Korean Job Discussion Forums

T-dot · Joined: 16 May 2004 Location: bundang

as easy as right click on c drive and press format?

not exactly sure what to do, cause ive never done 1 before.

is there anything i should be wary of?

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

You can't format under XP that way. Under, say, Windows 95 you could format c and go back just to a command line dos prompt. XP is not an O/S that sits on top of DOS. You basically have to put the XP disks in and do a clean install.

There are various way you can trick the computer into booting into DOS (make you CD the boot drive and install a CD with a pure DOS environment... I'm sure there are things on the net to help you do this) and then once you're in DOS, doing a format.

But if you want to just wipe your HD and get a clean install of XP, just go that route.

StAxX SOuL · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Location: London

LOL... you can't format the drive you're actually using whilst logged onto the PC with your OS... its a basic premise of XP that you can't delete files you are currently using, and there's a gang of things you're using whicih are in the Windows and System32 folders... also some of the Documents and Settings folder too

Quickest way... start your PC, hit the delete key (or whichever key it is) to enter BIOS as soon as you turn your PC on... go to the 'Advanced Settings' tab and change your primary boot device from your HD to your CD/DVD Drive... save those settings and exit BIOS... put your XP CD in the drive, you'll be taken to an XP menu, where you can choose to repair XP, install a second instance of it, or reinstall it, by formatting the drive with either a full or quick format.. it'll take about 40 minutes from this point if you go for the quick format, to reinstall Windows XP completely, make sure you've got your serial key handy too

Ummm, with a laptop one thing to be wary of is the fact that you'll probably have a touchpad mouse which requires specific drivers to be installed... obviously you need a mouse to actually reinstall these in the first place unless you're completely familiar with the XP Hot Keys... for ease I'd recommend picking up a PS2 mouse which doesn't require any drivers, they're dirt cheap... normally the drivers you'd require for a reinstall should be packed with your laptop on a CD should you ever require a format..