Trying to start fresh

[Ken]

I would like to completly clean my hard drive.Is there a
way to reinstall XP and have it completly clean my drive
so that I only XP on it?

 

[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:

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

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| I would like to completly clean my hard drive.Is there a
| way to reinstall XP and have it completly clean my drive
| so that I only XP on it?

 

[Edward]

Go to your BIOS, Ken and set it to boot from your CD-ROM.

Insert the WindowsXP disc and boot holding down the F8 (I think) key. You
will be offered the chance to do a "Clean Install" of Windows. This
completely wipes your HD so make sure you have everything backed up.

Good luck,

Ed

 

[Alex Nichol]

I would like to completly clean my hard drive.Is there a
way to reinstall XP and have it completly clean my drive
so that I only XP on it?

Boot 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

You will of course have to do all updates to the system over again. You
will have the usual 30 days within which to activate the system once
more (all record on the system that it has been activated will have
gone). This will go through on the net like the first time,

 

[Google]

Before you reinstall, copy these two files out. They are the windows
product activation files.

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\wpa.*

When you come to the point of activating it, say no. Then reboot in
the safe mode, and copy these two files back to

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\wpa.*

Then reboot

This will only work if it's the same computer, with no changes that
make it out of tolerance.

Keep these files in a safe place. I've done this before and it works
OK.