(WinXP) Hey, wait a minute....

Iyeru · 12-13-2006, 11:11 AM

Hey, do you people remember how to reformat your computer that runs WinXP without another operating system on another harddrive? I know I do. However, I bet MOST of you people do not.

FIRST MISTAKE: Using the Hardrive Manager via Admin Controls
This is the first mistake people ever make. For those of you lucky enough to not have updated to SP2/SP1, don't worry about this problem, it'll work with you guys. When going to the Admin Controls and going to the Drive Manager, trying to reformat your system disk results in one of the following problems:

A.] You need to restart the computer (It won't work still, trust me. It reboots in WinXP without anything changing.)

B.] (SP2 users) You get the error saying either "This is a system disk, you cannot reformat this disk while it is running." (Or similar) "This disk needs to be unmounted/unlocked."

For the latter, you can't use linux to reformat it (Linux reports "Error, insuffient permissions.")

To reformat it, do these simple steps of doom!

1.] Get your Win98 Start-Up CD (Not Floppy Disk, USB Device or your WinXP Start-up disk.) if you have Win2000 Start-Up CD (Not Floppy) then that should be fine too.

2.] Boot up the computer with the CD Device being the first thing that is booted. (Also make floppy second so the HDD doesn't skip ahead)

3.] Boot up in Command Prompt WITH CD-ROM SUPPORT.

4.] Run the FDISK.EXE (Or Command) by typing in FDISK (Or the path to it.)

5.] Make sure to turn ON "Enable support for large disks." AS WELL AS NTFS Support (Yes, even the Win98 FDISK command prompts you if you want to enable NTFS support.)

6.] On the main FDISK Menu, there should be a bunch of options. Go to "DELETE NON-LOGICAL/NON-MS-DOS DRIVE." (Or similar.)

7.] Note, previously if you had tried anything else, the NTFS disk would not have appeared. - Delete the only partition for NTFS and you're ready to reformat!

========================

Yes, I know the irony involved, DO NOT remind me.

Mirai Gen · 12-13-2006, 03:12 PM

This belongs in the computer help thread.

*BAMF*

...wait, damn it! There I go thinking I'm Fifthfiend again.

12-13-2006, 11:11 AM	#1
Iyeru Sent to the cornfield Join Date: May 2006 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 642	(WinXP) Hey, wait a minute.... Hey, do you people remember how to reformat your computer that runs WinXP without another operating system on another harddrive? I know I do. However, I bet MOST of you people do not. FIRST MISTAKE: Using the Hardrive Manager via Admin Controls This is the first mistake people ever make. For those of you lucky enough to not have updated to SP2/SP1, don't worry about this problem, it'll work with you guys. When going to the Admin Controls and going to the Drive Manager, trying to reformat your system disk results in one of the following problems: A.] You need to restart the computer (It won't work still, trust me. It reboots in WinXP without anything changing.) B.] (SP2 users) You get the error saying either "This is a system disk, you cannot reformat this disk while it is running." (Or similar) "This disk needs to be unmounted/unlocked." For the latter, you can't use linux to reformat it (Linux reports "Error, insuffient permissions.") To reformat it, do these simple steps of doom! 1.] Get your Win98 Start-Up CD (Not Floppy Disk, USB Device or your WinXP Start-up disk.) if you have Win2000 Start-Up CD (Not Floppy) then that should be fine too. 2.] Boot up the computer with the CD Device being the first thing that is booted. (Also make floppy second so the HDD doesn't skip ahead) 3.] Boot up in Command Prompt WITH CD-ROM SUPPORT. 4.] Run the FDISK.EXE (Or Command) by typing in FDISK (Or the path to it.) 5.] Make sure to turn ON "Enable support for large disks." AS WELL AS NTFS Support (Yes, even the Win98 FDISK command prompts you if you want to enable NTFS support.) 6.] On the main FDISK Menu, there should be a bunch of options. Go to "DELETE NON-LOGICAL/NON-MS-DOS DRIVE." (Or similar.) 7.] Note, previously if you had tried anything else, the NTFS disk would not have appeared. - Delete the only partition for NTFS and you're ready to reformat! ======================== Yes, I know the irony involved, DO NOT remind me.

12-13-2006, 03:12 PM	#2
Mirai Gen We are Geth. Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 14,032	This belongs in the computer help thread. BAMF ...wait, damn it! There I go thinking I'm Fifthfiend again. __________________