I installed an old copy of windows on my c: drive. Then I tried to format the
drive the get rid of it but I coudn't. Now I've installed a copy if Windows
MEdia Edition 2005 on my E drive and I run off that.

I'd like to be able to get rid of the windows installation on the c:, but
each time i try to format i get the error message. I've tried to boot from
the windows CD (with bios set to bood from cdrom first) but instead of the
blue installation screen, i get a black screen asking me which version of
windows i want to boot up from.

Does anyone know how to get rid of the old copy of windows in my c:?

Hokey wrote:
> I installed an old copy of windows on my c: drive. Then I tried to
> format the drive the get rid of it but I coudn't. Now I've
> installed a copy if Windows MEdia Edition 2005 on my E drive and I
> run off that.
>
> I'd like to be able to get rid of the windows installation on the
> c:, but each time i try to format i get the error message. I've
> tried to boot from the windows CD (with bios set to bood from cdrom
> first) but instead of the blue installation screen, i get a black
> screen asking me which version of windows i want to boot up from.
>
> Does anyone know how to get rid of the old copy of windows in my c:?

What?

What type of Windows XP CD do you have?
Are you paying attention when it boots and does it ever come up with the
message 'Press any key to boot from CD'?

The problem is that if you still have a C drive and you installed Windows Xp
Media Center Edition on the E drive (partitions?) then it is likely the boot
sector itself is on the C drive.

What is exactly your situation?

You have a bootable Windows XP Media Center Edition CD (not a restore CD)
and you have a computer with WHAT (make/model) motherboard and what are the
boot sequence settings? Also - while we are at it - how many physical hard
disk drives do you have? Make/model of each of them and how are they
jumpered/connected to the mainboard? What is the make/model of your
CD/drive and its connection to the motherboard and jumper settings and does
all of the prior show up in the BIOS without any discrepencies?

When you say you 'could not format' before - why not?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

"Hokey" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3D5D3074-4846-40E2-915A-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I installed an old copy of windows on my c: drive. Then I tried to format the
> drive the get rid of it but I coudn't. Now I've installed a copy if Windows
> MEdia Edition 2005 on my E drive and I run off that.

What is the "old copy of windows" you installed?

>
> I'd like to be able to get rid of the windows installation on the c:, but
> each time i try to format i get the error message. I've tried to boot from
> the windows CD (with bios set to bood from cdrom first) but instead of the
> blue installation screen, i get a black screen asking me which version of
> windows i want to boot up from.

If you're getting the boot menu you're not getting anywhere near booting to the CD.
Did you Save your settings to boot from the CD first before exiting the BIOS?

If you want to remove the first install OS from the boot menu and boot straight to
the newly installed one, you need to remove it's entry from the boot.ini file. Be
careful that you don't remove the wrong entry.

>
> Does anyone know how to get rid of the old copy of windows in my c:?

If you still have problems booting to the CD, you could install the Recovery
Console if Media Center has it and format the volume from there. Best guess is that
will cause issues and you will have to reinstall Win Media Center because the boot
files are AFAIK always placed on the C: volume.

You may be better off upgrading the "old copy of windows" you installed if you can
get the Win Media Center CD to boot and then remove the one on E:.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

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