Formatting C drive

[Zboing Mouflon]

I have installed XP on a separate partition (D drive) on my laptop.

My previous installation of Win ME is on the C drive.

I want to format the C drive and delete ME. I can't seem to do this in XP,
nor will the machine boot into DOS from my floppy drive even though the BOIS
is set to let me do this.

Suggestions?

Andrew Bowie
(e-mail address removed)
www.users.on.net/abowie

 

[Sleepless in Seattle]

Given boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com reside on C: then no XP will not let
you format it. YOU SHOULD create a boot floppy with these 3 files (copy from
c in case in get into trouble with what you want to do and cannot boot.
N.B. The fact that you have a problem with the floppy drive presents a
problem though.

It is typical to boot from the XP CD and do any formatting either from the
recovery console http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm or during the
installation process.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have installed XP on a separate partition (D drive) on my laptop.

My previous installation of Win ME is on the C drive.

I want to format the C drive and delete ME. I can't seem to do this in XP,
nor will the machine boot into DOS from my floppy drive even though the BOIS
is set to let me do this.

Suggestions?

Andrew Bowie
(e-mail address removed)
www.users.on.net/abowie

Formatting drive C: is not a good idea, because drive C: contains
your WinXP boot files. On the other hand you don't need to format
it anyway. If you want to clean it out, you can do this from a
Command Prompt very quickly and very effectively, with no danger
to your existing WinXP installation. Here is how it works:
1. Start a Command Prompt.
2. Type these commands:
cd /d c:\
dir /ad
3. For each of the folders you see (e.g. for c:\Windows),
type this command: rd /s /q "c:\Windows".
4. I recommend against deleting "c:\Program Files". It is
likely that it contains components of your existing applications.

If you still wish to delete "c:\Program Files", use this approach:
1. Rename it to "c:\Program Files.old".
2. Wait two weeks.
3. If all is well, delete it.

 

[Sharon F]

I have installed XP on a separate partition (D drive) on my laptop.

My previous installation of Win ME is on the C drive.

I want to format the C drive and delete ME. I can't seem to do this in XP,
nor will the machine boot into DOS from my floppy drive even though the BOIS
is set to let me do this.

Suggestions?

Andrew Bowie
(e-mail address removed)
www.users.on.net/abowie

Where are the boot files for XP? If this is a dual boot system, they're
probably on C:. Formatting will remove them. Alternate method: boot to XP.
Delete ME folders and files. Adjust your boot.ini file to remove references
to ME. Do not edit this file if you do not know how. Instead, select XP as
the preferred operating system in System Properties> Advanced> Startup and
Performance. Then use msconfig to check boot paths (may need to toss in a
restart here before doing this). The utility *should* adjust the boot.ini
file for you.

If you prefer to format C: anyhow, you'll need to post more information
about what your current setup is now (for example, dual boot or boot
manager or?) and how you want it to be when you're finished.

 

[Zboing Mouflon]

Yup I've done this Sharon (can't help fiddling ).

I wasn't aware that even installing on D XP still loads boot files on C
although a bit of thought would have made this obvious and explained what
the 300K of "invisible" files on C were.

Many thanks to all.

Playing around with this "junker" laptop has taught me a lot.

Andrew Bowie
(e-mail address removed)
www.users.on.net/abowie

 

[Sharon F]

Yup I've done this Sharon (can't help fiddling ).

I wasn't aware that even installing on D XP still loads boot files on C
although a bit of thought would have made this obvious and explained what
the 300K of "invisible" files on C were.

Many thanks to all.

Playing around with this "junker" laptop has taught me a lot.

You're welcome! I understand what you're saying. learn best 'firsthand' as
well.

 

[Plato]

I have installed XP on a separate partition (D drive) on my laptop.

My previous installation of Win ME is on the C drive.

I want to format the C drive and delete ME. I can't seem to do this in XP,
nor will the machine boot into DOS from my floppy drive even though the BOIS
is set to let me do this.

This is to protect you from tossing XP, as the XP bootfiles are on C: