John Barnett - MVP
December 5th 03, 08:40 PM
You need to reformat the hard drive to get rid of it.
However, it really all depends upon the disk that came
with your computer originally - i.e., whether it is a full
product or a recovery disk. There is nothing stopping you
inserting the cd that came originally with your pc and
seeing what happens. The original disk should over-write
the copy you have already installed. The thing you need to
look for is when xp searches for any other copies of
windows. If it does then the copy you have just installed
will show up. You will then need to choose to reinstall xp
on the same drive/partition. You should then be able to
reformat from there. Please read the screen information
carefully. You may find there is an option to delete the
parttion. If this is the case then do so, reformat and
then reinstall.
If you are using a fat32 file system and you have a
windows 98 or ME startup disk you can also boot your
machine into DOS then at the DOS (the 'A' prompt) you can
type format c: and your hard drive will be reformatted.
You can't use the 98/ME startup disk, however, if you are
using an ntfs file system. You can download a copy of the
windows 98 or ME startup disk from www.bootdisk.com
Hope this helps
John Barnett - MVP
Associate Expert
>-----Original Message-----
>I put my windows xp cd to load inot my computer loaded it
>and then found out it was the wrong cd. My computer came
>with its own cd to start xp. how can i now remove xp from
>that computer to install the right one? It will not get
>past "windows needs to be activated" but it cant be
>activated as it is the wrong one for that computer?
>.
>
However, it really all depends upon the disk that came
with your computer originally - i.e., whether it is a full
product or a recovery disk. There is nothing stopping you
inserting the cd that came originally with your pc and
seeing what happens. The original disk should over-write
the copy you have already installed. The thing you need to
look for is when xp searches for any other copies of
windows. If it does then the copy you have just installed
will show up. You will then need to choose to reinstall xp
on the same drive/partition. You should then be able to
reformat from there. Please read the screen information
carefully. You may find there is an option to delete the
parttion. If this is the case then do so, reformat and
then reinstall.
If you are using a fat32 file system and you have a
windows 98 or ME startup disk you can also boot your
machine into DOS then at the DOS (the 'A' prompt) you can
type format c: and your hard drive will be reformatted.
You can't use the 98/ME startup disk, however, if you are
using an ntfs file system. You can download a copy of the
windows 98 or ME startup disk from www.bootdisk.com
Hope this helps
John Barnett - MVP
Associate Expert
>-----Original Message-----
>I put my windows xp cd to load inot my computer loaded it
>and then found out it was the wrong cd. My computer came
>with its own cd to start xp. how can i now remove xp from
>that computer to install the right one? It will not get
>past "windows needs to be activated" but it cant be
>activated as it is the wrong one for that computer?
>.
>