BIOS must be set to boot from CD before hard drive.
1. Formatting an XP System Disk by booting from the XP CD is accomplished by loading the Recovery Console by typing R at the first window.
2. After selecting the Windows installation you want to access and typing in the Admin password [leave blank if no password was created] you will see a command prompt.
3. Type Map & press ENTER
4. Note the letter designation of the drive you want to format. [write it down]
5. type format x:/fs:fat32 then press ENTER, where x is the drive letter you want to format. Substitute NTFS or FAT if desired.
6. Type Y to confirm your selection and then type exit & press ENTER to restart computer.
7. To view other format commands, type format/? & press ENTER at the RC command prompt.
Format XP by booting from XP CD using an aborted setup
Note: I find this method to format a NTFS partition more time consuming than the use of FDISK from MS-DOS, but if a boot disk is not available use this method.
1. Formatting an XP System Disk by booting from the XP CD and using the setup routine is initiated by selecting ENTER at the first window. Example follows in step #2
2. When you see the "Welcome To Setup" screen, you will see the options below
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:
To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R
To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.
3. After selecting ENTER you will be prompted to accept the EULA and then be given the option to choose the location to install XP. Your choices will include deleting partitions. Choose to delete the XP partition and any other partition you want to remove and then press ENTER.
4. Choose F3 to end setup.
5. You will need to use a boot disk or boot from the OS you want to install to format the unallocated space.
Remove NTFS file system and Reformat with Win 98/Me Boot Disk
Check Dr. D's for specialized boot disks.
Click on boot disk from the web page tool bar.
1. Format with a Win98/Me Startup disk.
2. Use a Windows 98/Me startup disk to delete the non-dos partition.
3. Boot from Startup Disk.
4. Load FDISK by typing "fdisk.exe" at the "A" prompt without the quotes.
5. Say yes to large disk support ...........? [Y] ENTER
6. Enter choice #3 to "Delete partition or Logical Dos Drive" Press ESC to return to FDISK options
7. Enter #4 to "Delete Non-DOS Partition". Select the Non-DOS partition by typing the number and then ENTER. Press ESC to return to FDISK options. Note you cannot delete a NON-DOS partition located inside an Extended partition. You can use the DOS utility called delpart.exe from a DOS boot up.
8. Reboot with startup disk and load FDISK.
9. Say yes to Large disk support as above.
10. Enter choice #1 Press ESC to return to FDISK options
11. When asked if you want to use the maximum size for the partition and make it active, type Y if you want to use the whole drive or N if you want to set a maximum sized for the partition.
12. After setting the size, reboot.
13. If you want to install another OS; after reboot: Type format X: at the A: prompt; where X is the drive/partition letter designation.
14. If you want to reinstall XP clean. After setting the size, reboot, remove the disk from the floppy drive and insert the XP CD in the CD drive.
15. Boot from the XP CD and do a clean install to the new partition.
________________________________________
For feedback contact: Michael Stevens MS-MVP
Identify the file system you are using.
To identify, follow the steps below:
1. Double-click My Computer on the desktop or from Explorer right click the My Computer Icon.
2. Right-click the disk that you want and then click Properties.
3. Look for the File System entry.
• If the disk is formatted in NTFS, your options for returning to Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me are limited. The Win 9X based operating systems do not read or recognize NTFS and you cannot convert the disk to use the FAT or FAT32 file system. The bootable disk that you use and the drive on which you want to install Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me cannot use NTFS. Microsoft does not support any third-party solutions for converting NTFS to FAT or FAT32.
• If the drive is using the FAT file system, you can install any operating system. If the drive is using the FAT32 file system, you can install Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2) or later.
The above was copied from http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q314052
republish by me
Related Posts by Categories
