I Can't Format My Hard Drive On XP HE

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cliff
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Cliff

Help!!!
Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade won't let me format my hard drive, every time I reinstall Windows XP it puts it in over the original but keeps all my old settings and programs and I end up with less disk space than I started, that's ok if I've got plenty of disk space but I've only got a 10 Gigabyte HD and now I find that I haven't got enough room to add a new game, (yes I know I should get a bigger HD but if I could format the one I've got I would have plenty of room) what I need to know is how on earth do I wipe my hard drive and reinstall XP on a clean disk, there is no option for it on the disk, if I right click on the c-drive and click on format it tells me there are programs using the disk and other ways of getting to the format option are greyed out. It was easy enough with Windows 98 and a boot disk, why won't XP let me do the same?

Cheers
Cliff
 
Boot from your XP CD and take the Install option. You should then have options to repartition and reformat your HD...

Lorne
Help!!!
Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade won't let me format my hard drive, every time I reinstall Windows XP it puts it in over the original but keeps all my old settings and programs and I end up with less disk space than I started, that's ok if I've got plenty of disk space but I've only got a 10 Gigabyte HD and now I find that I haven't got enough room to add a new game, (yes I know I should get a bigger HD but if I could format the one I've got I would have plenty of room) what I need to know is how on earth do I wipe my hard drive and reinstall XP on a clean disk, there is no option for it on the disk, if I right click on the c-drive and click on format it tells me there are programs using the disk and other ways of getting to the format option are greyed out. It was easy enough with Windows 98 and a boot disk, why won't XP let me do the same?
Cheers
Cliff
 
Cliff;
Clean Installation
Disconnect all peripherals (camera, printer, scanner, etc)
Disconnect network/modem cable.
Go to BIOS and set CDROM as boot device before hard drive.
Insert Windows XP CD and reboot.
At "Press any key to boot to CDROM" quickly press a key and follow the
prompts for a Clean installation:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
Delete all partitions in step 5 if you desire to erase all data on the
hard drive.
Partitioning and formatting will be done automatically.
All data will be destroyed, back-up important data first.

Enable or install firewall BEFORE connecting network cable.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=283673

Install ALL Critical Windows Updates:
Start/All Programs/Windows Update

After you are finished, you will need to load the appropriate drivers.

If your computer was shipped with Windows XP, these procedures may or
may not apply.
Check your manual or contact the computer manufacturer for more
details.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
An easier way to read newsgroup messages:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/newsgroups/setup.asp
http://dts-l.org/index.html


Help!!!
Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade won't let me format my hard drive,
every time I reinstall Windows XP it puts it in over the original but
keeps all my old settings and programs and I end up with less disk
space than I started, that's ok if I've got plenty of disk space but
I've only got a 10 Gigabyte HD and now I find that I haven't got
enough room to add a new game, (yes I know I should get a bigger HD
but if I could format the one I've got I would have plenty of room)
what I need to know is how on earth do I wipe my hard drive and
reinstall XP on a clean disk, there is no option for it on the disk,
if I right click on the c-drive and click on format it tells me there
are programs using the disk and other ways of getting to the format
option are greyed out. It was easy enough with Windows 98 and a boot
disk, why won't XP let me do the same?
Cheers
Cliff
 
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