Tutorial: How to reformat your hard drive and install/reinstall Windows

Thank you for your explanation.

Thanks howard_hopkinso for the explanation.
This will come in handy for me because I have
2 computers to fiddle.

So far non have given me any trouble.

Regards
 
um i had one question my cd drive on my computer is broken so is there another way to redownload the windows like use a usb drive?
 
I tried to reformat my computer today, and when I got to the point where I would start formatting my drive and reinstalling Windows, a message to the extent of "no hard disk detected on your computer" appeared. Am I now the proud owner of a dying hard drive, or is there a solution to this?
 
Still Need Help

korrupt said:
Just wondering if anyone used this tutorial to format their pc? If so, how did you go and did you find this helpfull?

Regards,

Korrupt
Click to expand...

Been trying your tutorial but still am having problems. I changed the BIOS to start with the CD Drive, but as it goes through the startup I see "Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM: NONE ", then goes to "Please select the operating systme to start: MS Windows XP Professional or MS Windows 2000 Professionsl" and proceeds to start without the CD turning on. Need help.

Johnnie Y
 
thanks for all the help, but I have another question, is C drive the only one to get reformatted? is D drive not necessary to be reformatted???

I have the win xp pro cd, but dont have the cd that came with the PC, will I lose all the original stuff that came with the PC when I bought it?

If I understand this right, Im supposed to save Spybot, Adaware and firewall on a CD before starting the reformat???

Thanks

Ray
 
A format will only do your c: unless you get it to do d: too. So anything you wish to keep will be safe on your d:.
 
If you installed programs on D drive they will not work anymore when you format C because all the registry entries that allow the program to run will be gone.
 
Computer questions/problems are not supposed to be posted in this forum.

If you have any questions pertaining to any of the topics in this forum, open a new thread in the appropriate forum and ask. I.E for this topic, questions should probably be posted in our Windows OS forum.

Thread closed.

Regards Howard :)
 
How to format your hard drive and install Windows XP from scratch

korrupt said:
Just wondering if anyone used this tutorial to format their pc? If so, how did you go and did you find this helpfull?

Regards,

Korrupt
Click to expand...

These are the best instructions on the net, thank you so much! The step by step worked perfectly!
 
No Audio Device

Hey there. Thank you so much for the step by step on how to format the computer. After I formatted the computer, I realised that the audio device is not present and I cannot hear anything. How can I retrieve the audio device. Please reply soon and thank you!
 
Format/Reinstall Win 7

Will this tutorial work for Win 7 and, if not, what modifications are necessary?
Thanks for your help.
 
Help!

I have a questions sirs',..
If i will reformat my laptop.. the OS will also be removed? even though it is built in,, because when i bought my laptop.. it already had a Operating system which is W7,,. and now.. i would want to reformat my laptop....

KINDLY HELP.. PLEASE..
Thanks a lot to whomever you are that's going to help me...=))
 
I'm in the process of reinstalling XP sp3. Ran into a snag about product key. I had to order a license key. The interesting part about this is the saleswoman told me that when you replace a hard drive as I did, and try the old product key, the mother board indicates that it is invalid, and that a new license is needed. I'm not sure if this true or not but I offer this up in case anyone is fighting the same battle.
 
Simply replacing the hard drive should not require a new product key. BTW, this information probably doesn't belong in this tutorial thread.
 
joeretired said:
I'm in the process of reinstalling XP sp3. Ran into a snag about product key. I had to order a license key. The interesting part about this is the saleswoman told me that when you replace a hard drive as I did, and try the old product key, the mother board indicates that it is invalid, and that a new license is needed. I'm not sure if this true or not but I offer this up in case anyone is fighting the same battle.
Click to expand...
Yeah well, it's hard to find good help these days. The reverse is true with pre-built computers and OEM product keys. If the motherboard fails, the corresponding copy of Windows dies with it. Unless, it is replaced with an OEM board of the exact same type, from the original manufacturer. Restore discs will install the OS into whatever HDD it finds, in either IDE Channel 0 master, or the SATA 0 port of the mobo. (Dependend obviously, on the type of HDD interface in use).

One issue you can run into with "tatooed" OEM boards, is sometimes they won't accept a standard Windows disc foe an install, but rather require the factory issued "restore discs", for the exact same model.
 
domrix004 said:
I have a questions sirs',..
If i will reformat my laptop.. the OS will also be removed? even though it is built in,, because when i bought my laptop.. it already had a Operating system which is W7,,. and now.. i would want to reformat my laptop....

KINDLY HELP.. PLEASE..
Thanks a lot to whomever you are that's going to help me...=))
Click to expand...

What is the make/model of your notebook? Chances are it may contain a recovery partition containing OS with factory defaults on it, so if this is the case, you can simply use prescribed system recovery and follow the steps described in their material.
 
Install Windows 7 on XP laptop

If I would like to reformat my hard drive of the laptop, running Windows XP and install Windows 7, shall I follow the same steps or are there any different steps?
 
If you have a legal copy of Windows 7, there is no issue with going ahead and formating your HDD then installing the OS.

However, please ensure that you have backed up all your necessary data before proceeding with the formating and installation.
 
Stuck in reinstall Windows XP

I have followed your instructions - which have been very clear. I am currently stuck as it says "Display Settings - To improve the appearance of visual elements, Windows will automatically adjust your screen resolution." I can't press the OK button as my wireless mouse and keyboard stopped working during the reinstall. Help please!!
 
Bob Roe

Hi,
I am relatively novice and trying to reformat an XP hardrive.

The instructions are fabulous, but I get lost # the Format instruction after hitting ENTER to install Windows on "the unpartitioned space" and do not understand (ntfs) nothing comes up to guide fromatting.

Thanks,
BigBadBob
 
Unique question then: I was trying a system recovery, but the recovery was interrupted midway by a power outage. :( Now I can't get anything in terms of recovery to really work because of apparently corrupted HDD data. Is there a way to reformat/completely wipe the HDD w/o the use of the parent computer, and without messing up another CPU?
 
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