Attempting to format C drive

[eussias]

I'm trying to wipe my hard drive clean and keep getting an error message after I type in format c: /fs:ntfs. Message tells me that the volume is still in use and will not lock. Can anyone tell me how to complete the format?

 

[jeremybarker]

Are you trying to do this inside windows? Insert your w2k cd and reboot your pc, make sure your bios is set to boot from the cdrom, then follow the menu choices. You can't erase system files in use.

 

[Snickle]

..........
YOU CAN'T.

Now that I have your attention, the problem is that the C: drive cannot be re-formatted as long as the operating system is using it to run itself. You would have to boot to the CD or if you want a truly clean installation, I'd use a Win98 boot floppy and fdisk, delete the non-DOS partition and start over. You could fdisk again and create a Primary DOS partition, format it FAT32, and install Win2000. It could be converted to NTFS later. Or after deleting the partition, you could boot to the CD and start installation from there.

 

[eussias]

I appreciate the advice. I've tried that and am now booting from the cd, but am not coming up with any formatting options on the menu. This is probably second nature to you, but I would really appreciate some step-by-step instructions here.

 

[Snickle]

Okay then, the CD doesn't want to reformat. Get a Win98 boot disk [

http://www.bootdisk.de

or www.bootdisk.com] and use the fdisk that should be on it to delete the non-DOS partition. That gives a clean drive and the CD should be able to partition and format it before installing.

 

[jeremybarker]

You must have an upgrade version of w2k, from what I know you can't perform a clean install from an upgrade cd if you have a previous install of any os. Berton's advice will only work if you have a fat32 partion. If not visit

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q103049&

to remove w2k manually.

 

[eussias]

Thank you very much for your help! Format is done and o/s is up and running without a problem. Went to

http://www.bootdisk.com

and used the fdisk -- worked perfectly. Thanks again!

 

[Snickle]

You're welcome, glad to help.

 

[wolluf]

Glad it all worked out - but in case others read this thread would like to point out that you CAN perform a clean install from an upgrade CD. Once you've supplied the original CD from win98/NT etc to verify that you can use upgrade, it performs exactly as a full version CD. Ie, you get to the screen where you choose where to install - here you can partition drive(s) exactly as you want (option to remove existing - with appropriate warnings, especially if o/s on them & create new - or you can install into existing). So, you don't need a boot disk & fdisk either - you just need the 2k install CD (assuming your bios supports booting from CD).