I'm trying to wipe the hard drive on an old XP laptop. I have a CD
that boots and after typing wipe it does the job. But the drive on
this machine won't work. So I'm trying to do it from a command line,
but I wasn't exactly sure how. A google search left me with things
like
format /u
format c:
format c: /s
but none of these work, I end up with
Required parameter missing-
or
Invalid parameter - /s

What else can I do at this point?

Windows / DOS won't let you format the drive that contains the operating
system from that drive. You might try copying Format.com from the
c:\windows\system32 folder onto a floppy drive. From Windows, go to the
command prompt and cd to the a:\ prompt. You might be able to do it that
way, but I'm not 100% sure. Another way is to boot from the Windows setup
CD. You can go as far as the formatting step, then do a Ctrl-C to kill the
installation as soon as the formatting completes.
..
"Greg Forschler" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:38aadb97-dbce-4acf-96ec-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm trying to wipe the hard drive on an old XP laptop. I have a CD
> that boots and after typing wipe it does the job. But the drive on
> this machine won't work. So I'm trying to do it from a command line,
> but I wasn't exactly sure how. A google search left me with things
> like
> format /u
> format c:
> format c: /s
> but none of these work, I end up with
> Required parameter missing-
> or
> Invalid parameter - /s
>
> What else can I do at this point?

"Greg Forschler" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:38aadb97-dbce-4acf-96ec-(E-Mail Removed)...

> I'm trying to wipe the hard drive on an old XP laptop. I have a CD
> that boots and after typing wipe it does the job. But the drive on
> this machine won't work. So I'm trying to do it from a command line,
> but I wasn't exactly sure how. A google search left me with things
> like
> format /u
> format c:
> format c: /s
> but none of these work, I end up with
> Required parameter missing-
> or
> Invalid parameter - /s

DOS commands like this are usually self documenting i.e.
display a list of available and necessary parameters if you
key FILENAME /?
or in this case FORMAT /?

WinXP handles this sort of task more conveniently via
/ Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Computer Management
/ Storage / Disk Management.
You can here remove all volume(s) from the HD, make a new
one (or several) and format it.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

"Greg Forschler" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:38aadb97-dbce-4acf-96ec-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm trying to wipe the hard drive on an old XP laptop. I have a CD
> that boots and after typing wipe it does the job. But the drive on
> this machine won't work. So I'm trying to do it from a command line,
> but I wasn't exactly sure how. A google search left me with things
> like
> format /u
> format c:
> format c: /s
> but none of these work, I end up with
> Required parameter missing-
> or
> Invalid parameter - /s
>
> What else can I do at this point?

If you are booting the computer from the hard drive that you are trying to
erase that can't be done. What you are effectively trying to do is cut off
the limb that you are sitting on and in this case Windows will not allow
that.

You either need to get your CD drive working so you can boot from that, boot
from a USB thumb drive that has the DOS operating system on it and the
format program or use a floppy drive with the system files on it to boot the
computer.

The format command would be Format C: <ENTER> from whatever boot media you
use (other than the Windows Operating system command line of course.)

On Oct 25, 6:15*am, "jkneese" <jkne...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Windows / DOS won't let you format the drive that contains the operating
> system from that drive. You might try copying Format.com from the
> c:\windows\system32 folder onto a floppy drive. From Windows, go to the
> command prompt and cd to the a:\ prompt. You might be able to do it that
> way, but I'm not 100% sure. Another way is to boot from the Windows setup
> CD. You can go as far as the formatting step, then do a Ctrl-C to kill the
> installation as soon as the formatting completes.
> ."Greg Forschler" <gr...@kcls.org> wrote in message
>
> news:38aadb97-dbce-4acf-96ec-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
>
> > I'm trying to wipe the hard drive on an old XP laptop. I have a CD
> > that boots and after typing wipe it does the job. But the drive on
> > this machine won't work. So I'm trying to do it from a command line,
> > but I wasn't exactly sure how. A google search left me with things
> > like
> > format /u
> > format c:
> > format c: /s
> > but none of these work, I end up with
> > Required parameter missing-
> > or
> > Invalid parameter - /s
>
> > What else can I do at this point?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I don't have the install disc, or a floppy drive on this laptop. I
guess there is no way to erase it then?