Question on Reinstall of XP

[Dudley Henriques]

If someone can clear something up for me I'd really appreciate it. It
concerns the partition setup screen during a clean reinstall setup.
When you reach the partition selection screen, considering you will be
reinstalling on a single partition, should you delete the existing
partition, then rebuild another single partition or should you go to the
next setup screen and simply choose a quick format and file system for the
new partition.
What's confusing is that if you don't delete the partition and just format,
I realize that cleans the old partition. What I need to know is whether
deleting the old partition and rebuilding it again is a cleaner reinstall
than just a format and reinstall.
I think I remember Dell telling me to delete the old one then format and
install, but the last time I did it, I think I just went straight to the
quick format and install.
Is there one optimum way to do the cleanest reinstall?
Thanks much
Dudley

 

[Shenan Stanley]

If someone can clear something up for me I'd really appreciate it.
It concerns the partition setup screen during a clean reinstall
setup.

When you reach the partition selection screen, considering you will
be reinstalling on a single partition, should you delete the
existing partition, then rebuild another single partition or should
you go to the next setup screen and simply choose a quick format
and file system for the new partition.
What's confusing is that if you don't delete the partition and just
format, I realize that cleans the old partition. What I need to
know is whether deleting the old partition and rebuilding it again
is a cleaner reinstall than just a format and reinstall.
I think I remember Dell telling me to delete the old one then
format and install, but the last time I did it, I think I just went
straight to the quick format and install.

Is there one optimum way to do the cleanest reinstall?

Personally - if I want a *clean* install - I go a little extra.

Example, let's say my old computer setup has one partition - I want to keep
thjat setup in the new install - but I want everything *gone*.

I boot with the Windows XP CD, get to the part where it asks me to choose a
place to install and DELETE the partitions. I then proceed to create 3
partitions. But instead of continuing - I reboot.

I again boot with the Windows XP CD and get to the part where it asks me to
choose a place to install and DELETE the partitions. I then proceed to
create the partition scheme I want (which was one partition) and I continue
and I do *not* quick format in this case - because I want Windows XP to go
over every inch of this older drive this time. I format it NTFS, install
the OS, install SP2 and the post SP2 patches, install the drivers for the
machine and THEN - after making sure the SP2 firewall is enabled - connect
to the Internet for the first time and check for further critical updates
and begin customizing the install/putting on AV software and AS software and
installing my own stuff.

Necessary? nah - you could get away with just formatting if you like -
should work fine.

 

[Dudley Henriques]

Thanks much. Appreciate the feedback.
DH

Personally - if I want a *clean* install - I go a little extra.

Example, let's say my old computer setup has one partition - I want to
keep thjat setup in the new install - but I want everything *gone*.

I boot with the Windows XP CD, get to the part where it asks me to choose
a place to install and DELETE the partitions. I then proceed to create 3
partitions. But instead of continuing - I reboot.

I again boot with the Windows XP CD and get to the part where it asks me
to choose a place to install and DELETE the partitions. I then proceed to
create the partition scheme I want (which was one partition) and I
continue and I do *not* quick format in this case - because I want Windows
XP to go over every inch of this older drive this time. I format it NTFS,
install the OS, install SP2 and the post SP2 patches, install the drivers
for the machine and THEN - after making sure the SP2 firewall is enabled -
connect to the Internet for the first time and check for further critical
updates and begin customizing the install/putting on AV software and AS
software and installing my own stuff.

Necessary? nah - you could get away with just formatting if you like -
should work fine.

 

[Guest]

Shenan,

I'm trying to do a clean reinstall. I get to the part where I want to
delete the old partition so that I can install a clean copy of windows xp.
But it says, "setup is unable to perform the requested operation on the
selected partition. This partition contains temporary setup files that are
required to complete the installation."

I want to delete everything and start again, not reinstall windows over the
old version. Is there a way around this?

Thanks,

Sam

 

[Malke]

Shenan,

I'm trying to do a clean reinstall. I get to the part where I want to
delete the old partition so that I can install a clean copy of windows
xp. But it says, "setup is unable to perform the requested operation
on the
selected partition. This partition contains temporary setup files
that are required to complete the installation."

I want to delete everything and start again, not reinstall windows
over the
old version. Is there a way around this?

It sounds like you aren't following Shenan's directions and you are
trying to install Windows from within a running XP install. This is
equivalent to trying to saw off the limb of a tree while sitting on it.

Boot with the XP cd and do your install from *outside* the operating
system. You'll be able to delete the partitions then. You may need to
change the boot order in your BIOS so that the system boots first from
the cd drive and not the hard drive.

Accessing the BIOS
http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm
http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/reference/biosp.htm
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000235.htm

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand

Malke

 

[Guest]

Thanks so much Malke. That solved it for me !!

Sam

 

[Malke]

Thanks so much Malke. That solved it for me !!

Glad to hear it. Thanks for taking the time to let me know.

Malke