Wipe the disk clean?

How do I wipe my hard disk clean for a total re-install of windows xp pro. I
want everything thing off to allow me to start clean again. Thanks for the
help.

If you have your Windows XP CD or recovery CD that came with your PC,
you can insert that into your CD-ROM and reboot your PC. If your BIOS is
configured to boot from CD-ROM, it will prompt you to "press any key to
boot to cd." If after rebooting your computer, it just boots into
Windows again, we need to configure your BIOS to look at the CD-ROM
during boot. The goal is to boot to your Windows XP or Recovery CD and
perform a reinstall with formatting. In doing so, you will lose all
information including pictures, personal documents, music, etc. So make
sure you have a backup of any of these items you would like to keep.

Are you following me so far? :-) Let me know if you have the Windows XP
or Recovery CD and try to boot from it. If it does not work, post back
and I or someone else will be happy to move you forward. Good Luck

--
Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCDST, MCP, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW Assoc.,
CIW Certified Instructor



"Head" wrote in message
:

How do I wipe my hard disk clean for a total re-install of windows xp pro. I
want everything thing off to allow me to start clean again. Thanks for the
help.

Head wrote:
How do I wipe my hard disk clean for a total re-install of windows xp pro. I
want everything thing off to allow me to start clean again. Thanks for the
help.


Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...B;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

Head wrote:

How do I wipe my hard disk clean for a total re-install of windows xp
pro. I want everything thing off to allow me to start clean again.
Thanks for the help.


Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if necessary to
accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean installation (delete the
existing partition by pressing "D" when prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions he
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how...windows_xp.htm

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

However why do you want to reformat and reinstall? In my view, it's usually
a mistake. With a modicum of care, it should never be necessary to reinstall
Windows (XP or any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11,
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for the period of
time before the next version came out, and each on two machines here. I
never reinstalled any of them, and I have never had anything more than an
occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical support
people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to almost any problem they
don't quickly know the answer to is "reformat and reinstall." That's the
perfect solution for them. It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost
always works, and it doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a
skill that most of them obviously don't possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You have to
restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all your programs, you
have to reinstall all the Windows and application updates,you have to locate
and install all the needed drivers for your system, you have to recustomize
Windows and all your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome, you may have
trouble with some of them: can you find all your application CDs? Can you
find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data backups to restore?
Do you even remember all the customizations and tweaks you may have
installed to make everything work the way you like? Occasionally there are
problems that are so difficult to solve that Windows should be reinstalled
cleanly. But they are few and far between; reinstallation should not be a
substitute for troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have
failed.

If you have problems, post them here; it's likely that someone can help you
and a reinstallation won't be required.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

"Head" wrote in message
...
How do I wipe my hard disk clean for a total re-install of windows xp pro.
I
want everything thing off to allow me to start clean again. Thanks for
the
help.
The installation disk can do that.
Jim

Michael,
I have the Windows XP CD, doesn't look like it's a recovery CD. I just
tried doing a restart it just booted right to windows so looks like I will
have to configure the BIOS to look at the cd-rom drive. I'm far from an
expert and could use some help to change the startup.
Thanks, Scott

"Michael D. Alligood" wrote:

If you have your Windows XP CD or recovery CD that came with your PC,
you can insert that into your CD-ROM and reboot your PC. If your BIOS is
configured to boot from CD-ROM, it will prompt you to "press any key to
boot to cd." If after rebooting your computer, it just boots into
Windows again, we need to configure your BIOS to look at the CD-ROM
during boot. The goal is to boot to your Windows XP or Recovery CD and
perform a reinstall with formatting. In doing so, you will lose all
information including pictures, personal documents, music, etc. So make
sure you have a backup of any of these items you would like to keep.

Are you following me so far? :-) Let me know if you have the Windows XP
or Recovery CD and try to boot from it. If it does not work, post back
and I or someone else will be happy to move you forward. Good Luck

--
Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCDST, MCP, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW Assoc.,
CIW Certified Instructor



"Head" wrote in message
:

How do I wipe my hard disk clean for a total re-install of windows xp pro. I
want everything thing off to allow me to start clean again. Thanks for the
help.

What brand and model number is your computer. Some BIOS have a hot key
you can press to access the boot order. Sometimes it is ESC or F10.

--
Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCDST, MCP, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW Assoc.,
CIW Certified Instructor



"Head" wrote in message
:

Michael,
I have the Windows XP CD, doesn't look like it's a recovery CD. I just
tried doing a restart it just booted right to windows so looks like I will
have to configure the BIOS to look at the cd-rom drive. I'm far from an
expert and could use some help to change the startup.
Thanks, Scott

"Michael D. Alligood" wrote:

If you have your Windows XP CD or recovery CD that came with your PC,
you can insert that into your CD-ROM and reboot your PC. If your BIOS is
configured to boot from CD-ROM, it will prompt you to "press any key to
boot to cd." If after rebooting your computer, it just boots into
Windows again, we need to configure your BIOS to look at the CD-ROM
during boot. The goal is to boot to your Windows XP or Recovery CD and
perform a reinstall with formatting. In doing so, you will lose all
information including pictures, personal documents, music, etc. So make
sure you have a backup of any of these items you would like to keep.

Are you following me so far? :-) Let me know if you have the Windows XP
or Recovery CD and try to boot from it. If it does not work, post back
and I or someone else will be happy to move you forward. Good Luck

--
Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCDST, MCP, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW Assoc.,
CIW Certified Instructor



"Head" wrote in message
:

How do I wipe my hard disk clean for a total re-install of windows xp pro. I
want everything thing off to allow me to start clean again. Thanks for the
help.

On a Toshiba laptop, just press the letter C when you reboot and first
see the
manufacturer's logo.

Michael D. Alligood wrote:
What brand and model number is your computer. Some BIOS have a hot key
you can press to access the boot order. Sometimes it is ESC or F10.

--
Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCDST, MCP, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW Assoc.,
CIW Certified Instructor



"Head" wrote in message
:

Michael,
I have the Windows XP CD, doesn't look like it's a recovery CD. I just
tried doing a restart it just booted right to windows so looks like I will
have to configure the BIOS to look at the cd-rom drive. I'm far from an
expert and could use some help to change the startup.
Thanks, Scott

"Michael D. Alligood" wrote:

If you have your Windows XP CD or recovery CD that came with your PC,
you can insert that into your CD-ROM and reboot your PC. If your BIOS is
configured to boot from CD-ROM, it will prompt you to "press any key to
boot to cd." If after rebooting your computer, it just boots into
Windows again, we need to configure your BIOS to look at the CD-ROM
during boot. The goal is to boot to your Windows XP or Recovery CD and
perform a reinstall with formatting. In doing so, you will lose all
information including pictures, personal documents, music, etc. So make
sure you have a backup of any of these items you would like to keep.

Are you following me so far? :-) Let me know if you have the Windows XP
or Recovery CD and try to boot from it. If it does not work, post back
and I or someone else will be happy to move you forward. Good Luck

--
Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCDST, MCP, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW Assoc.,
CIW Certified Instructor



"Head" wrote in message
:

How do I wipe my hard disk clean for a total re-install of windows xp pro. I
want everything thing off to allow me to start clean again. Thanks for the
help.