How to reformat in XP Home

[oo Mike oo]

Just setting up a new system which includes DVD drive, 200GB HD, zip
drive, installing XP Home SP2.

Started the install process and made 3 partitions, didn't realize til
install was done that it named the partitions E: F: and G: and the zip
and dvd drives were C: and D: I really don't want it that way...
really want the system on C:

Did some google searches and found that the zip drive may be the
culprit. Disconnected the zip.

For the life of me I cannot make it reformat the harddrive. I can boot
from the xp cd. Go back through the setup and do a clean install but I
keep getting hung up. Only progress I've made is deleting F: and G:
and made a new partition which it named C: That parts cool, so now I
want to get rid of the partition that had the original system on it,
but it keeps saying that I can't because the partition contains
temporary Setup files that are required to complete the installation.

If there was a way to get back to the blank slate harddrive (reformat
it) I would be happy as a clam.

How can I truly wipe out the disk and start over?

Thanks in advance!
Mike

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Just setting up a new system which includes DVD drive, 200GB HD, zip
drive, installing XP Home SP2.

Started the install process and made 3 partitions, didn't realize til
install was done that it named the partitions E: F: and G: and the zip
and dvd drives were C: and D: I really don't want it that way...
really want the system on C:

Did some google searches and found that the zip drive may be the
culprit. Disconnected the zip.

For the life of me I cannot make it reformat the harddrive. I can boot
from the xp cd. Go back through the setup and do a clean install but I
keep getting hung up. Only progress I've made is deleting F: and G:
and made a new partition which it named C: That parts cool, so now I
want to get rid of the partition that had the original system on it,
but it keeps saying that I can't because the partition contains
temporary Setup files that are required to complete the installation.

If there was a way to get back to the blank slate harddrive (reformat
it) I would be happy as a clam.

How can I truly wipe out the disk and start over?

Thanks in advance!
Mike

Delpart.exe is the ticket to your clam's paradise:
http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm

Boot the machine with a Win98 boot disk from
www.bootdisk.com, then run delpart.exe.

 

[oo Mike oo]

Delpart.exe is the ticket to your clam's paradise:
http://www.russelltexas.com/delpart.htm

But I don't have a floppy drive to boot from, so I don't see how I can
use this... should have bought a mac...

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

But I don't have a floppy drive to boot from, so I don't see how I can
use this... should have bought a mac...

Get a friend to do this for you:
- Create the Win98 boot disk
- Copy delpart.exe onto it
- Burn a bootable CD from this floppy disk
- Never throw the bootable CD away!

Back to your original question: I have never seen a WinXP
installation process that did not give the installer the opportunity
to repartition and reformat the hard disk. You might want
to check this out again.

 

[oo Mike oo]

Back to your original question: I have never seen a WinXP
installation process that did not give the installer the opportunity
to repartition and reformat the hard disk. You might want
to check this out again.

Well, finally did get things worked out using the Windows CD, just
took a while and more googling. While I'm waiting for windows to
reinstall on C: drive I'll try to explain how I got it done, for the
next person.

Before starting this, I did disconnect the Zip drive. Also had to
change my keyboard connection from USB to the PS/2 because the USB
wasn't active for initial boot up screens from CD.

Here's the source that got me through it:
http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/reinstall-reformat-winxp/index.html#reinstallxp

Method#1, item 2a leads to this page:

http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/reinstall-reformat-winxp/reformat-NTFS-XP.html

And here's Microsofts expanation of the Recovery Console

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;314058&

Found these by googling "how to format your hard drive"

Basically what I did was...
-Booted from XP cd
-Went to the Recovery Console (2nd menu item)
-When it asks "Which Windows installation would you like to log
onto?", you have to type the number next to your choice, otherwise it
just reboots.
-Typed map to see what drives and partitons were showing up
-Then typed "Format C: /fs:ntsf" replacing "C" with appropriate letter
for each of the hard drive partitions that showed up. There's much
more detail if you go to the links above, DISKPART also looks like a
useful command.

This truly got rid of all of the previous install info. So when I
booted from XP cd next time, it went right to the partition setup
window and allowed me to remake the partitions as I wished to have
them.

Continued with installation as normal.

Thanks for everyone's input.