Help! Help!! How to get a Command Prompt!!

[Gary McMillan]

Can someone tell me how to get a command prompt before
starting the operating system. I am running XP
Professional and the system will not function properly and
I want to format the hard drive and start fresh. There
seems to be a virus(s) that have gotten into the system
and I would just like to wipe the hard drive clean and re-
install. The system will not let me format from Safe Mode
with Command Prompt and I cannot figure out how to get a
command prompt prior to the operating system loading.

 

[davetest]

Can someone tell me how to get a command prompt before
starting the operating system. I am running XP
Professional and the system will not function properly and
I want to format the hard drive and start fresh. There
seems to be a virus(s) that have gotten into the system
and I would just like to wipe the hard drive clean and re-
install. The system will not let me format from Safe Mode
with Command Prompt and I cannot figure out how to get a
command prompt prior to the operating system loading.

you cannot do this in XP.
Goto www.bootdisk.com and download a windows 98
bootdisk.
Boot from the floppy and use fdisk to delete all
partitions. Then boot from the XP cdrom.

Dave

 

[HillBillyBuddhist]

Can someone tell me how to get a command prompt before
starting the operating system. I am running XP
Professional and the system will not function properly and
I want to format the hard drive and start fresh. There
seems to be a virus(s) that have gotten into the system
and I would just like to wipe the hard drive clean and re-
install. The system will not let me format from Safe Mode
with Command Prompt and I cannot figure out how to get a
command prompt prior to the operating system loading.

Windows XP Clean Install

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp

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I was just trying to help.
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[Alex Nichol]

Can someone tell me how to get a command prompt before
starting the operating system. I am running XP
Professional and the system will not function properly and
I want to format the hard drive and start fresh.

All you can get at start is a basic XP in Safe Mode with Command Prompt
only after hitting F8 as the BIOS info goes to black.

This is loaded from the hard disk and you cannot format that from it.

You do a format 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