Reformat primary drive while running XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hall
  • Start date Start date
H

Hall

I need to reformat my primary drive on a system running XP. But the format
program won't let me since this is the drive that XP is running from.

How do I do this? I want to reformat to completely cleanout the drive
before re-installing XP fresh.

Do I need to make a boot CD with the format program? How would I do that?

Thx so much!
 
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, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/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 to reformat my primary drive on a system running XP. But the format
| program won't let me since this is the drive that XP is running from.
|
| How do I do this? I want to reformat to completely cleanout the drive
| before re-installing XP fresh.
|
| Do I need to make a boot CD with the format program? How would I do that?
|
| Thx so much!
 
Hall said:
I need to reformat my primary drive on a system running XP. But the format
program won't let me since this is the drive that XP is running from.
Click to expand...

Right - you can't ask the OS to commit suicide. :)

How do I do this? I want to reformat to completely cleanout the drive
before re-installing XP fresh.

Do I need to make a boot CD with the format program? How would I do that?

Thx so much!
Click to expand...
Just boot from your WinXP CD, setup rather than repair (sorry, I'm
paraphrasing). You can then delete any existing partition(s) & recreate
(it/them) as you wish, then install WinXP from scratch in the partition you
wish.

You may also wish to see the slightly earlier thread entitled "Reformatting
from Scratch"
 
To do a clean install boot the Windows XP install CD-Rom. When you get to
the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions found. After you
delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again restart the pc booting
the CD-Rom to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with your new
install.

Be sure to apply SP2 or at least these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...be-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a&displaylang=en

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I need to reformat my primary drive on a system running XP. But the format
| program won't let me since this is the drive that XP is running from.
|
| How do I do this? I want to reformat to completely cleanout the drive
| before re-installing XP fresh.
|
| Do I need to make a boot CD with the format program? How would I do that?
|
| Thx so much!
|
|
 
After deleting the partition of my primary drive, do I CREATE a partition on
the [now] unpartitioned drive, or do I INSTALL windows XP on that drive?

That is the decision I am asked to make from the menu.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
 
Hall said:
I need to reformat my primary drive on a system running XP. But the format
program won't let me since this is the drive that XP is running from.

How do I do this? I want to reformat to completely cleanout the drive
before re-installing XP fresh.

Do I need to make a boot CD with the format program? How would I do that?

Thx so much!
Click to expand...


Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

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


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
You must partition and format the drive in order for the install process to
continue.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| After deleting the partition of my primary drive, do I CREATE a partition
on
| the [now] unpartitioned drive, or do I INSTALL windows XP on that drive?
|
| That is the decision I am asked to make from the menu.
 
Hall said:
I need to reformat my primary drive on a system running XP. But the
format program won't let me since this is the drive that XP is
running from.

How do I do this? I want to reformat to completely cleanout the drive
before re-installing XP fresh
Click to expand...


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.
 
Regarding the internal Zip drive note. I have an LS-120 drive still going
strong. Its jumpered master on the secondary ide. It defaults as the "A:"
drive. Bios detects it as such, both an LS-120 and will boot from it. Just
like an internal Zip drive.
Setting the bios to none, causes the OS to "see" the drive as a subsequent
lettered removable drive. Just like an internal Zip drive.

Just curious, what problem(s) could be anticipated if said internal Zip
drive is not removed during the XP install?

I do know the Zip, just like the LS-120, will take the drive letter C: if
no partition is assigned to any onboard hard drives if the bios is assigned
"none" to that device. In the case of a Zip drive that takes drive letter
"A:", that will not occur.

--
Lil' Dave
Beware the rule quoters, the corp mindset, the Borg
Else you will be absorbed
Carey Frisch said:
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, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/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 to reformat my primary drive on a system running XP. But the format
| program won't let me since this is the drive that XP is running from.
|
| How do I do this? I want to reformat to completely cleanout the drive
| before re-installing XP fresh.
|
| Do I need to make a boot CD with the format program? How would I do that?
|
| Thx so much!
Click to expand...
 
Any operating system needs a suitably formatted partition to install its
files. Formatting will not be user visible or notified of same in setup,
only the partitioning selection. Formatting will occur irregardless in this
instance.

--
Lil' Dave
Beware the rule quoters, the corp mindset, the Borg
Else you will be absorbed
Hall said:
After deleting the partition of my primary drive, do I CREATE a partition on
the [now] unpartitioned drive, or do I INSTALL windows XP on that drive?

That is the decision I am asked to make from the menu.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
Right - you can't ask the OS to commit suicide. :)


Just boot from your WinXP CD, setup rather than repair (sorry, I'm
paraphrasing). You can then delete any existing partition(s) & recreate
(it/them) as you wish, then install WinXP from scratch in the partition you
wish.

You may also wish to see the slightly earlier thread entitled "Reformatting
from Scratch"
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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