formatting

[Mike]

I am trying to reformat my computer using xp. I click on
local disk c then click format. It is telling me that it
cant do it and says to quit any disk utilities or other
programs that are using this drive. and to make sure no
windows are displaying contents of drive. How can I now
disable what I need to in order to format.

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You cannot format the system drive in this manner as the drive is in use.
To format the system drive, follow the instructions below:
Boot with the XP CD in the drive. When you see the message on the boot
screen to "Press any key in order to boot from the CD," do so.

After loading drivers and files, you should be taken to a screen with
the following:

To Setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To Repair a Windows XP Installation using Recovery Console press R.
To Quit setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

In your case, press ENTER.

Agree to the License agreement by pressing F8.

You will then be taken to a screen with two options.

To repair the selected Windows XP installation press R.
To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing,
press ESC.

This will bring you to a partition map where you
can delete, create and format partitions.
Select the drive you wish to format, delete the partition, then create a new
partition, format as desired and continue with XP installation.


--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"Mike" > wrote in message
...
> I am trying to reformat my computer using xp. I click on
> local disk c then click format. It is telling me that it
> cant do it and says to quit any disk utilities or other
> programs that are using this drive. and to make sure no
> windows are displaying contents of drive. How can I now
> disable what I need to in order to format.

[Ken Blake]

In ,
Mike > typed:

> I am trying to reformat my computer using xp. I click on
> local disk c then click format. It is telling me that it
> cant do it


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows. Assuming
that you want to cleanly reinstall Windows, just boot from the
Windows CD and follow the prompts.

--
Ken Blake
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