Reformatting Windows XP

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  • Start date Start date
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Guest

I currently have Windows XP Home Edition as my OS and wish to reformat my
hard drive but cannot figure out how to do it. Can someone help?
 
Hi,

Why? You do realize that this will remove everything that currently resides
on the formatted drive, yes? To format a WinXP system drive, you do so by
booting the CD and starting a new installation. If you are not reinstalling
WinXP, you need to provide what OS is going to be installed for proper
instructions (for instance, in the case of Win98 you may need to repartition
as well to remove NTFS volumes).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Yes, I realize it will remove everything that currently resides on the
formatted drive. I wish to start with a clean slate on my computer. Now I
tried booting the CD and starting a new installation, but that did not
reformat the hard drive. It just gave me a new installation of Windows XP
and left everything in tact. That is not what I wanted. I want a complete
wipe of my hard drive.
 
Hi Todd,

Boot the CD, and at setup (after the license agreement), remove (delete) the
existing system partition, then create a new one from the free space,
format, and proceed with the installation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Hey Rick... many thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, I still can't get
that to work. I tried deleting the partition as you said and received the
following message.

"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."

Very frustrated, what am I doing wrong?
 
Hi,

Is this a regular retail CD, or did it come with the system?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
It came with the system.

Rick "Nutcase" Rogers said:
Hi,

Is this a regular retail CD, or did it come with the system?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
Click to expand...
 
Thought so. It's a proprietary disk, meaning it isn't going to work like the
regular retail disk. It should've come with some set of instructions on use.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
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