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noob needs help with first format

S

SkinZ187

Junior Member
hello all. first off, ill give my basic computer specs. i have a compaq presario build to order style of computer. it has an athlon 1800+ xp processor with 512 mb ddr pc2100 ram. also has an 80 gig harddrive with a soundblaster live sound card and a radeon 8500 graphics card.
i want to reformat my computer (yes, i know ill lose all my data) and basically start fresh but i lost the compaq recovery cd that came with the computer. i have a disc with windows xp pro. am i able to do what im trying to do with just having the xp disc or do i need to create some kind of boot disk?
want to complete this process the simplest way possible.
any advice appreciated.

btw, should mention the hard drive is currently partitioned, not sure if it matters as i dont care if its partioned after the reformat is complete

thanks
 
Make sure you can boot off the XP disc, if so you can basically use their tools on the CD to format, or you could find a bootdisk, format the drive (repatition to one partition or whatever you want) and then boot off the XP cd.
 
how do i make sure i can boot of the xp disc?
do you mean have it in the cd drive and then reboot and see if it starts the xp cd up automatically after i restart the computer?

thanks for the help
 
Yep, if not go into your BIOS and change the boot drive order (CD drive first), though that should be the default anyhow.
 
thanks oniq for the help
is it going to do the same thing if i went into dos and did /format c: and then install windows of the xp disc as it would if i just put the xp disc in the drive and hit new installation?
 
When you do a new install from the XP CD you will have to option to delete/change partions, format, etc. It has pretty good instructions once you get started. Just read each one and pick how you want to run the new install. I personally will usually delete the partitions and create new ones with a fresh install.
 
i just did a new install with windows xp pro and all it did was installed the operating system. it didnt erase all other data including xp home like i had hoped it would.
do i need to go into dos and do a /format c: to erase all data and then reinstall xp pro?
what im trying to accomplish is basically having a clean hard drive with windows xp pro on it.
 
Originally posted by: SkinZ187
i just did a new install with windows xp pro and all it did was installed the operating system. it didnt erase all other data including xp home like i had hoped it would.
Click to expand...
Then you didn't make the right choices. At some point, it will ask you if you want to format the existing partition. You want to say "yes".
do i need to go into dos and do a /format c: to erase all data and then reinstall xp pro?
Click to expand...
DOS won't even see the partition to format because it's NTFS. You could use fdisk, however, and delete the partition from there if you want to guarantee a fresh install.

 
all im trying to do is end up with an empty hard drive with windows xp pro on it. id like to have one single partition. is that possible? am i at least going in the right direction here?
i had a recovery cd from compaq that would bascially erase the hard drive and reinstall windows on it but i lost the disc. now i have a windows xp pro cd and id like to accomplish the same with this if possible.
thanks for help...im pretty new to this kind of thing

SkinZ187
 
Select new install. When you come to the screen to select the new install location, choose the option to delete the partition. If you have more than one partition already select each one and delete them all. This will give you a unpartitioned / unformatted hard drive. You can then create a new partition for the entire drive and the format and install will be totally fresh. Nothing will be left.
 
ok...i got it down to just one partition by deleting the second one. but, when i go to new install and try to delete the remaining partition during the install it stops the process and says it cant be done because there are required install files on the partition.
so...basically im sitting with one partition right now. what i want to do is erase all data and reinstall windows xp pro on it.

how to do this?😕
 
Go back an look at it again. It will let you delete all partitions, create partitions, etc. I have done it over and over again. If you can not get this done, then use a Win98 boot disk. Boot from the floppy and at the a: prompt type fdisk, enter. You will go thru several screens. You will want to select the option to delete non-dos partition. Then go back to WinXP and run your install.
 
Originally posted by: SkinZ187
...when i go to new install and try to delete the remaining partition during the install it stops the process and says it cant be done because there are required install files on the partition.
Click to expand...
This means you started an XP installation from DOS at some point (a bad idea) and you're resuming that install rather than starting fresh. As suggested, grab a 98 boot disk and use fdisk to delete the partitions.

 
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