Need help urgently.

[Nikki]

Hoping someone can help me. I am presently running XP professional, and
want to go back to windows 98. When I go to reformat the hard drive, I get
the following message:

*Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Format
may run if this volume is dismounted first. all opened handles to this
volume will then be invalid.*

I then get a yes/no option and when i say yes, i get the following:

*Cannot lock the drive. Volume is still in use*


Can anyone give me some advice here so i can go back to 98? If so, please
email me at

Cheers
Nikki

[Mike Mulligan]

A system partition cannot be formatted within Windows.

To format your drive and install Windows 98, you should use a Windows 98
startup diskette and the FORMAT command.

Did you upgrade a Windows 98 installation to Windows XP? If so, you have the
option of uninstalling XP, if you did not convert your hard disk to the NTFS
file system.

Keep in mind that Windows 98 will no longer be supported by Microsoft after
January, 2004.

Mike Mulligan

"Nikki" > wrote in message
...
>
> Hoping someone can help me. I am presently running XP professional, and
> want to go back to windows 98. When I go to reformat the hard drive, I
get
> the following message:
>
> *Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.
Format
> may run if this volume is dismounted first. all opened handles to this
> volume will then be invalid.*
>
> I then get a yes/no option and when i say yes, i get the following:
>
> *Cannot lock the drive. Volume is still in use*
>
>
> Can anyone give me some advice here so i can go back to 98? If so, please
> email me at
>
> Cheers
> Nikki
>
>
>
>

[Nikki]

Hey Mike, theres been a change in plans. We're actually wanting to put ME
on now. i was told to go into bios and boot from cd but it's got me stumped
how to do that. I hit F8 and went into safe mode command prompt, and got
into dos from there, went into my d drive and put in setup but get this
message:

*An application has attempted to directly access the hard disk, which cannot
be supported. This may cause the application to function incorrectly.
Choose close to terminate application*
So I hit close and got the following:
*The request to end the selected 16 bit task. The win 16 subsystem may be
unstable. Press ok to terminate the win 16 subsystem or cancel to leave it
running*

Im using a laptop which I dunno if it makes any difference on how to get
into boot from cd, but any ideas would be great..or if you could tell me how
to get in to get the boot from cd option, that would be much appreciated
too.

Cheers
Nikki
"Mike Mulligan" > wrote in message
...
> A system partition cannot be formatted within Windows.
>
> To format your drive and install Windows 98, you should use a Windows 98
> startup diskette and the FORMAT command.
>
> Did you upgrade a Windows 98 installation to Windows XP? If so, you have
the
> option of uninstalling XP, if you did not convert your hard disk to the
NTFS
> file system.
>
> Keep in mind that Windows 98 will no longer be supported by Microsoft
after
> January, 2004.
>
> Mike Mulligan
>
> "Nikki" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Hoping someone can help me. I am presently running XP professional, and
> > want to go back to windows 98. When I go to reformat the hard drive, I
> get
> > the following message:
> >
> > *Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.
> Format
> > may run if this volume is dismounted first. all opened handles to this
> > volume will then be invalid.*
> >
> > I then get a yes/no option and when i say yes, i get the following:
> >
> > *Cannot lock the drive. Volume is still in use*
> >
> >
> > Can anyone give me some advice here so i can go back to 98? If so,
please
> > email me at
> >
> > Cheers
> > Nikki
> >
> >
> >
> >
>

[Mike Mulligan]

You need to slow down. Clean installing an operating system is not something
to be taken lightly - it's major surgery for your computer. Are you aware of
that? Have you backed up all your important files? Are you prepared to
reinstall all your software and reconfigure all your hardware? If your PC
originally shipped with XP, are you sure that ME has drivers for all your
hardware? Have you printed out complete. detailed instructions on how to
perform a clean install? (You can find clear instructions at all the major
online computer journals, e.g. PC World, PC Magazine, ZD Net). And why would
you want to install ME? It's widely known as the 'black sheep' of the
Windows family?

Mike Mulligan

"Nikki" > wrote in message
...
>
> Hey Mike, theres been a change in plans. We're actually wanting to put ME
> on now. i was told to go into bios and boot from cd but it's got me
stumped
> how to do that. I hit F8 and went into safe mode command prompt, and got
> into dos from there, went into my d drive and put in setup but get this
> message:
>
> *An application has attempted to directly access the hard disk, which
cannot
> be supported. This may cause the application to function incorrectly.
> Choose close to terminate application*
> So I hit close and got the following:
> *The request to end the selected 16 bit task. The win 16 subsystem may be
> unstable. Press ok to terminate the win 16 subsystem or cancel to leave
it
> running*
>
> Im using a laptop which I dunno if it makes any difference on how to get
> into boot from cd, but any ideas would be great..or if you could tell me
how
> to get in to get the boot from cd option, that would be much appreciated
> too.
>
> Cheers
> Nikki
> "Mike Mulligan" > wrote in message
> ...
> > A system partition cannot be formatted within Windows.
> >
> > To format your drive and install Windows 98, you should use a Windows 98
> > startup diskette and the FORMAT command.
> >
> > Did you upgrade a Windows 98 installation to Windows XP? If so, you have
> the
> > option of uninstalling XP, if you did not convert your hard disk to the
> NTFS
> > file system.
> >
> > Keep in mind that Windows 98 will no longer be supported by Microsoft
> after
> > January, 2004.
> >
> > Mike Mulligan
> >
> > "Nikki" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > >
> > > Hoping someone can help me. I am presently running XP professional,
and
> > > want to go back to windows 98. When I go to reformat the hard drive,
I
> > get
> > > the following message:
> > >
> > > *Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.
> > Format
> > > may run if this volume is dismounted first. all opened handles to
this
> > > volume will then be invalid.*
> > >
> > > I then get a yes/no option and when i say yes, i get the following:
> > >
> > > *Cannot lock the drive. Volume is still in use*
> > >
> > >
> > > Can anyone give me some advice here so i can go back to 98? If so,
> please
> > > email me at
> > >
> > > Cheers
> > > Nikki
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>

[mb]

"Nikki" > wrote in message
...
>
> Hoping someone can help me. I am presently running XP professional, and
> want to go back to windows 98. When I go to reformat the hard drive, I
get
> the following message:
>
> *Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.
Format
> may run if this volume is dismounted first. all opened handles to this
> volume will then be invalid.*
>
> I then get a yes/no option and when i say yes, i get the following:
>
> *Cannot lock the drive. Volume is still in use*
>
>

You can't format the drive if you're using it! You do realise that you'll
lose all info on the drive if you format it?
It may be a daft question, but why do you want to go back to Win 98?