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Installing XP Pro, won't let me partition the drive or completely erase everything

BrunoPuntzJones

BrunoPuntzJones

Lifer
XP Pro is installed on the drive right now. 80 GB drive as one partition.

Want a fresh install

Put CD in
Boot
Tell it fresh install not a repair
Go to partition and it says "cannot partition this drive as it contains files necessary to install XP" or something like that (it's the temp files that it installs when you boot I assume)
So get pissed and install it anyway. It says "An O/S already exists on this partition, this will overwrite it". So hit yes and it installs but SAVES the existing information, so it was just like a repair.

How do you get it to allow you to partition the drive and to completely start over as if it was a brand new drive and unformatted? This isn't on my p00ter (I had this problem but resolved it, but it's been months and can't remember how I did it) it's on a buds. It's over the phone so I can't see it but he's done everything I've said. How the hell do we get this thing like a raw install? Thanks!
 
Quick and dirty answer is to boot with a floppy and format the drive. That's what I would tell him. Other than that, you may be dealing with a "failure to communicate". It seems to me that there was/should be a way to tell the system to do what you want. If I can remember off the top of my head I think it was something like "Delete the partition"; as opposed to "format and reload". I'm sure someone else will chime in soon enough and clear this up. In the meantime, I would get on the phone with him and have him read off everything that pops up on the screen in the first part of the process. It shouldn't take long to fine/remind you of the area you (and I) seem to be forgetting.
 
Yeah as soon as he clicks on the drive and then delete partition it says "drive is in use" and it won't let him do anything to it. I already suggested the floppy and to just fdisk it from there, then XP wouldn't even see the drive as having info at all. But it seems like XP is loading temp files to the drive, then saying he can't modify it since they are there. I know it's possible because I've done it 4 or 5 times, just not lately 🙁
 
Even better alternative is to use a less frequented utility from an old resource kit called delpart. This utility will wipe anything off your drive. I've used it plenty of times with great success.

Link to Delpart.exe
 
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