Reformat & Clean Install WIN XP NTFS ~ How?

[George]

I am accustomed to using FDISK and FORMAT to reformat a
hard drive in Windows 9x prior to doing a clean install.

What is the equivalent procedure for a HD that has the NTFS
version of Win XP installed on it? In other words, how do
you create a single new partition and format a drive for
Win XP NTFS?

I have not seen this discussed anywhere.

Thanks for any advice.

George

 

[Chris Lanier]

Greetings, it's all over the place.

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:

1. Open your BIOS and set your CD Drive as the first bootable device.
2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your omputer.
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 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. After installing Windows XP, 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.

 

[John Barnett - MVP]

Simply put, you insert your xp cd into your cd-rom and reboot your machine.
Setup will then begin to load files into memory. Windows will check to see
if any other version of windows is on your pc. Finally you will come to a
screen that will ask whether you want to repair ir install a fresh copy of
xp. Select install fresh copy. Next a list of your hard drive will appear
showing any partitions. If you only have one partition this is all it will
show. Now you need to read the screen information carefully because you now
have the option of deleting the partition or creating a partition. If you
delete the c: drive to remove windows xp you then need to create a new
partition to install xp on. Follow the instructions fro creating a new
partition and then select that partition for install the new copy of xp on.
The next thing that will happen is that a screen will appear asking if you
want to leave the file system as it is or change it. Select format in ntfs
or fat32 whichever you like. The drive/partition will format. After
formatting xp will continue to install.
If you are used to fdisk then using the xp cd will be a doddle!

John Barnett - MVP
Associate expert
www.freelanceit.glowinternet.com

 

[George]

Chris and John,

Thanks very much for the information and tips.

I have not actually purchsed my new Win XP Pro PC yet
(which will happen in January), and I didn't want to
experiment with my wife's Dell that I bought for her last
year -- any problems in getting that PC back up and running
would not go over well! -- so I haven't had anything to
play with.

Thanks again for setting me on the right course.

George