cant format

  • Thread starter Thread starter William Donnelly
  • Start date Start date
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William Donnelly

Hi all I am trying to format the c drive with no luck it comes back saying
things are in use and that the volume is still in use..so my question is how
can I format any help will be greatly appericated.
 
The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary
to partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow
Windows XP to partition and format your drive:

NOTE: It would be best to physically disconnect all your peripheral hardware
devices, except the monitor, mouse and keyboard, before installing XP.

NOTE: If you have an internal Zip Drive installed, physically disconnect the
EIDE and power cable to it before proceeding, otherwise your main
hard drive may not be assigned the customary C: drive letter.
After installing Windows XP, you may then reconnect it.

1. Open your BIOS and set your "CD Drive as the first bootable device".

===> Accessing Motherboard BIOS
===> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your computer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete all the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. ==> Immediately after installing Windows XP, turn on XP's Firewall.
==> http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

7. After Windows XP is installed, visit the Windows Update website
and download the available "Critical Updates".

8. After installing the critical updates, be sure and visit the support website
of the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any
available Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter
and audio drivers.

9. If you happen to run into any installation difficulties, use the following resources:

How to Troubleshoot Windows XP Problems During Installation
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310064

Troubleshooting Windows XP Setup
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_setup.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Kelly Theriot]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Hi all I am trying to format the c drive with no luck it comes back saying
| things are in use and that the volume is still in use..so my question is how
| can I format any help will be greatly appericated.
 
William said:
Hi all I am trying to format the c drive with no luck it comes back
saying things are in use and that the volume is still in use..so my
question is how can I format any help will be greatly appericated.
Click to expand...

Click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address box
if using the web based newsgroup.
Format XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/format_XP.htm
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
In
William Donnelly said:
Hi all I am trying to format the c drive with no luck it comes back
saying things are in use and that the volume is still in use..so my
question is how can I format any help will be greatly
Click to expand...
appericated.


Just boot from the Windows XP CD and follow the prompts for a
clean installation. It will do the reformat for you.

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
 
Hi, William.

Of course, Drive C: is in use! You just booted from it and are using it to
do the format, aren't you? And it knows that if it tried to format C:, it
would wipe out everything, including Windows and the format program - so it
won't even try.

This is not new. Even when using MS-DOS, to format C:, we had to boot from
something other than C:, such as A:, the floppy drive.

Nowadays, the best way depends on WHY you are formatting C:. If you want to
install WinXP, then don't bother to pre-format it. Just boot from the WinXP
CD-ROM and follow the prompts, including the very early one that offers to
partition and format the HD for you. If you want to format the HD to FAT32
and install Win9x/ME, then boot from an MS-DOS floppy and run FDISK
(optional) and Format.exe. If you just want a blank, formatted Drive C:,
then use the WinXP CD-ROM as above, but abort the install after formatting.

To format any drive other than the system partition or the boot volume in
WinXP, use the built-in utility, Disk Management (at the Run prompt, type:
diskmgmt.msc). You could even take this HD and put it into another computer
running WinXP (as a secondary drive, not the boot device) and use Disk
Management to format it in that machine.

RC
 
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