Terms of use, trademarks and takedown policy

Last updated 10 November 2026

These terms cover your use of ReinstallOS. By using the site you accept them. If you do not, the remedy is simply not to use it — there is nothing here you are required to accept in order to read a guide.

1. What this site is — and what it is not

ReinstallOS publishes instructional guides for reinstalling Windows and macOS, decision guides about when those procedures are appropriate, and links to the vendors' own download pages. That is the whole of it.

It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or otherwise connected to Microsoft Corporation or Apple Inc. Windows and macOS are trademarks of their respective owners, used here only to identify the software being described. Menu labels, button names and keyboard shortcuts are quoted for identification, so you can find them on your own screen; that is nominative use and implies no relationship.

It is also not a download host. No installer, image, ISO or application is stored or served from this domain.

2. Downloads and third-party software

Every download link on this site points at a page operated by the vendor — Microsoft, Apple, or in the case of the utilities named in the guides, the publisher of that utility. When you follow one you are leaving this site and entering theirs.

Your use of anything you download is governed by their licence terms and privacy policy, not ours. We make no representation about third-party software, and we have no ability to change its behaviour, its licence, or the terms under which it is offered. If a publisher changes what a download page does or what a tool includes, that is outside our control.

We work to keep the links accurate and pointing at genuine vendor pages, but publishers reorganise their websites without warning. If you find a link that no longer goes where it should, please tell us — that is exactly the class of error we want to fix quickly, because a wrong link on a page like this is a real risk.

3. No warranty

The guides are provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the guides are accurate, complete, current, or suitable for your particular machine. Operating systems, hardware and vendor documentation change, and a step that is correct for one machine or one software version may differ on another. Verify anything critical against the vendor's own documentation before acting on it. The sources page lists what we check, and the about page lists what we do not.

4. Limitation of liability

Reinstalling an operating system can permanently destroy data. That is the nature of the process, not a defect in these instructions. System Settings›General›Transfer or Reset›Erase All Content and Settings means what it says, a formatted drive is not recoverable, and a disk wiped at recovery is not recoverable either.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, ReinstallOS and the people who write it are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profit, revenue, goodwill or business opportunity, arising from or connected with your use of this site or reliance on its contents.

Where liability cannot lawfully be excluded, our total aggregate liability is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us to use the site — which is nothing, since it is free — or the minimum amount required by applicable law.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Back up before you start, and confirm the backup opens before you begin. Take particular care with a machine you rely on for work, with any machine holding the only copy of something, and with a device that is encrypted or managed by an employer.

5. Acceptable use

You may read, print, and follow these guides for any lawful purpose, including commercial and professional work. You may quote short passages with attribution and a link.

You may not: republish the guides in whole or substantially in whole as your own content; scrape or republish them to farm advertising or train a model without permission; present them in a way that suggests we endorse your site, product or service; or use the site in a way that is unlawful, infringes the rights of others, or interferes with its operation.

6. Copyright, trademarks and takedown requests

The text and design of this site are protected by copyright. We also take trademark and copyright complaints seriously from others, and we respond to them promptly.

If you believe material on this site infringes your rights, email [email protected] with all of the following:

• identification of the work you say is infringed;
• the exact URL on this site where the material appears;
• your name, address, telephone number and email address;
• a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorised by the rights holder, its agent, or the law;
• a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the rights holder or authorised to act for them;
• your physical or electronic signature.

We may remove or disable access to material while we assess a notice. If we do, we will tell the person affected. We may also remove content and restrict access for users who repeatedly infringe.

7. Advertising, affiliate and sponsorship disclosure

As of 10 November 2026 this site carries no advertising, no affiliate links and no sponsored placements. There are no ad slots, no ad scripts and no referral identifiers. Nothing on this site is a paid placement, and no commercial partner has any influence over the guides or over which vendor pages are linked.

The ads.txt file currently declares no authorised seller. A previous version of this section described display advertising and a consent mechanism that the site has never carried; it has been corrected. If a commercial relationship is introduced, this section, the privacy policy, the about page, the footer and ads.txt will all be updated before it goes live.

Our sister site InstallShelf ↗ follows the same disclosure today.

8. External links

Links to other sites are provided for convenience and identification. We do not control those sites, do not endorse their content, and are not responsible for their availability, accuracy, terms or privacy practices. Following a link means leaving this site and taking on that site's terms.

9. Changes to the site and these terms

The guides are updated as operating systems change, and steps may be added, rewritten or removed without notice. These terms may also change; the version published here at the time of your visit is the one that applies. Continuing to use the site after a change means you accept it.

We may also modify, suspend or discontinue the site, in whole or in part, at any time.

10. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of the People's Republic of China, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. The courts of Liaocheng, Shandong Province have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from or connected with these terms or your use of the site.

Two carve-outs are deliberate. Nothing in this section deprives a consumer of the protection of mandatory consumer law in the place where they ordinarily reside, where that law applies and cannot be contracted out of. Questions about the processing of personal information are governed by the privacy policy and applicable data-protection law, not by this clause.

If any provision of these terms is held unenforceable, that provision is severed and the remaining provisions stay in full force.

11. Contact

Questions about these terms, or a takedown request: [email protected]. The contact page explains what to include and how quickly we aim to answer.

See also our privacy policy and about page.