Format drive C

[Marv Wade]

I posted this message several days ago but never saw it show up.

I have a system running XP which is corrupted - cannot start Windows. If
I use a floppy to get to a C: prompt, what is the command to reformat drive
C so I can do a clean install of XP.. I have tried "Format C: /s" which I
used to use on previous versions of Windows but I get a message that the
parameters are incorrect. I tried "Format /FS:Fat32" and Windows says it
cannot find some program other than Format.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Marv Wade

 

[Will Denny]

Hi Marv

Boot your PC with a Win ME EBD, select 'With Cd support...' At the A: prompt type:

format c:\

Then put the XP CD into the cd drive. Change to the CD drive, and navigate to the i386 folder and type the following

winnt

don't forget to run smartdrive before the install - otherwise the install will take ages.

 

[Phil]

-----Original Message-----
I posted this message several days ago but never saw it show up.

I have a system running XP which is corrupted - cannot start Windows. If
I use a floppy to get to a C: prompt, what is the command to reformat drive
C so I can do a clean install of XP.. I have tried "Format C: /s" which I
used to use on previous versions of Windows but I get a message that the
parameters are incorrect. I tried "Format /FS:Fat32" and Windows says it
cannot find some program other than Format.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Marv Wade


.
You should be able to get to cmos or utilities on

startup. Just make your first boot from cd, and windows
XP does the rest by itself!!!!

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have a system running XP which is corrupted - cannot start Windows. If
I use a floppy to get to a C: prompt, what is the command to reformat drive
C so I can do a clean install of XP.. I have tried "Format C: /s" which I
used to use on previous versions of Windows but I get a message that the
parameters are incorrect.

Do not try from a floppy. The XP CD is directly bootable, and you
should do it as part of a reinstall of the system after booting the XP
CD direct. Enter Setup, and after the license agreement take New
Install. When it asks you to confirm where, hit ESC; select and delete
the current partition and make a new RAW one to be formatted at the next
stage

The important point is the delete. Without that it will just go ahead
and make a new install over the top of the old one

 

[Will Denny]

Do not try from a floppy. The XP CD is directly bootable, and you
should do it as part of a reinstall of the system after booting the XP
CD direct. Enter Setup, and after the license agreement take New
Install. When it asks you to confirm where, hit ESC; select and delete
the current partition and make a new RAW one to be formatted at the next
stage

The important point is the delete. Without that it will just go ahead
and make a new install over the top of the old one

Hi Alex

If XP is completely corrupted I would always advocate using a floppy and 'winnt'. That way 'all & sundry' is deleted and the hard disk/partition has got absolutely nothing on it. Using the XP CD to format the disk creates a small 8 MB partition - to this date I can't see the value of that although I know what is put onto that partition.

Will

 

[Alex Nichol]

If XP is completely corrupted I would always advocate using a floppy and 'winnt'. That way 'all & sundry' is deleted and the hard disk/partition has got absolutely nothing on it. Using the XP CD to format the disk creates a small 8 MB partition - to this date I can't see the value of that although I know what is put onto that partition.

What that is is the residual of the first cylinder, after the MBR. I'm
not sure if it actually gets created as a partition - on my system the
space is used as such by BING - but it would get used for the relevant
information about sections if you make a dynamic disk

Problem in using floppy format and Winnt is that you are stuck with FAT
32, like it or not,