Can't delete partition in Win2k Setup

[Hunter]

The owner of our company gave us an old PC from home that they thought
we could use. It has Win2k on it, but the owner's daughter was using
it, so naturally we'd like to format the entire disk before
reinstalling Win2k and giving it to an employee.

The problem is that after booting in Win2k setup mode (with the CD)
and choosing a fresh install, I cannot delete the current partition
listed. It says "Hit D to delete", but the 'd' key does nothing, and
isn't even listed as an option in the status bar at the bottom.

Is there a way I can get to a command prompt and use fdisk (and if so,
are the instructions pretty much the same as fdisk-ing a Win98
system)? Choosing to boot to "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" throws me
in the safe desktop, rather than a plain 'ol DOS prompt.

Any suggestions?

 

[Dave Patrick]

To wipe the drive, some ways include; boot a win98 startup disk, run fdisk
and delete all partition information found (as long as NTFS is primary). Or
boot the Windows 2000 CD-Rom or setup disks and when you get to the point,
delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions found, then abort the
install. Or use a utility named delpart.

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/reskit/nt31/i386/reskit.exe

To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

Be sure to apply these to your new install before connecting to any network.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx



--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| The owner of our company gave us an old PC from home that they thought
| we could use. It has Win2k on it, but the owner's daughter was using
| it, so naturally we'd like to format the entire disk before
| reinstalling Win2k and giving it to an employee.
|
| The problem is that after booting in Win2k setup mode (with the CD)
| and choosing a fresh install, I cannot delete the current partition
| listed. It says "Hit D to delete", but the 'd' key does nothing, and
| isn't even listed as an option in the status bar at the bottom.
|
| Is there a way I can get to a command prompt and use fdisk (and if so,
| are the instructions pretty much the same as fdisk-ing a Win98
| system)? Choosing to boot to "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" throws me
| in the safe desktop, rather than a plain 'ol DOS prompt.
|
| Any suggestions?