: clean erases the selected disk completely, so selecting the wrong disk will destroy its data.

diskpart
list disk
select disk X
clean
create part pri
select part 1
format fs=fat32 quick
active

For Surface Book 2 specifically, note that the current Surface Data Eraser tool is not supported on legacy devices such as Surface Book 2 and earlier.

References: