Cannot reformat (wipe clean) hard drive using Win XP setup disc

Guest · Aug 29, 2006

I am attempting to reformat my hard drive and reinstall Win XP Pro. However,
the Win XP installation setup will not allow me to delete the only partition
on the drive because: â€œSetup is unable to perform the requested operation on
the selected partition. This partition contains temporary setup files that
are required to complete the installation.â€ On the other hand, if I select
the one and only partition on the drive (which contains the original OEM Win
XP Pro installation) I am warned that the partition contains an existing
operating system and strongly advises against installing a â€œsecondâ€ operating
system in the same partition. This seems to be a bug in the installation
routine. I donâ€™t want to have to use a third party software to wipe my hard
drive, but it seems that the Win XP setup is not designed to wipe a hard
drive if there is already an operating system on a machine with only one
partition.

Any suggestions?

Pegasus \(MVP\) · Aug 29, 2006

SS said:
I am attempting to reformat my hard drive and reinstall Win XP Pro. However,
the Win XP installation setup will not allow me to delete the only partition
on the drive because: "Setup is unable to perform the requested operation on
the selected partition. This partition contains temporary setup files that
are required to complete the installation." On the other hand, if I select
the one and only partition on the drive (which contains the original OEM Win
XP Pro installation) I am warned that the partition contains an existing
operating system and strongly advises against installing a "second" operating
system in the same partition. This seems to be a bug in the installation
routine. I don't want to have to use a third party software to wipe my hard
drive, but it seems that the Win XP setup is not designed to wipe a hard
drive if there is already an operating system on a machine with only one
partition.

Any suggestions?

I have never seen the phenomenon you describe but if you
cannot resolve it in any other way then you can boot the
machine with a Win98 boot disk from www.bootdisk.com
and delete your partition(s) either with fdisk.exe or with
delpart.exe from http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm.

Bruce Chambers · Aug 29, 2006

SS said:
I am attempting to reformat my hard drive and reinstall Win XP Pro. However,
the Win XP installation setup will not allow me to delete the only partition
on the drive because: â€œSetup is unable to perform the requested operation on
the selected partition. This partition contains temporary setup files that
are required to complete the installation.â€ On the other hand, if I select
the one and only partition on the drive (which contains the original OEM Win
XP Pro installation) I am warned that the partition contains an existing
operating system and strongly advises against installing a â€œsecondâ€ operating
system in the same partition. This seems to be a bug in the installation
routine. I donâ€™t want to have to use a third party software to wipe my hard
drive, but it seems that the Win XP setup is not designed to wipe a hard
drive if there is already an operating system on a machine with only one
partition.

Any suggestions?

It sounds like you started Setup from within WinXP and therefore
you're trying to format the drive containing the system volume from
within WinXP. You can't. This would be the computer equivalent of
sawing off the tree limb you're sitting on, and WinXP is "too smart" to
allow this.

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

Larry(LJL269) · Aug 29, 2006

Disk manuf have total wipe/check 4 entie HDD that took 8hrs
4 160GB disk. U burn it to bootable CD- it also has all
their diagnostic apps. Try Maxdor/WDigital.

HTH-Larry

I am attempting to reformat my hard drive and reinstall Win XP Pro. However,
the Win XP installation setup will not allow me to delete the only partition
on the drive because: “Setup is unable to perform the requested operation on
the selected partition. This partition contains temporary setup files that
are required to complete the installation.” On the other hand, if I select
the one and only partition on the drive (which contains the original OEM Win
XP Pro installation) I am warned that the partition contains an existing
operating system and strongly advises against installing a “second” operating
system in the same partition. This seems to be a bug in the installation
routine. I don’t want to have to use a third party software to wipe my hard
drive, but it seems that the Win XP setup is not designed to wipe a hard
drive if there is already an operating system on a machine with only one
partition.

Any suggestions?

Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes

Guest · Aug 29, 2006

Thanks. As Bruce Chambers points out, originally I did start the setup
routine within Win XP. However, thinking that this might be the problem, I
cancelled that setup and tried shutting down and then rebooting from the CD.
Unfortunately, I got the same messages. Apparently setup placed some files on
the c: drive and now, whether I start setup from within Windows or from the
CD, I canâ€™t get it to ignore the files it placed on the c: drive originally.

I will try tracking down the files that Win XP setup placed on the hard
drive, but failing that, I will definitely use your suggestion about going
the fdisk.exe or delpart.exe route.

Guest · Aug 29, 2006

Thanks for the input. See my reply to Pegasus (MVP).

q_q_anonymous · Aug 29, 2006

SS said:
Thanks. As Bruce Chambers points out, originally I did start the setup
routine within Win XP. However, thinking that this might be the problem, I
cancelled that setup and tried shutting down and then rebooting from the CD.
Unfortunately, I got the same messages. Apparently setup placed some files on
the c: drive and now, whether I start setup from within Windows or from the
CD, I can't get it to ignore the files it placed on the c: drive originally.

I will try tracking down the files that Win XP setup placed on the hard
drive, but failing that, I will definitely use your suggestion about going
the fdisk.exe or delpart.exe route.

i think you should just go straight to the fdisk or delpart route. But
if you want to track the files it put on there..

use the dir /ah command in c:\, that will show hidden files and
directories there.
C:\>dir /ah <ENTER>

if it says a directory like C:\$i386 (it might, i cant remember).
Then
rmdir /s c:\$i386

if using the GUI as oppose to the command prompt
To view hidden files and directories when browsing around in windows
xp
Tools..folder options..view...."show hidden files and folders"
(do this from the "my computer" window , or any other standard windows
window witll have tools..folder options) Also, (for good luck?) click
"apply to all folders" - this is also in the "view" tab.

Lester Stiefel · Aug 29, 2006

Larry(LJL269) said:
Disk manuf have total wipe/check 4 entie HDD that took 8hrs
4 160GB disk. U burn it to bootable CD- it also has all
their diagnostic apps. Try Maxdor/WDigital.

HTH-Larry

Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes

Here's an idea. Try shutting down to 'power off' state.
Wait 10-30 seconds and start from power off, booting from
CD. Then try removing the 'system boot' partition (usually
C). Recreate it and format it. Then install the OS. Had that
happen about 1 1/2 yrs ago and this worked.

longman · Aug 29, 2006

SS said:
I am attempting to reformat my hard drive and reinstall Win XP Pro. However,
the Win XP installation setup will not allow me to delete the only partition
on the drive because: "Setup is unable to perform the requested operation on
the selected partition. This partition contains temporary setup files that
are required to complete the installation." On the other hand, if I select
the one and only partition on the drive (which contains the original OEM Win
XP Pro installation) I am warned that the partition contains an existing
operating system and strongly advises against installing a "second" operating
system in the same partition. This seems to be a bug in the installation
routine. I don't want to have to use a third party software to wipe my hard
drive, but it seems that the Win XP setup is not designed to wipe a hard
drive if there is already an operating system on a machine with only one
partition.

Any suggestions?

Go to cbltech.ca and download their drivescrubber program. It is free
and works very well. You can get a floppy disk, cd or windows xp
version. Boot from the cd or floppy and clean your HD. You can then
install XP from your disc without any messages about operating system
already installed.

Guest · Aug 30, 2006

I solved the mystery. Because I initiated the re-installation from within Win
XP, the setup created a second â€œoperating systemâ€ on the boot.ini list with
the following entry - C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional Setup" â€“ and then made this the default â€œoperating systemâ€ at
startup. I used the instruction in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article
#888023 to remove the Setup â€œoperating systemâ€ from the boot.ini.txt file. I
was then able to reformat the hard drive after booting from the Win XP Pro
CD. Hopefully Windows VISTA will correct this problem so that users can
initiate a complete reformat/reinstall of the Win OS from within Windows. If
you have input with Microsoft, please suggest adding this information to
Knowledge Base Article #313348 because the article does not describe the
problem I experienced trying to use the Win XP Setup disc to reformat my hard
drive.

Guest · Aug 30, 2006