Format Hard Drive

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Guest

I have recently upgraded to Windows XP from Me. I got the Blaster worm, have now fixed it and everything seems to be fine now. A friend suggested formatting my hard drive and reinstalling XP after scanning and saving important documents. Another friend who says he does this regularly told me to create a MS-DOS startup disk and comand at the C: prompt to format c:. It didn't work. Even though my problem with the worm is fixed and my machine is patched, I want to know why my machine won't take commands in MS-DOS like it should. He said he had never heard anything like it. When I command dir it lists all items on my desktop????? What is up here??????
 
Tell your friend that Windows XP is not based on the ancient MS-DOS
platform.....that's why one cannot boot into MS-DOS....its not there to
boot into.

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.

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

7. 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.

8. 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/

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


| I have recently upgraded to Windows XP from Me. I got the Blaster worm, have now fixed it and everything
seems to be fine now. A friend suggested formatting my hard drive and reinstalling XP after scanning and
saving important documents. Another friend who says he does this regularly told me to create a MS-DOS startup
disk and comand at the C: prompt to format c:. It didn't work. Even though my problem with the worm is fixed
and my machine is patched, I want to know why my machine won't take commands in MS-DOS like it should. He said
he had never heard anything like it. When I command dir it lists all items on my desktop????? What is up
here??????
 
If you want to install XP clean. Change the boot sequence in the bios to
boot from the CD, insert the XP CD and follow the set-up process.
If your file system is NTFS the format C:\ using a DOS disk will not work,
but you can in effect carry out these command as part of the XP install
process.
best of luck
Neil
Timley Massey said:
I have recently upgraded to Windows XP from Me. I got the Blaster worm,
Click to expand...
have now fixed it and everything seems to be fine now. A friend suggested
formatting my hard drive and reinstalling XP after scanning and saving
important documents. Another friend who says he does this regularly told me
to create a MS-DOS startup disk and comand at the C: prompt to format c:. It
didn't work. Even though my problem with the worm is fixed and my machine is
patched, I want to know why my machine won't take commands in MS-DOS like it
should. He said he had never heard anything like it. When I command dir it
lists all items on my desktop????? What is up here??????
 
Timley said:
I have recently upgraded to Windows XP from Me. I got the Blaster
worm, have now fixed it and everything seems to be fine now. A friend
suggested formatting my hard drive and reinstalling XP after scanning
and saving important documents. Another friend who says he does this
regularly told me to create a MS-DOS startup disk and comand at the
C: prompt to format c:. It didn't work. Even though my problem with
the worm is fixed and my machine is patched, I want to know why my
machine won't take commands in MS-DOS like it should. He said he had
never heard anything like it. When I command dir it lists all items
on my desktop????? What is up here??????
Click to expand...

If ain't broke, don't fix it. Sounds like you are getting bad advice from
your friends. The XP CD is bootable and you would delete, create and format
a new partition during XP setup. No MS-DOS startup disk needed, plus you
can't format the partition you are working from, it is the same as
committing suicide and any OS will not allow it.

Click on or copy and paste the link below into your web browser address box.
Should I format?
http://michaelstevenstech.com
--

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
 
Perhaps you should stop taking advice from this particular friend. XP is not a
dos based system like 98 or ME.


: I have recently upgraded to Windows XP from Me. I got the Blaster worm, have
now fixed it and everything seems to be fine now. A friend suggested formatting
my hard drive and reinstalling XP after scanning and saving important documents.
Another friend who says he does this regularly told me to create a MS-DOS
startup disk and comand at the C: prompt to format c:. It didn't work. Even
though my problem with the worm is fixed and my machine is patched, I want to
know why my machine won't take commands in MS-DOS like it should. He said he had
never heard anything like it. When I command dir it lists all items on my
desktop????? What is up here??????
 
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