PatchySan's Guide to Clean Installing Windows 7 on the ThinkPad

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PatchySan's Guide to Clean Installing Windows 7 on the ThinkPad - Preparation Phase​

 

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Phase​

 

do you think you could create a pdf version of this for printing. thanks so much!

 

thank you for making this comprehensive guide to clean installing windows 7..
could you possibly add guide to install without system update?
because for some reason such as slow connection or internet quota, i tend to download drivers and compile it before clean install...
what i'd like to know is what drivers and applications should be installed first and in what order...
thanks in advance...

 

While I have a PDF guide it still hasn't had the updated Windows 7 info as found on this guide, I try to update the PDF guide within the week for those who want an offline version.

If you're in a hurry however you can create your own PDF guide by using PDF Printing software such as DoPDF, then select the Printable Version of this online guide as a temporary solution.

You can do it without System Update but it depends on what ThinkPad system you have as it varies on what drivers you need. Older ThinkPad systems tend to require less attention than their newer ones as Windows 7 can pick up certain drivers automatically.

If you still have the original factory installation of Windows 7 then just go to the Local Disk C: drive, SWTOOLS folder then copy the whole DRIVERS folder to a USB Flash Drive as mentioned on this guide. Then when you clean install it, go to the Device Manager and just redirect it to the DRIVERS folder again to clear up the missing drivers without the need of System Update.

As for the Thinkvantage applications, again it depends on what you find useful for you to download manually. I only need Power Manager and Hotkeys Integration so I download those two personally, the rest such as Access Connections and Lenovo Toolbox I tend to live without.

 

Do you know if the BIOS 1.34 update fixes the fingerprint issue or do I still need to use LEGACY mode in BIOS?

 

This is very useful. Thank you much

 

I take it you have the W520, though this has been superseded by BIOS version 1.35 at the time of writing. Reading from the change logs there's no mention of any UEFI fixes related to the Lenovo fingerprint software and there's little report of users finding a fix to this unless you go through some third party workarounds so it's probably best to stick with Legacy mode if you plan to use this feature frequently. Besides the tradeoff to UEFI boot is probably only 1-2 seconds which in real world terms is insignificant.