Reformat and install XP

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some problems. I
don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed up.

In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the
sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some
problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed
up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since
that would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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 almost always 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

Ken -
QUOTE from yr reply -
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...etc. UNQUOTE

Totally agree! Had XP(OEM) system 3 years now. Within a week had a prob with
CDRW, OEM helpdesk advice was "re-install XP from recovery disk". Was a real
novice then, so did that, prob solved. Since which, have lost my OEM disk,
but XP still works despite the many changes made since.
Bog-standard routines and protection (AV, Firewall, Spybot, disk hygiene,
defrag and automatic updates) has kept my system virtually trouble-free. And
I'm a Silver Surfer, no expert, but still with enough savvy to learn (you
CAN teach an old dog new tricks).
Reading these NG postings should be compulsory. Funny how most posters blame
XP when it's actually user error, often of the most basic kind!

"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some
problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that would
leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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 almost
always 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

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).


SNIP

had a friend that worked at gateway tech support a couple of years ago.

he told me that at that time, there was a 10 minute rule....if you can't
get the customer back up and running in 10 minutes, tell them the only
thing to do then is a restore.

it's pretty sad, since while it might take more than 10 minutes, with 5 of
those spent re-booting multiple times, i've found it usually takes under 30
minutes to get someone back up.

In ,
DanS typed:

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).


SNIP

had a friend that worked at gateway tech support a couple of
years
ago.

he told me that at that time, there was a 10 minute rule....if
you
can't get the customer back up and running in 10 minutes, tell
them
the only thing to do then is a restore.


Thanks. I'd never heard of the "ten-minute rule" before, but it
doesn't surprise me that they have one.

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

Happy wrote:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some problems. I
don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed up.

You do it as part of a reinstall of the system after booting the XP CD
direct. Enter Setup, and after the license agreement take New Install.
When it asks you to confirm where, hit ESC; select and delete the
current partition and make a new RAW one to be formatted at the next
stage

The important point is the delete. Without that it will just go ahead
and make a new install over the top of the old one


--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)

Won't boot from CD, and the message I get is "load needed DLLs for kernel"
"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some
problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that would
leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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 almost
always 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

In ,
Happy typed:

Won't boot from CD,


Have you set the BIOS boot order for the CD drive to be first?

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


and the message I get is "load needed DLLs for
kernel" "Ken Blake" wrote in
message ...
In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past
the sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some
problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed
up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since
that
would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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
almost always 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

Yes, I did. It says "cannot boot from Cd, error 5,' or something to that
effect.
"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

Won't boot from CD,


Have you set the BIOS boot order for the CD drive to be first?

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


and the message I get is "load needed DLLs for
kernel" "Ken Blake" wrote in
message ...
In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some
problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that
would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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
almost always 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

Are you using a Microsoft Cd or a copy?

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
"Happy" wrote in message
...
Yes, I did. It says "cannot boot from Cd, error 5,' or something to that
effect.
"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

Won't boot from CD,


Have you set the BIOS boot order for the CD drive to be first?

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


and the message I get is "load needed DLLs for
kernel" "Ken Blake" wrote in
message ...
In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some
problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that
would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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
almost always 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

In ,
Happy typed:

Yes, I did. It says "cannot boot from Cd, error 5,' or
something to
that effect.

That sounds like there's something wrong with the CD you're
trying to boot from. Have you tried other bootable CDs?


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



"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

Won't boot from CD,


Have you set the BIOS boot order for the CD drive to be first?

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


and the message I get is "load needed DLLs for
kernel" "Ken Blake" wrote
in
message ...
In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past
the
sys configuration files at the beginning, after
experiencing some
problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's all
backed up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows,
since that
would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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
almost always 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

Happy wrote:
How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some problems. I
don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed up.






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

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

It would appear to be a copy, but the person I got it from (the computer)
said it was his back up copy of XP.
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote in message
...
Are you using a Microsoft Cd or a copy?

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
"Happy" wrote in message
...
Yes, I did. It says "cannot boot from Cd, error 5,' or something to that
effect.
"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

Won't boot from CD,


Have you set the BIOS boot order for the CD drive to be first?

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


and the message I get is "load needed DLLs for
kernel" "Ken Blake" wrote in
message ...
In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the sys
configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some
problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that
would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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
almost always 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

I don't think I have other boot Cd's
"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

Yes, I did. It says "cannot boot from Cd, error 5,' or something to
that effect.

That sounds like there's something wrong with the CD you're trying to boot
from. Have you tried other bootable CDs?


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



"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

Won't boot from CD,


Have you set the BIOS boot order for the CD drive to be first?

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


and the message I get is "load needed DLLs for
kernel" "Ken Blake" wrote in
message ...
In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get past the
sys configuration files at the beginning, after experiencing some
problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's all backed up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that
would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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
almost always 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

In news Happy typed:

I don't think I have other boot Cd's


If I were you, I'd try to borrow one from a friend. That will let
you find out if the problem is with the CD or the drive.

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


"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

Yes, I did. It says "cannot boot from Cd, error 5,' or
something to
that effect.

That sounds like there's something wrong with the CD you're
trying
to boot from. Have you tried other bootable CDs?


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



"Ken Blake" wrote in
message
...
In ,
Happy typed:

Won't boot from CD,


Have you set the BIOS boot order for the CD drive to be
first?

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


and the message I get is "load needed DLLs for
kernel" "Ken Blake"
wrote in
message ...
In ,
Happy typed:

How do I reformat & re-install XP? I can't seem to get
past the
sys configuration files at the beginning, after
experiencing
some problems. I don't mind losing existing data, it's
all
backed up.


You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows,
since
that would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

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://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 almost always 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