format c:

[cbsm]

Hi,

here is what i am trying to do :
I have windows XP installed on my PC and need to back to windows 2000.
I made a boot disk from windows XP.
At then prompt I try to do a format c:
but I get an error like "incorrect file or comand name"
I tried scandisk c:, fdisk ... but always the same error.
Please Help !!!

Thanks

 

[apex1x]

Make sure you're still in the directory where the format comand is. I'm assuming this is included on the boot disk, so make sure you're still on A:\ and run the format command from there. OR, you could located the format path with a command such as "a:\format c:".
~Apex1x
Miller's Law:
You can't tell how deep a puddle is until you step into it.

 

[smah]

That's probably because your hard drive is formatted with NTFS. The boot disk you made in Windows XP can't read the ntfs fromat. You should be able to do what you want with only the 2000 cd. Set your bios to boot to the cd rom drive, boot to your win 2k cd and when prompted, removal the existing partition, recreate & format. If for some reason you can't get this to work, have a look at this:

http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2094-8838570.html?tag=lst-0-1

 

[gargouille]

Copied from elsewhere:

[[ Simply boot from the Win2K CD, delete the WinXP partition (different version of NTFS), create & format a new partition, and proceed with the installation of Win2K.

Before proceeding, though, you'd better take a few minutes to see if there are any Win2K device drivers available for the new machine. There may not be any,
as the PC was apparently designed for WinXP. ]]

Not a 100% fit to your problem, tho, as I know not what OS came on it, just that you had XP and wanna' go back.
But it should give you the basic tools to get you started.

 

[Scanreg]

I agree with the post abover mine. The one above that states taht Format/Fdisk will not work on an NTFS system. This is not entirely accurate. In Fdsik, and NTFS partition will come up as HPFS/NTFS or Non-Dos patition. You can still delete it. Furthermore, Format will format the drive, it just wont format it in NTFS. You can use format on a drive larger than 500MB and it will format the partition in FAT32. You can then run winxp/NT and use the convert command line option to change it to NTFS

 

[cbsm]

Hi !
thanks for the fast replies ...
But none of them helped me !
I tried booting from the CD-ROM (Win 2K) already, but nothing happens : apperently it does not find the necessary files to boot from the CD or maybe, because i it is an earlier version of windows, it does not use it , and the PC starts as usually.
The PC was not designed for XP.
Thanks

 

[apex1x]

Have you set the primary boot device to be the CDROM in BIOS? ~Apex1x
Miller's Law:
You can't tell how deep a puddle is until you step into it.

 

[cbsm]

Hi !
Apex1x i believe the order is : a:,CD-ROM,c:

Scanreg I am sorry but I do not understand what you are talking about !

I did not thought it could be so complicated !!!
Thanks,

 

[apex1x]

Ok. Try booting from a floppy and entering the CDROM from DOS. I believe you can run the setup from the I386 folder and the setup file is Winnt.exe ... ~Apex1x
Miller's Law:
You can't tell how deep a puddle is until you step into it.

 

[smah]

cbsm, on some systems you have to hit the spacebar when prompted to boot from the cd.

Scanreg, you're right, I didn't read/think very well. Anyway the reason the format command didn't work is because the boot disk created in xp doesnt include the format utility.

 

[cbsm]

Hi thanks again.

apex1x, I am going to try this, but I am not sure how to this ...
smah : I was never prompted for anything, but I could 'hear' the CD-ROM, so I supposed it tried to boot from there.
Is there a way to include the format utility on this xp disk ? I had a look on the internet and I found "extract ebd.cab format.com" or something like that, but I got the same error message again (about wrong command or file names).
I just don't understand how it could be so complicated to do something so simple !!

 

[apex1x]

Cbsm, try this site:

http://www.bootdisk.com

If sure you'll find it useful. ~Apex1x
Miller's Law:
You can't tell how deep a puddle is until you step into it.

 

[wolluf]

cbsm,

You can create a set of floppy disks to install 2k from - there's a folder on the install CD called bootdisk - just run makeboot from that folder. Then you can start the install with these disks and continue as Gargouille suggested above.

Youi can also run winnt from the \i386 folder as suggested above after booting from a win98 boot floppy - but I think you also need to run smartdrv beforehand.

 

[cbsm]

Hi everybody !

I was finally abble to do all I wanted.
I found some helpfull information on the microsoft web.
"How to update from XP to an earlier Version".
But I first had to reinstall XP with FAT32, then create boot disks from 2000 and it finally worked ...
Thanks again everybody,