How do I reformat and reinstall Windows XP?

[Rick67]

If I boot to the Windows XP CD and select reinstall, will it also reformat my hard drive? If not, how do I reformat and reinstall XP? Thanks,

 

[Aenygma]

You can do it throught the CD, and have it format it if you like.

 

[bumrushin]

i have xp pro and REALLY want to reformat my hdd and start from scratch, i have reinstalled it several times but it always leaves the info on my hdd. i want a fresh start, i cant find this option on the cd. can someone help me out here?

 

[mastertech01]

When I did it via CD it didnt format with XP already on the drive... so my recommendation untill I find a better way is to wipe the drive or simply fdisk it and recreate the partion so the installation doesnt see the old installation and then install fresh booting from CD. This is easier done with SCSI drives if you use the SCSI utility on the controller to LLF the drive.

You can also download a bootdisk program on the MS site for XP Pro, but each time I tried that it would have corrupt files on disk 4 of the 6 disks and terminate.. I dont know if its a problem with the download getting corrupted or a problem with the MS bootdisk program. I tried replacing disks to no avail I had to try it this way because my system will not boot to CD with this motherboard.

 

[bumrushin]

sorry to be such a n00b, but can you detail exactly how to do this, and what ill need? i mean in detail bro hehehehe!

 

[FiCTi0N]

Start the XP setup from in windows...during one of the first stages of setup there is an advanced buttons option (before your system reboots and actually starts setup). You'll see this on the same screen that has regional settings...if you click advanced you can select an option to "allow me to choose install partition". If you do this when your system reboots and setup actually begins (in the ugly blue all-ascii screens) you will have multiple options available...after you select a drive there should be an option to format using FAT32 and an option to format using NTFS (which you use is up to you..i would suggest FAT32 unless you're going to be using this system on a network and are concerned with security).

The other option would be to grab a win98/ME startup disk from another computer, boot the system with the disk choosing to boot with cd-rom support, and then when at the command prompt type "format c:", once format is done switch to the cd-rom drive and run setup.

 

[neuralfx]

i understand why you would go through all that, just boot up with it, when you get to the first setup program, that asks you about partitions, delete the existing partition, confirm deletion, and create a new partition, and install there ... i dont understand why you wouldnt use ntfs .. but that choice is up to you .. good luck ..
-neural

 

[bumrushin]

thanx for the info bro, very articulate hehe. you guys rock!!

 

[Doh!]

The other option would be to grab a win98/ME startup disk from another computer, boot the system with the disk choosing to boot with cd-rom support, and then when at the command prompt type "format c:", once format is done switch to the cd-rom drive and run setup.

No........ Running "setup" in DOS will not start the XP installation. You would have to go to the i386 folder and start "winnt.exe", not to mention that you would need to start "smartdrv.exe" unless you have nothing better to do than wait a half day waiting XP to copy the necessary installation files.

 

[FiCTi0N]

My bad, true you would want to run smartdrv first, and also true you need to run winnt...sometimes i forget that XP is a nt based system. My apologies. Hopefully he wasn't off formatting his drive before reading your post.

 

[Slogun]

When I wanted to reformat and reinstall WinXP, I pulled the hard drive out and connected it as a slave to another computer and did a quick format.
Just another idea for those who might find it useful.

 

[DomZ]

What my friend did and I think it should work is that he took his old Windows 98SE boot disk, putted it in his floppy drive and when the menu arrived, he did shift+F5(F6?), and it went into command. He then formatted his hard drive and reinstalled winxp..

 

[Doh!]

Huh? F5 will give options to choose the type of computer such as standard, acpi, smp, etc. F6 will allow you to install scsi/mass strorage controller drivers. You cannot go into DOS command if you started the XP installation (unless you exit the installation and come back out to DOS). Your friend reformatted the hard drive within the XP installation just like everyone stated above.

 

[PatrickT]

I just finished reinstalling everything. Took 3 hours for the system and all my software. I put the CD in the drive and restarted the computer. I got a message that said, "Press any key to boot from CD" but it might be necessary for you to set boot from CD in your BIOS. Then it downloaded files. It asked if I wanted the system on this or that partition. I picked the C: partition and it then asked if I wanted a quick format, a full format, or wanted it left as is. If you leave it as is, it retains data. If you either quick or full format it deletes all the info. Then it proceeds for about 35 minutes and you're ready to start configuring.

Have fun.