formatting drive???????????

[Guest]

does anyone know a way around this command. I have tried several attempts to
format my c drive.

message: Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.
Format may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO
THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on
this voulme? (Y/N) y
Cannot lock the drive. The volume is still in use.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

You cannot format the drive while it's in use, this is what the message is
telling you. As "C" is generally the system drive housing the operating
system, in order to format it you need to be outside of the operating
system. Usually this means booting from the WinXP CD or a floppy disk. Why
are you trying to format C, and do you realize that this means the loss of
any data that is currently stored on it (including the operating system)?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Ted Zieglar]

"How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;313348

Ted Zieglar

 

[leviethain]

besides booting from a disk you could also restart in ms-dos mode.

 

[Jeff Gaines]

does anyone know a way around this command. I have tried several
attempts to format my c drive.

message: Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Format may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL
OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like
to force a dismount on this voulme? (Y/N) y
Cannot lock the drive. The volume is still in use.

Is the operating system on the C: drive?

If so you will not be able to use the OS to effectively delete/destroy
itself. You would need to boot from a CD/floppy and format from there.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

does anyone know a way around this command. I have tried several attempts to
format my c drive.

message: Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.
Format may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO
THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on
this voulme? (Y/N) y
Cannot lock the drive. The volume is still in use.

It sounds like 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.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

besides booting from a disk you could also restart in ms-dos mode.

Not on a WinXP machine, he can't. There is no way to reboot a WinXP PC
into Real Mode DOS unless you've set up a dual-boot system. The WinNT
family of 32-bit graphical operating systems, of which WinXP is the
latest generation, has never used, included, or "ridden upon" MS-DOS.

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Michael Stevens]

does anyone know a way around this command. I have tried several
attempts to format my c drive.

message: Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Format may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL
OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like
to force a dismount on this voulme? (Y/N) y
Cannot lock the drive. The volume is still in use.

Click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address box
if using the web based newsgroup.
Format XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/format_XP.htm
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Andrew Murray]

if you're trying to format C: from within windows, yes it's in use - you're
running Windows from C:!!