Formatting

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G

Guest

Hi,

Now here is my issue. Im on my "old" stationary PC, I just upgraded it from
win xp to vista. But what I really want to do is to format the machine. I
cant seem to find out how. I go in dos and write format c: but I dont have
the permission to do it. Then I have tried other things and it say that I can
not format the HD that the OS are running on. Im This close to throw the
machine out the window now :)

When I start it with the new vista DVD in it it do not give me an option to
format the HD before it install it...

Please help! :)
 
You upgraded from XP to Vista; it was not a clean install, with a full
version of Vista. That is why there was no format option.
If you format your drive now, how do you install an upgrade when there will
be nothing to upgrade from?
The only way you can do it, and still get an OS installed, is if you have
the original XP disk. Set the bios to boot from the CD/DVD Drive, and
reinstall XP. That way you will have the option to delete the existing
partition, format the drive, reinstall XP, then upgrade to Vista AGAIN.
If you do that, you will have to reactivatee Vista by the phone option, and
explain the reason why a second reactivation occurred.
If you had had a full version of Vista, you would have installed it the way
I have described the XP install.
 
You upgraded from XP to Vista; it was not a clean install, with a full
version of Vista. That is why there was no format option.
If you format your drive now, how do you install an upgrade when there will
be nothing to upgrade from?
The only way you can do it, and still get an OS installed, is if you have
the original XP disk. Set the bios to boot from the CD/DVD Drive, and
reinstall XP. That way you will have the option to delete the existing
partition, format the drive, reinstall XP, then upgrade to Vista AGAIN.
If you do that, you will have to reactivatee Vista by the phone option, and
explain the reason why a second reactivation occurred.
If you had had a full version of Vista, you would have installed it the way
I have described the XP install.
Click to expand...

In these cases can't you just create a floppy with fdisk from which
you can format the C: drive? Then it is wiped. Then boot from Vista
DVD. And it will detect nothing. yes you will have to telephone about
the situation but you got a new install without hassling around with
XP.
 
Verger said:
In these cases can't you just create a floppy with fdisk from which
you can format the C: drive? Then it is wiped. Then boot from Vista
DVD. And it will detect nothing. yes you will have to telephone about
the situation but you got a new install without hassling around with
XP.
Click to expand...

Yes, you could use a win98 floppy and delete your NON_DOS partition.
there would be no need to format...you;d just be wasting a bunch of time as
the Vista installer would merely have to re-format it as NTFS
 
What is the point of mentioning the f-disk to him, when he only has a Vista
upgrade key?

what is he going to f******upgrade form?
 
Doesn't anybody here read posts?

He UPGRADED; and must only have an UPGRADE key.
So, what is he going to do with an upgrade and a formatted Drive?

Use your brains!!!!!!!!
 
Garry said:
Hi,

Now here is my issue. Im on my "old" stationary PC, I just upgraded it
from
win xp to vista. But what I really want to do is to format the machine. I
cant seem to find out how. I go in dos and write format c: but I dont have
the permission to do it. Then I have tried other things and it say that I
can
not format the HD that the OS are running on. Im This close to throw the
machine out the window now :)

When I start it with the new vista DVD in it it do not give me an option
to
format the HD before it install it...

Please help! :)
Click to expand...

Pain in the butt, isn't it? One step forward, two steps back.

You could have done a 'clean' install with your upgrade DVD.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932616 says:
A custom installation or clean installation of Windows Vista does not
preserve the currently installed personal files, settings, and programs.
Windows Vista is installed without third-party programs. You can perform a
custom installation of Windows Vista by using either an upgrade license or a
full product license. However, if you own an upgrade license, you must start
the installation in the current version of Windows. At the installation
choice menu, select Custom to perform this action.

If you want a completely EULA-compliant clean installation, reinstall a
minimal WXP system but don't bother to activate it. Then do the custom
install of Vista. And remember to keep the installation CD/DVDs for current
and any previous upgrades that got you to this point -- you may need them if
you ever need to reinstall your OS in a EULA-compliant way.

-Paul Randall
 
Mick said:
snip<
what is he going to f******upgrade form?
Click to expand...
===================================
Upgrade from Vista.

Have a look at the following articles:

How to Clean Install Windows
Vista with Upgrade Media
http://tinyurl.com/2cwx3v


--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk
 
Garry said:
Hi,

Now here is my issue. Im on my "old" stationary PC, I just upgraded it from
win xp to vista. But what I really want to do is to format the machine. I
cant seem to find out how. I go in dos and write format c: but I dont have
the permission to do it.
Click to expand...


There is no DOS on a WinXP or Vista computer, so that is not what
you're doing. Instead, you've opened a Command-Line Interface window
from within Windows. You're trying to format the drive containing the
system volume from within WinXP. You can't. This would be the computer
equivalent of sawing off the tree limb you're sitting on, and both WinXP
and Vista are "too smart" to allow this.

Then I have tried other things and it say that I can
not format the HD that the OS are running on. Im This close to throw the
machine out the window now :)
Click to expand...


Why? It's working as it's designed to work?

When I start it with the new vista DVD in it it do not give me an option to
format the HD before it install it...
Click to expand...

Correct. The Vista Upgrade installation routine is specifically
designed to be started from within a genuine qualifying OS. Boot into
WinXP, insert the Upgrade DVD, start the upgrade, and select a custom
installation. Then you should be able to specify the target partition,
as well as format it.


--

Bruce Chambers

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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell
 
Formatting is not going to help you. Your Vista system is installed as an
image, no longer the file by file method used in previous Windows
installations. Also be advised that Vista uses a slightly different version
of NTFS and formatting with a prior version has caused some to have
problems. These have usually occurred after the system has been in use for
some time and it is very inconvenient to start over.
 
Hi, John,

I suppose previous DOS/Windows file systems had variations too. It insures
that noone knows exactly what anyone else is talking about, especially when
the variations are not named.

Question: Do you know of a free or 'fee' utility that will report which
variation is in use? Or is there some particular byte range within a
partition that reveals which variation it is?

-Paul Randall
 
There was a long discussion of this during the beta. The version is the
same but there are 'bytes' fields used by Vista differently than XP. The
difference became critical for those that used Partition Magic to create the
partitions or when they were created by Vista PM couldn't modify them due to
the differences and when some allowed PM to 'fix' the errors, they lost
everything.
 
Thanks for the info. This explains one way people can have strange problems
that are so difficult to track down. Unless Vista is installed on a brand
new hard drive, you don't know what old bits can bite.

-Paul Randall
 
Hmmm, lets see, he could use the double install method that's widely known
by now, requires no previous OS on the hard drive.
 
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