HELP gonna reformat

[Guest]

i need help reformatting hard drive

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

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

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, make sure XP's Firewall is enabled:
==> http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxpsp2/Default.mspx

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------

:

| i need help reformatting hard drive

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

i need help reformatting hard drive

You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that would
leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if necessary to
accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean installation (delete the
existing partition by pressing "D" when prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

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

However why do you want to reformat and reinstall? In my view, it's usually
a mistake. With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall
Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11,
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for the period of
time before the next version came out, and each on two machines here. I
never reinstalled any of them, and I have never had anything more than an
occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical support
people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost any problem they
don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and reinstall." That's the
perfect solution for them. It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost
always works, and it doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a
skill that most of them obviously don't possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to
restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your programs, you
have to reinstall all the Windows and application updates,you have to locate
and install all the needed drivers for your system, you have to recustomize
Windows and all your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may have
trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs? Can you
find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data backups to restore?
Do you even remember all the customizations and tweaks you may have
installed to make everything work the way you like? Occasionally there are
problems that are so difficult to solve that Windows should be reinstalled
cleanly. But they are few and far between; reinstallation should not be a
substitute for troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have
failed.

If you have problems, post them here; it's likely that someone can help you
and a reinstallation won't be required.

 

[Phil Weldon]

'Cary Frisch' wrote, in part:
| 7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
| and download the available "Critical Updates".
_____

How do you know the original poster wants to format his system drive, and
then install Windows XP? And then, why on earth install the operating
system with no peripherals connected?

Phil Weldon

| The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
| to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
| Windows XP to partition and format your drive:
|
| NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral
hardware
| devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before
installing XP.
|
| NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect
the
| EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your
main
| hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
| After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.
|
| 1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".
|
| ===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
| ===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm
|
| 2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
| 3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
| 4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the
existing
| Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the
primary
| partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.
|
| 5. Clean Install Windows XP
| http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
|
| [Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]
|
| 6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, make sure XP's Firewall
is enabled:
| ==>
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxpsp2/Default.mspx
|
| 7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
| and download the available "Critical Updates".
|
| 8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support
website
| of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
| available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
| and audio drivers.
|
| 9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the
following resources:
|
| How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
| http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064
|
| Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
| http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm
|
| [Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]
|
| --
| Carey Frisch
| Microsoft MVP
| Windows - Shell/User
| Microsoft Community Newsgroups
| news://msnews.microsoft.com/
|
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------­----------------
|
| "cookinmom" wrote:
|
|| i need help reformatting hard drive
|

 

[Malke]

'Cary Frisch' wrote, in part:
| 7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update
| website
| and download the available "Critical Updates".
_____

How do you know the original poster wants to format his system drive,
and
then install Windows XP? And then, why on earth install the operating
system with no peripherals connected?

| "cookinmom" wrote:
|
|| i need help reformatting hard drive

We don't know that the OP wanted to reinstall Windows because all he
asked was above. It's a pretty sketchy post and I guess that Carey
assumed that since the OP posted in a Windows XP group he wanted help
in installing XP as well as reformatting his hard drive. We'll never
know since the OP hasn't come back.

As for not having peripherals attached when installing an operating
system, this is always good practice. Many usb peripherals such as
printers and scanners need to have their software installed before
being connected. Whether you are installing Windows or another
operating system, the best way to insure you'll get an error-free
install is to not have peripherals attached. After the OS is installed
then install the peripherals according to their instructions.

HTH,

Malke