Formating hard drive...

[Richard]

I am trying to format the hard drive on a laptop which
has Windows XP Home Ed. as its operating system. I want
to know if anyone knows how to get out of Windows XP to
an MS-DOS prompt or something so that I can erase Windows
XP off the hard drive. Thanks.

[Ken Blake]

In ,
Richard > typed:

> I am trying to format the hard drive on a laptop which
> has Windows XP Home Ed. as its operating system. I want
> to know if anyone knows how to get out of Windows XP to
> an MS-DOS prompt or something so that I can erase Windows
> XP off the hard drive. Thanks.


There is no DOS in Windows XP. The only way for you to get to DOS
is to boot from a DOS diskette.

But if you want to reformat and reinstall Windows XP, just boot
from the XP CD and follow the prompts.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Chris Lanier]

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary to
partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow Windows XP
to partition and format your drive:

1. Open your BIOS and set your CD Drive as the first bootable device.
2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your omputer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. After installing Windows XP, be sure and visit the support website of
the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any available
Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter and audio drivers.

*All Courtesy of Nicholas

"Richard" > wrote in message
...
> I am trying to format the hard drive on a laptop which
> has Windows XP Home Ed. as its operating system. I want
> to know if anyone knows how to get out of Windows XP to
> an MS-DOS prompt or something so that I can erase Windows
> XP off the hard drive. Thanks.

[R. C. White]

Hi, Richard.

I see a couple of responses have already been "deleted from the server", so
I can't see what they said. If this is redundant, that's why. (Looks like
MS is fighting that SWEN worm that is monopolizing the newsgroups today, and
have to delete more than they really want to delete.)

Forget MS-DOS. It's part of the past. With WinXP, just boot from your
CD-ROM and accept its offer to repartition (optional) and reformat your HD.
Then abort Setup and install whatever you like.

At least, that's how it works in generic WinXP. Each OEM has its own system
and yours might be different - but you didn't mention the make and model of
your laptop.

(Of course, if you want to revert to Win9x/ME, you could boot from a
Win9x/ME CD-ROM or an MS-DOS floppy and use FDISK and Format.exe, just like
in olden days.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP

"Richard" > wrote in message
...
> I am trying to format the hard drive on a laptop which
> has Windows XP Home Ed. as its operating system. I want
> to know if anyone knows how to get out of Windows XP to
> an MS-DOS prompt or something so that I can erase Windows
> XP off the hard drive. Thanks.

[Rich Becker]

I've tried to uninstall and reinstall Medal of Honor Allied Assault. Windows XP Home Edition won't let me do either. I've tried to use add and remove programs in Control Panel and delete it through search. I go back to control panel and it's still there! All my other games load and run great. Do I have to reinstall Windows XP? Or is there a way to get Allied completely out? I do want to reinstall it but I have to get it out first. I've also gone into the registry but could'nt find it! Thanks for any help I can get.