Formatting Hard Drive

[Scooby62]

Hi there.

I'm currently running Windows XP and I'm trying to reformat my hard drive. I want to wipe everything out and start fresh but when I go to the cmd prompt and type format c it says the volume is still in use.

How do I stop all items from using the volume?

 

[vacunita]

You can't format a drive from withing Windows, if Windows is running on it.

Boot from your Windows Install CD if you have one, and use that to format the drive., or use a Bootdisk.



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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[linney]

HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP (Q313348)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q313/3/48.asp

Read the paragraph,
"How to Partition and Format Your Hard Disk by Using Windows XP Setup."


For more help (shows enlargeable screenshots) go here.

http://www.petri.co.il/install_windows_xp_pro.htm

http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPPro/installxppro1.htm