DOS Command?

[LMO]

Aloha all.
I have a 2001 Dell laptop with WinME installed. I bought XP and tried to
install it, but the laptop will not let me. I remember from my Win98 days
that there was a DOS command that would let you format the hard drive, but I
cannot for the life of me remember the command. Can someone help me with
that?
Also, is that the way to do a new install for XP on this laptop? Should I
wipe the drive first? Anyone have a better idea?
Thanks all.

 

[Mike C.]

Questions you should ask yourself:

1. Is the laptop compatible and reasonable to run XP? Most people these days
wouldn't consider running XP on anything under a 1Ghz machine with 256MB of
ram--512MB after you factor in all of the new security features of SP2,
Defender, and any 3rd party apps you want to run.

2. If your Me laptop can meet these specs, the question then begs: How much
of the data would you like to keep? If it's user files, you could probably
copy them to a network somewhere. If you want to keep an insane amount of
program configurations, system configs, and user configs, you might want to
look at an upgrade.

3. Are there drivers for your hardware? While XP comes with a lot of drivers
built-in, you may want to double check. It would suck rolling XP onto the
thing only to find that your video chip maker is out of business and never
produced a 2K/XP-compatible display driver.


If you can get the laptop running 2K, there's a much larger chance it will
run XP you just need to upgrade ram accordingly. If it can't do 2K in the
past, XP might not be a good idea at this point.

 

[Rock]

Aloha all.
I have a 2001 Dell laptop with WinME installed. I bought XP and tried to
install it, but the laptop will not let me. I remember from my Win98 days
that there was a DOS command that would let you format the hard drive, but
I cannot for the life of me remember the command. Can someone help me with
that?
Also, is that the way to do a new install for XP on this laptop? Should I
wipe the drive first? Anyone have a better idea?

Have you run the XP upgrade advisor and checked on the laptop manufacturer's
web site for any info on upgrading to XP? Have XP drivers for the laptop?

The XP installation CD is bootable and contains all the tools needed to
partition / format the drive and install XP.

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

 

[Wesley Vogel]

I remember from my Win98 days

that there was a DOS command that would let you format the hard drive,
but I cannot for the life of me remember the command.

format is the command. Same command as in Windows XP.

Formats the disk in the specified volume to accept Windows files.

Although in XP, format supports 1.44 MB floppy drive only. 20.8 MB floptical
(magneto-optical) drive is no longer supported. Command-line options /b, /s,
/u, /1, /4, and /8 are no longer supported.

The XP CD allows you to format the drive at the time of installations.

Clean Install Windows
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Windows XP Clean Installation - Partitioning and Formatting using Windows XP
CD
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/XPClean.htm

HOW TO Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[LMO]

I remember now. It was FDisk.

I remember from my Win98 days
that there was a DOS command that would let you format the hard drive,
but I cannot for the life of me remember the command.

format is the command. Same command as in Windows XP.

Formats the disk in the specified volume to accept Windows files.

Although in XP, format supports 1.44 MB floppy drive only. 20.8 MB
floptical
(magneto-optical) drive is no longer supported. Command-line options /b,
/s,
/u, /1, /4, and /8 are no longer supported.

The XP CD allows you to format the drive at the time of installations.

Clean Install Windows
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Windows XP Clean Installation - Partitioning and Formatting using Windows
XP
CD
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/XPClean.htm

HOW TO Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Wesley Vogel]

The Fdisk tool is an MS-DOS-based tool that you can use to prepare
(partition) a hard disk. You can use the Fdisk tool to create, change,
delete, or display current partitions on the hard disk, and then each
allocated space on the hard disk (primary partition, extended partition, or
logical drive) is assigned a drive letter.

Fdisk is not currently supported in XP (fdisk.exe does not exist). Use the
diskpart command, which enables you to manage disks, partitions, or volumes.

Fdisk cannot recognize NTFS drives.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[support]

Just selecte Start > Run and type there cmd. Then use format command.
You will see help options. Also, you can right click on hard disk icon
and select disk properties and then select to format it.