unable to format XP MC hard drive prior to Vista Prem installation

[Mike F from TN]

My new eMachines pc (2G RAM) has XP MCE. I am trying to install Vista Home
Premium from an Express Upgrade disk acquired on a special Vista upgrade
program from eMachines/Gateway. I wish to do a clean install, which requires
formatting the hard drive.

The preparation instructions say this: "because the hidden area on your hard
drive used for Windows XP recovery uses storage space, we recommend that you
re-partition and format the entire drive (including the hidden recovery
partition) before installing Vista." So I tried to format the C: drive
partition prior to running the Vista installation disk, but it cannot be
formatted because it contains some Windows system files. I can understand
that. I was successful in formatting the D: drive partition.

What do I do? Thanks. Mike

[DL]

You cannot format the system disk within windows
The Vista cd would contain the utilities to delete partitions, prior to
creating a new one.
I assume you have the winXp MCE disk as this will be required during the
upgrade process.

"Mike F from TN" > wrote in message
...
> My new eMachines pc (2G RAM) has XP MCE. I am trying to install Vista Home
> Premium from an Express Upgrade disk acquired on a special Vista upgrade
> program from eMachines/Gateway. I wish to do a clean install, which
> requires
> formatting the hard drive.
>
> The preparation instructions say this: "because the hidden area on your
> hard
> drive used for Windows XP recovery uses storage space, we recommend that
> you
> re-partition and format the entire drive (including the hidden recovery
> partition) before installing Vista." So I tried to format the C: drive
> partition prior to running the Vista installation disk, but it cannot be
> formatted because it contains some Windows system files. I can understand
> that. I was successful in formatting the D: drive partition.
>
> What do I do? Thanks. Mike

[Mike F from TN]

"DL" wrote:

> You cannot format the system disk within windows
> The Vista cd would contain the utilities to delete partitions, prior to
> creating a new one.
> I assume you have the winXp MCE disk as this will be required during the
> upgrade process.
>
> "Mike F from TN" > wrote in message
> ...
> > My new eMachines pc (2G RAM) has XP MCE. I am trying to install Vista Home
> > Premium from an Express Upgrade disk acquired on a special Vista upgrade
> > program from eMachines/Gateway. I wish to do a clean install, which
> > requires
> > formatting the hard drive.
> >
> > The preparation instructions say this: "because the hidden area on your
> > hard
> > drive used for Windows XP recovery uses storage space, we recommend that
> > you
> > re-partition and format the entire drive (including the hidden recovery
> > partition) before installing Vista." So I tried to format the C: drive
> > partition prior to running the Vista installation disk, but it cannot be
> > formatted because it contains some Windows system files. I can understand
> > that. I was successful in formatting the D: drive partition.
> >
> > What do I do? Thanks. Mike
>
>
>

[John John]

It doesn't work like that with Vista upgrades. "Officilally" you can't
upgrade unless there is an operating system installed, Vista upgrades
won't ask for a previous Windows cd. There is a way around it:
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geu6U1KspGNIABFUZXNyoA?p=vista+clean +install+upgrade&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501

John

DL wrote:
> You cannot format the system disk within windows
> The Vista cd would contain the utilities to delete partitions, prior to
> creating a new one.
> I assume you have the winXp MCE disk as this will be required during the
> upgrade process.
>
> "Mike F from TN" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>My new eMachines pc (2G RAM) has XP MCE. I am trying to install Vista Home
>>Premium from an Express Upgrade disk acquired on a special Vista upgrade
>>program from eMachines/Gateway. I wish to do a clean install, which
>>requires
>>formatting the hard drive.
>>
>>The preparation instructions say this: "because the hidden area on your
>>hard
>>drive used for Windows XP recovery uses storage space, we recommend that
>>you
>>re-partition and format the entire drive (including the hidden recovery
>>partition) before installing Vista." So I tried to format the C: drive
>>partition prior to running the Vista installation disk, but it cannot be
>>formatted because it contains some Windows system files. I can understand
>>that. I was successful in formatting the D: drive partition.
>>
>>What do I do? Thanks. Mike
>
>
>