Formatting a hard drive with windows xp on it.

Could some one pleas help me out on how i would do this.

What do you want to do with it once you've formatted it?

ummm reinstall windows.

Your hard drive has a partition that contains the operating system. Different manufactures assign different function keys to access it. Do you just want to repair windows or delete all files and restore it to new condition?

Can't you do "format c:" ?

My other comp is infected with some spyware crap and ive tried everything to delete it. It also says i got a worm virus on it so I thought i'd just format it and save all the messing around

if i can start the comp in dos mode some how, I could do a format c:

If you have no rescue or startup disk, you're pretty well fucked.

Try hitting F10 as it is booting up before windows starts, but it may be a different F key for you, an owners manual would help.

Yep definately fucked! I dont have either.
looks like im gonna have to take it to the repair guy.


[Edited on Mar 25, 2006 by Dcypha]

What make of computer is it?

if you're using windows xp, then no, you can't just go into dos and do 'format c:'. xp uses the ntfs file system which is not recognized by dos, so dos won't even detect a c drive.

what you can do, is pop in your xp disc and reboot your computer. your computer should boot into the xp installer. at some point during the installer, it should give you the option to format your hard drive.

personally, i'd recommend getting a boot disk with fdisk and format on it. that would let you clean your hard drive right out.

BartPE might do the trick. More...

Edit to fix link.

[Edited on Mar 24, 2006 by nobodaddy]

Its a custom built pc - getting old tho

If it is still running you can probably avoid the hassle of formating and reinstalling by getting Pest Patrol and Etrust Antivirus from www.ca.com these are very much worth paying for. Through my work I have installed these products on hundreds of PC's and swear by them.

If you really want to re install you can use your Windoes XP disk, just set your bios to boot from the CDROM first (it probably already is). When you get into the install it will say it has found a partition with windows on it. You can choose to delete the partition and then proceed to create a new partition and install Windows.

Seriously though you can usually avoid this, go to Housecall and run the online scanner.

Make sure your BIOS is set to boot from CD-ROM as the first boot option. Then just put the Windows XP cd in the drive and reboot the computer. You'll have the option to format (quick format or full format) during the reinstallation process.

Trust me, I do this all the time at work.

[Edited on Mar 24, 2006 by Shalome]

You got windows xp on my hard drive!

You got your hard drive in my windows xp!