Removing everything from Hard Drive before installing XP Home

  • Thread starter Thread starter RJ
  • Start date Start date
R

RJ

I need help in deleting everything off my hard drive and
starting from scratch with XP Home. What is the best way
to do this?

Problem is that I have a computer that contains win98 and
nt for accessing a company server.

I will not be using this machine for this purpose anymore
and want to set this up for another family member with XP
and OfficeXP.
 
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.

===> 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 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.

7. It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except for you mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.
After XP is installed, visit the support website of the manufacturer
of each hardware device to obtain the latest drivers or software
designed to work with Windows XP.


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

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


| I need help in deleting everything off my hard drive and
| starting from scratch with XP Home. What is the best way
| to do this?
|
| Problem is that I have a computer that contains win98 and
| nt for accessing a company server.
|
| I will not be using this machine for this purpose anymore
| and want to set this up for another family member with XP
| and OfficeXP.
 
RJ said:
I need help in deleting everything off my hard drive and
starting from scratch with XP Home. What is the best way
to do this?

Problem is that I have a computer that contains win98 and
nt for accessing a company server.

I will not be using this machine for this purpose anymore
and want to set this up for another family member with XP
and OfficeXP.
Click to expand...

Boot the computer with a Windows 98 Startup Disk and use FDISK to
delete the partition(s) from the drive. That will totally toast
everything on the drive.

Then reboot with the XP Home CDROM and let XP Home create a new (NTFS
preferably) partition on the hard drive and install itself there.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
As noted above, the solution to this problem is very easy by booting from
the XP Home CD, and using Repair Console to delete the primary partition and
then starting over. If you are using an XP Home Upgrade CD, as your should,
you will be prompted for proof of ownership of a qualifying version of
Windows early in the Setup process. Insert a Win 98 or Me CD, let Setup read
it for a few seconds, and then you are away on a normal install, clean of
any traces of what was on the computer before.
The computer should be a P-III or better, with 256 MB of RAM or more, and
have a hard disk of at least 10 GB in size in order to be satisfied with the
performance of Windows XP. If your system falls short in this regard, then
stick with Windows 98 SE and don't go any higher.
 
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