Formatting

  • Thread starter Thread starter caleb2438
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caleb2438

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Does Anybody know how to format the C drive using Xp Home edition?
 
Use Administrative tools within control panel, and then go to disk management. I think you right click on the C drive and reformat.
 
Thanks. But it won't let me. The format isn't lit up, so it won't let me choose it!
 
I don't think it will let you format your operating system disk from the OS that wouldn't make any sense. You need a utility disk and it will wipe the drive.
 
Have you tried setting your cd-rom as the first to boot in the bios setup? Just stick in the cd and reboot...it should then ask you to "press any key if you want to boot from cd" or something like that. It should take you into the reformatting screen. Of course this is all in reference to XP Pro...don't know if there's any difference.
 
http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q313348

Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, or insert the first Windows XP Setup boot disk into the floppy disk drive if you are starting from Setup boot disks, and then restart the computer.

NOTE: To start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM (or from the Setup boot disk), your computer must be configured to start from the CD- ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive (or the floppy disk drive). In some cases, you may have to modify your computer's BIOS settings to do this. For information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive (or the floppy disk drive), see the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact the computer manufacturer.
If you are starting the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.

Note: If your hard disk controller requires a third-party original equipment manufacturer (OEM) driver, press F6 to specify the driver. For additional information about how to use F6 to supply a third-party OEM device driver during Setup, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
:cool:
 
Hello Y'all and thanks for all the input. Unfortunatley none of it has been helpful. When i stick the disk in and hit f8 and boot from disk I have options to install but nothing else. Does anybody know how to simply format my hard drive using XP home edition?
 
Also whenever I analyze the c drive for defragmenting it tells me I should defrag, even right after i defragment it! I have used chkdsk and there are no errors. Could i still have a damaged drive?
 
I BELIEVE Home Edition will only let you change the type of file system you have....from FAT32 to NTFS. To reformat, you are going to need to boot into DOS from a floppy most likely....

Then type in "format c:" at the prompt.

If you want to set up partitions, before you format is a good time to do it.

Disk Deframenter should report any damaged areas or "clusters" on your disk. Refer to the color table in defrag. for that, I forget which color means damaged.
 
RichHead said:
I BELIEVE Home Edition will only let you change the type of file system you have....from FAT32 to NTFS. To reformat, you are going to need to boot into DOS from a floppy most likely....

Then type in "format c:" at the prompt.

If you want to set up partitions, before you format is a good time to do it.

Disk Deframenter should report any damaged areas or "clusters" on your disk. Refer to the color table in defrag. for that, I forget which color means damaged.
Click to expand...

Nope. You can choose to boot from CDROM in the bios, and it will ask you to press any key, as stated above.

Using a DOS utility to format and partition will likely cause an error that says "cannot find NTLDR".

Booting from the CD and doing a fresh format is the way to go.
 
845wn intel. But when i hit f8 and boot from cdrom how do I format? Thanks everyone!
 
When you install Windows, it will probably detect that you already have windows installed (at least Win2K works this way). You can then chose to either repair the installation (or upgrade if it is a prior version of Windows, ala Win98) or format the drive and do a fresh install. This will "format the drive" and then install Windows XP. Is there something we're missing here?
 
Caleb-

When you book from the cd to install, the process will reformat the disk if you do a new installation of windows. There's no way to format the drive and keep windows, so if you really need to format, just continue the windows installation process when the disk starts up.

It'll get the formatting options after a couplle steps

Brandon
 
FDISK to format for XP/2K? Are you not running NTFS?
Click to expand...
You can have either NTFS Or Fat32. I have Fat32 on my XP.
I think Frist44 may have the answer. He may be just be missing a step.
:cool:
 
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