One cannot reformat a drive or partition that is "in use".
That's like standing out on a tree limb and then sawing it off.
Use the following procedure to reformat your drive:
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/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Heey guys!
|
| I'm trying to format my computer, it runs on Windows XP (exp. pack 1)
| I have tried the following:
| - Restarted and repeatedly pressed F8 (this worked)
| - Started the SAFE MODE with PROMPT (this worked)
| - Typed in the CMD.exe window: ''format C:'' (this worked)
| - Got a prompt message which said ''If you want to format this disk, you need to disable it'' or something
like that (I pressed ''Y'', for yes)
| - Got a prompt that the computer was using this disk at the moment
|
| Actual PROBLEM:
| How do I get to format my computer, the C:\ drive that is, without it saying that the drive is still in
use!?!?!?!?!?!?
|
| thnx for reading this, if you have an answer, pls let me know!
