trouble reformating

  • Thread starter Thread starter Randy Pok
  • Start date Start date
R

Randy Pok

I'm having trouble formating my hard drive. I partitioned
it so I now have Drive C and Drive D. I have Windows XP
Pro installed in Drive C. Lately I've been thinking about
reformating Drive C but I can't seem to do it. When I
click on Command Prompt in the Accessories Start Menu, I
then type "format C:" and it prompts that all information
will be lost. I pressed Y to comfirm and another messenge
prompts. It says format cannot run because the volume is
used by another process. It also asks if I would like to
force a dismount on the volume. I press Y again to
comfirm but it says that it cannot lock the drive and
that the volume is still in use. How do I solve this ?
 
Randy Pok said:
I'm having trouble formating my hard drive. I partitioned
it so I now have Drive C and Drive D. I have Windows XP
Pro installed in Drive C. Lately I've been thinking about
reformating Drive C but I can't seem to do it. When I
click on Command Prompt in the Accessories Start Menu, I
then type "format C:" and it prompts that all information
will be lost. I pressed Y to comfirm and another messenge
prompts. It says format cannot run because the volume is
used by another process. It also asks if I would like to
force a dismount on the volume. I press Y again to
comfirm but it says that it cannot lock the drive and
that the volume is still in use. How do I solve this ?
Click to expand...

Boot from your XP CD if you have one. At
some point during setup you can format the
partition. If you format you'll have to reinstall
windows anyway.
 
Randy said:
I'm having trouble formating my hard drive. I partitioned
it so I now have Drive C and Drive D. I have Windows XP
Pro installed in Drive C. Lately I've been thinking about
reformating Drive C but I can't seem to do it. When I
click on Command Prompt in the Accessories Start Menu, I
then type "format C:" and it prompts that all information
will be lost. I pressed Y to comfirm and another messenge
prompts. It says format cannot run because the volume is
used by another process. It also asks if I would like to
force a dismount on the volume. I press Y again to
comfirm but it says that it cannot lock the drive and
that the volume is still in use. How do I solve this ?
Click to expand...

The reason you can't format the C drive while in Windows is because it would
give the same results you would get if you removed your heart. Windows
doesn't allow suicide. 8-)
If you want to repair or reinstall XP see the first two links below, if you
want other format option choose the third one.
Click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address box
if using the web based newsgroup.
How to clean install XP.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
Repair Install
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Format XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/format_XP.htm
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
Back
Top