Reformating problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chap
  • Start date Start date
C

Chap

I am having many problems with my computer and have
decided to get a clean start. My intention is to reformat
my harddrive, completely erasing all information adn
reinstalling windows XP, however, when i try to format my
harddrive by right clicking on C drive it tells me I
cannot format the drive because i need to "quit any disk
utilities or other programs that are using the drive, and
make sure that no window is displaying the contents of the
drive." I have shut down all running programs and made
sure that no menu was open... at all!!!! I checked my
CTRL ALT DLT to make sure everything was closed and yet it
still tells me the same thing.
So I tried a different approach, i went to the CMND prompt
and tried reformating with FORMAT C: and it tells
me "format cannot run because the volume is in use by
another process." Can someone please help me.

Chap
 
You are going to format from within the Windows XP setup.

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.

****All Courtesy of Nicholas
 
Chap said:
I am having many problems with my computer and have
decided to get a clean start. My intention is to reformat
my harddrive, completely erasing all information adn
reinstalling windows XP, however, when i try to format my
harddrive by right clicking on C drive it tells me I
cannot
Click to expand...

You do it 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
 
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