Reinstall

B

bill gee

My son's laptop has been nothing but trouble since he
brought it home from school. He says it is because the
schools computer system is riddled with virus' and we
didnt have anti-virus protection (which makes it my
fault), It has nothing of value on it so I want to
reformat the hard disk and reinstall windows (XP home).
In the old days (DOS) we used to format C: and reinstall
DOS. I have been told that things have changed and I
should let windows XP installation do it but the XP disk
only wants to update.
How do I wipe the disk clean (reformat) and start all
over again?
 
C

Carey Frisch [MVP]

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.aspx

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 XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| My son's laptop has been nothing but trouble since he
| brought it home from school. He says it is because the
| schools computer system is riddled with virus' and we
| didnt have anti-virus protection (which makes it my
| fault), It has nothing of value on it so I want to
| reformat the hard disk and reinstall windows (XP home).
| In the old days (DOS) we used to format C: and reinstall
| DOS. I have been told that things have changed and I
| should let windows XP installation do it but the XP disk
| only wants to update.
| How do I wipe the disk clean (reformat) and start all
| over again?
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top