Reformatting with XP...

[Gauntlet 5,000+ posts]

Ok, so a friend of mine is having problems and needs to reformat, only he has XP, and I've only reformatted in Win2K. I did some searching and found some odd things about reformatting with XP, everything from you cant do it in DOS, to you need a DOS Emulator, to you need a boot disc. Anyone ever done this/willing to give a quick tutorial on how to do it? I have to go over there next week, and I just need a quick run-down of what I will need/what steps I have to take. Thanks in advance.....

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[Shugarra 10+ year member]

I reformatted XP Home a couple weeks ago by just going to dos prompt and typing format c:/

If you have the install disc that's all you have to do. If you don't have an install disc I'm not exactly sure. You might be able to do it from a boot disc. You'd just have to try it.

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

You need a disk!

This might help?

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

 

[Phatillusion 5,000+ posts]

You can do it in DOS and you don't need a disk. Just type Format C: and that should do it. Depending on what type of problems he's having you may be able to fix it without formatting. I don't know what the situation is, but usually I use system restore, which brings the computer back to a previous date in which the computer was working properly. But that all depends on what the problem is. Most problems are user initiated.

 

[ParkRat 10+ year member]

Boot to the xp cd and it will ask you if you want to format or not during setup. If you want to write the disk to 0 download gdisk and put it on a dos boot disk. Run gdisk and it will rewrite the drive. Then run the XP setup.

 

[ShRapNeR 10+ year member]

You can format through dos by format c: /s (to keep your system files) then go into your bios and change boot record to cdrom.

or you can do it through the install on the xp disk

(most of this has already been said,,,, just saying it again)

 

[nosaj070 10+ year member]

If i'm not mistaken you definelty cannot reformat through dos. I'm almost 100% positive that xp does not include a full independent version of dos. So it will not let you do a command line format. Just use the cd, I havn't had a problem. Run setup, choose clean install, have it reformat the partition.

 

[PopcornPlaya 10+ year member]

a system restore packet should have come with it( one and up to several disks). i just had to do mine, cause a bunch of my programs crapped out on me. if he has a burner, itd be smart to back up files that weren't originally installed with it. you can always use floppy's, but it takes a whole lot more, and more time as well. its a pain, but at least my machine is running smooth now.