fdisk XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Borrox
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Borrox

Hi

I have XP on my computer and there have been a lot of niggly problems and is
now running very slow. I therefore want to fdisk and do a clean re-install.
I have done this on previous systems with 98 (clean re-install of 98) and
was wondering if there were any differencies that I might have to be aware
of.
I do have my original Win XP disc.

TIA

Nig
 
Hi,

You can "fdisk" the drive be booting with your XP disk and following the
instructions that will allow you to delete the partition on the drive and
create a new one to install XP. Go into your bios to change the boot
sequence to start with the CD-ROM first. Additionally, if you do a google
search you can find detailed information about exactly what to anticipate at
each step along the way.
 
Hi Jan

Thanks for that. I knew XP was 'different' in this sense which is why I
asked.

Once again, thank you for your help.

Nig
 
Borrox said:
Hi

I have XP on my computer and there have been a lot of niggly problems and is
now running very slow. I therefore want to fdisk and do a clean re-install.
I have done this on previous systems with 98 (clean re-install of 98) and
was wondering if there were any differencies that I might have to be aware
of.
I do have my original Win XP disc.
Click to expand...

XP will require you to log on in safe mode as Administrator before it will
run fdisk for you. If you just open a command window, you will get this
error: "fdisk is not recognized as an internal or external DOS command."
You can, however, run fdisk from your W98 startup disk if you really want to
start over from scratch.

Completely new install is rarely the best answer with XP, though. "A lot of
niggly problems" can often be solved just by a good look at your startup tab
in msconfig and another review of the task list you get with ctrl-alt-del
and the processes... tab. If XP is running slowly, the computer is doing
stuff you haven't asked it to do, meaning somebody else has asked it to do
it, and that's not usually good.
 
Pelysma said:
XP will require you to log on in safe mode as Administrator before it will
run fdisk for you. If you just open a command window, you will get this
error: "fdisk is not recognized as an internal or external DOS command."
You can, however, run fdisk from your W98 startup disk if you really want
to
start over from scratch.

Completely new install is rarely the best answer with XP, though. "A lot
of
niggly problems" can often be solved just by a good look at your startup
tab
in msconfig and another review of the task list you get with ctrl-alt-del
and the processes... tab. If XP is running slowly, the computer is doing
stuff you haven't asked it to do, meaning somebody else has asked it to do
it, and that's not usually good.
Click to expand...

So, if I put my Windows 89 startup disc (floppy) in I can fdisk and then
install XP. Is that what you mean? My intention is, is to wipe the system
and start afresh.

Nig
 
Borrox said:
Hi

I have XP on my computer and there have been a lot of niggly problems and
is now running very slow. I therefore want to fdisk and do a clean
re-install. I have done this on previous systems with 98 (clean re-install
of 98) and was wondering if there were any differencies that I might have
to be aware of.
I do have my original Win XP disc.

TIA

Nig
Click to expand...
Make sure you`ve got all the drivers, and software you need, before you
start. Don`t forget, there`s no turning back once you start fdisking.
best wishes..OJ
 
Borrox said:
So, if I put my Windows 89 startup disc (floppy) in I can fdisk and then
install XP. Is that what you mean? My intention is, is to wipe the system
and start afresh.

Nig
Click to expand...

On second thought:

I actually think you can just start with the XP install disk, booting from
the CD and selecting Install as opposed to Repair or Recovery.

You won't have a command line to run fdisk, but you'll get the same effect.

You will come to a point where partition information is displayed, and the
option (my words will not be exact) to install Windows in this partition,
install in a different partition, or delete this partition. Select "delete
this partition." Then the next step will show you the blank space and ask
if you want to install windows in it. As I recall, the Enter key gets you
there.

If the installation disk you have is XP Pro, you will also be given the
option to create multiple partitions. (My XP Home disk does not do this,
but I don't know whether that's because it's Home Edition or because it's
Dell OEM.) Chances are the Enter key will select the default and that will
work for you.

Then you will have the opportunity to select NTFS or FAT32. Use NTFS for
your main partition but the choice of multiple partitions is up to you.
Again, it's probably the default.

I'm not convinced that you need to do this, but it's your computer and it
will produce the result you want. Three weeks ago I was handed a computer
that somebody else had formatted; I was able to start clean as you are
hoping to do, get it all up and running, update everything online, and
activate it using the product activation code printed on the machine case.
Now the owner says it runs better than new.
 
Thanks Pelysma and Old Jon. You have both been very helpful. I guess if it
all goes tits up then I will be back asking some more questions :/

I have done many 98 systems but this will be my first and I wanted to be
sure before I started.

Once again many thanks!

Nig
 
XP will require you to log on in safe mode as Administrator before it will
run fdisk for you. If you just open a command window, you will get this
error: "fdisk is not recognized as an internal or external DOS command."
You can, however, run fdisk from your W98 startup disk if you really want to
start over from scratch.
Click to expand...

There is no fdisk command in XP, in safe mode or otherwise. "fdisk" is
a DOS command, and XP (like Windows 2000) is built on an NT base, not a
DOS base like Windows 95, 98, and ME. The COMMAND and CMD character-mode
windows look a lot like their DOS (or Windows 9x) counterparts, but
DOS they ain't.

If you boot into the recovery console (either from the hard disk
or from the distribution CD) a command that's roughly equivalent
to fdisk, named "diskpart" is available.

To build a completely new system using the partitioning functions of
the DOS fdisk command, just boot your Windows XP distribution CD and
tell it that you want to set up a new installation of Windows XP. You
will be presented with a list of the current hard disk partition
structure; you can delete existing partitions, create new ones, or
specify that an existing partition be used. If you specify the use
of an existing partition, you will be given the opportunity to format
the partition or leave it as it exists.

The user interface you get when setup allows you to manipulate
the partition structure is essentially the same as you get from
the recovery console when you use the 'diskpart' command.

All of this takes place during the initial character-mode dialogs you
get when you boot the CD. They *are* in character mode, but there's
no DOS anywhere to be found.

Having said that...there isn't any particular problem if you *want* to
use a DOS boot disk and fdisk to partition your hard disk, but you'll
probably have trouble if the physical hard disk size exceeds the maximum
value supported by your version of fdisk.

Joe Morris
 
Joe Morris said:
There is no fdisk command in XP, in safe mode or otherwise. "fdisk" is
a DOS command, and XP (like Windows 2000) is built on an NT base, not a
DOS base like Windows 95, 98, and ME. The COMMAND and CMD character-mode
windows look a lot like their DOS (or Windows 9x) counterparts, but
DOS they ain't.
Click to expand...

fdisk remains. It may not be the same program, but the command is there.

This was at the heart of a comedy of errors last week. I'm trying to remove
two small old hard drives from a computer I built for myself but which my
son is using at college. The two small drives contain Mandrake Linux, which
he doesn't use, and he needs the IDE channel for another large disk. But
LILO, on the 4GB disk, controls the computer's boot. Removing the small
drives prevents Windows XP Pro, on the 40 GB C: drive, from booting.

Windows Help tells me to boot into the Recovery Console and run fdisk /mbr,
which is familiar to me from many older systems. However, it won't run
until I log in as Administrator, and I couldn't remember the Administrator
password for that system or the Root password for Linux. So I'm a hundred
miles from home and my records, my son has lost the notecard I gave him, and
can't log on as root.

As soon as I got home I remembered what password I used. The installation
disk and password are here, the computer is there, and it might be a couple
more weeks before I can get them together again.

All that aside, you are correct in that DOS isn't what it used to be.
 
Borrox said:
Thanks Pelysma and Old Jon. You have both been very helpful. I guess if it
all goes tits up then I will be back asking some more questions :/

I have done many 98 systems but this will be my first and I wanted to be
sure before I started.

Once again many thanks!

Nig
Click to expand...
You're welcome, and I hope we've been more helpful than confusing.
 
Hi guys,

Success!! Many thanks, I really appreciate that. I have two final questions.
What has happened to the My Computer Icon on the desktop? I have created a
shortcut for it from the Start menu but it has the shortcut arrow in the
corner. Looks naff! I also want a shortcut icon for the desktop on the
Taskbar, how do I do that?

Once again, really appreciate the straight andf accurate information
especially Pelysma!

Cheers!!

Nig
 
Win 98 loads and fdisks DIFFERENTLY then XP. With Win 98 you need to use a
floppy. With XP you just boot up the computer from the XP CD and follow the
directions. They will give you the option to format and select partitions
during Setup.
 
Win 98 loads and fdisks DIFFERENTLY then XP. With Win 98 you need to use a
floppy.
Click to expand...

Nope, any way you want to get to DOS is fine. You could
even burn an XP installation disc that boots to DOS, loads
Smartdrive, and has FDISK & more on it.
With XP you just boot up the computer from the XP CD and follow the
directions.
Click to expand...

.... or with FDISK you just boot up the computer from
anything and type FDISK without having to read directions.

They will give you the option to format and select partitions
during Setup.
Click to expand...

.... so long as you're happy with their proprietary
filesystem or tiny partitions.
 
fdisk remains. It may not be the same program, but the command is there.
Where?

This was at the heart of a comedy of errors last week. I'm trying to remove
two small old hard drives from a computer I built for myself but which my
son is using at college. The two small drives contain Mandrake Linux, which
he doesn't use, and he needs the IDE channel for another large disk. But
LILO, on the 4GB disk, controls the computer's boot. Removing the small
drives prevents Windows XP Pro, on the 40 GB C: drive, from booting.
Click to expand...
Windows Help tells me to boot into the Recovery Console and run fdisk /mbr,
which is familiar to me from many older systems.
Click to expand...

Again, where is this reference to fdisk? I'm not able to find any
reference to using it under XP in either the Knowledge Base or the online
Windows XP help file, other than the statement that it isn't supported
under XP and that you should use the _diskpart_ command instead.

I'm not saying that it isn't there, but if it is Microsoft has managed
to hide it rather well, and the \I386 folder tree has no file named
"fdisk.*".

Booting into the Recovery Console and entering the correct password
for the administrator account, issuing "fdisk" at the command prompt
gets the expected "The command is not recognized" error message.
However, it won't run
until I log in as Administrator, and I couldn't remember the Administrator
password for that system or the Root password for Linux. So I'm a hundred
miles from home and my records, my son has lost the notecard I gave him, and
can't log on as root.
Click to expand...

Depending on which distribution of Linux you're using, you should have
a CD which can be booted in a mode that allows you to run the Linux
version of fdisk. Once in fdisk you can delete or recharacterize the
Linux partitions.

But...a better choice would probably be to get a copy of Partition
Magic (was from PowerQuest, which was recently bought by Symantec).
It includes a PCDOS-based boot disk, and you can use it to do the
same things as fdisk plus lots more (and do things MUCH faster).

Good luck.

Joe Morris
 
Last end of this is that you may be, probably are, right.

I finally arrived at a solution to my son's machine when I realized that his
personal screen name WAS the root administrator. That's different from my
Dell at home where there is an Administrator I didn't create -- but on
thinking about it, I don't know whether this is a difference between Home
and Pro, or Dell OEM versus installed from the disk at home. I'm thinking
it's the latter.

But I didn't use fdisk, diskpart, or any other command-line command. I
removed the Linux drives and used the installation disk to start up and log
into safe mode, and a window came up immediately that said something like
this, edited by my poor memory:

There are inconsistencies in the Master Boot Record of drive C.
Instruction referenced at location 0x 0000 0001 not found.
Do you want Windows to repair it for you?
Yes No Cancel

I clicked Yes and Windows fixed it. I removed the CD, restarted the
computer, and it's been all hummy and blinky ever since.

So I never even saw the command line in the Repair Console, and can't say
what I would have found there, but fdisk /mbr didn't come into play and
probably never will.
 
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