Reformating and reinstalling windows XP

[alangrizzubs]

I am a new member to this site and have decided to see if there is someone out there who can help assist me with my problem. Ok, i have a harddrive that already has windows xp instaled onto it and would like an explanation of how to reformat the hard drive to(to erase EVERYTHING) and reinstall the windows xp again. I have read other posts and have not quite understode the procedures that were explained. It's not that I'm a computer novice, its just that i have never had to deal with reformating on an OS that isnt DOS based. Please help me out, with a down to earth explanation of the correct procedures.

thank you

 

[Foxglove21]

I hope I can help, I don't run xp but have formated on it before. You are going to need a copy of win 98,from what I hear it works best. You have to over install 98 over xp. And then you can format with 98. After formating you have to install 98. After that you can install the xp upgrade. This is the only way I have done it and the only way I have heard of, I hope this helps. If you need me to give more info let me know.

 

[dbk4297]

Hi,

You may want to fdiskk, and then format your hard drive.
If you use the fdisk instructions here,

http://home.pacbell.net/dbk4297/fdiskformat.html

You must first delete all, "non-DOS" partitions if the drive is setup using NTFS. Then the just follow along using the instructions provided.

Darrell,

http://home.pacbell.net/dbk4297/

 

[wizzard2k2]

first you need to decide which file system you're going to use...since you're using WinXP, I would assume you're wanting to use it's native file system...
First, boot with the WinXP install disk.
When it gets to the first screen, it will tell you;
To set up Windows XP now, press enter
To repair an existing installation...(yada, yada)
When it gets to this point, just hit ENTER

The next screen is the EULA, just hit F8 if you egree with it

The next screen will show you a partition table, If you want to install where it says to install, hit ENTER

If you already have a version of Windows installed, the next screen will advise against putting different versions of Windows on the same partition. Since you are re-installing Windows, press C.

Now you get to decide which file system you want to use.
NTFS is the 'native' file system of WinXP, and has [virtually] no file size limits, and file encryption.
FAT32 is native to Win98 and later, has a 4 GB file size limit, and no file encryption.
(my suggestion is to use NTFS and a full format)

from this point, Windows will start its install process after it gets done formatting the drive

 

[shaunk]

I am a novice PC user and had to intall XP over the top of Windows 2000.
It went exactly as WIZZARD2K2 described it with no problems.
The only trick is to make sure your BIOS settings are such that it will boot from CD ( My XP boot disk was on CD).
After that, no problems.

 

[alangrizzubs]

I appreciate all of your help!! Thank you all. I have use your tips to solve my problems. I like the idea of talking to people to get help with computer needs as opposed to reading through heafty books/guides and page after page of internet explanation. Thank you once again.