How to make Windows format???

[Rockrz]

How to make Windows format???

I just got a new laptop and Dell installed a few crap programs that I don't even want on the computer, so I want to do a clean Windows XP install.

Problem is, when I do that now there are TWO copies of Windows. When I booted from the Windows OEM cd, it detected that there was already a copy of Windows on C drive and I selected to overwrite.

So, the only option I know of is to make Windows format the hard drive before it installs itself....does anyone know how to make the Windows install do this? (Yes, the computer can boot from the CD-Rom)

Anybody know how to get this accomplished?

[Alan]

Boot from your installation CD.
This is important! You need to do this to be able to delete the partition (if your machine is partitioned).

At the ‘Welcome to Setup’ page, press Enter.
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Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement. You'll be asked if you want to repair your existing Windows XP installation.

Press ESC to bypass the repair and install a fresh copy. All your existing disk partitions will now be listed. If you have no partitions, you just see ‘C’.

Now you need to delete the current partition where Windows is installed.
Use the arrow key to select it, and press D to delete it. Press L to confirm.

Then, to create a new partition, select the unpartitioned space and press C.
To create a new partition with the maximum amount of space allotted to it, press Enter.

Now select the new partition you've just created to install Windows.
Format the drive as NTFS, now just follow the installation instructions as normal.


Hope this helps, post back and let us know.

[Rockrz]

Yep, I figured out that I had to delete the existing hard drive partition to get Windows to format the drive and then it could install fresh.