unable to format XP MC hard drive prior to Vista Prem installation

[Guest]

My new eMachines pc (2G RAM) has XP MCE. I am trying to install Vista Home
Premium from an Express Upgrade disk acquired on a special Vista upgrade
program from eMachines/Gateway. I wish to do a clean install, which requires
formatting the hard drive.

The preparation instructions say this: "because the hidden area on your hard
drive used for Windows XP recovery uses storage space, we recommend that you
re-partition and format the entire drive (including the hidden recovery
partition) before installing Vista." So I tried to format the C: drive
partition prior to running the Vista installation disk, but it cannot be
formatted because it contains some Windows system files. I can understand
that. I was successful in formatting the D: drive partition.

What do I do? Thanks. Mike

 

[DL]

You cannot format the system disk within windows
The Vista cd would contain the utilities to delete partitions, prior to
creating a new one.
I assume you have the winXp MCE disk as this will be required during the
upgrade process.

 

[Guest]

You cannot format the system disk within windows
The Vista cd would contain the utilities to delete partitions, prior to
creating a new one.
I assume you have the winXp MCE disk as this will be required during the
upgrade process.

 

[John John]

It doesn't work like that with Vista upgrades. "Officilally" you can't
upgrade unless there is an operating system installed, Vista upgrades
won't ask for a previous Windows cd. There is a way around it:
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt...a+clean+install+upgrade&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501

John