Hi

I want to start afresh... get rid of all clutter, re-format my C: drive and
do a complete re-install.

The problem is my NTFS C: drive won't let me format it - WHY? there must
be a way????


Ron

Boot with the XP CD. During the install process it will allow you to format
the hard drive to start fresh.

See here http://support.microsoft.com/default...B;en-us;316941 and
scroll down to "Perform a clean install of Windows XP"


"Cast-it Admin" <cast-it@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:DwThh.504$Wy6.199@newsfe1-win.ntli.net...
> Hi
>
> I want to start afresh... get rid of all clutter, re-format my C: drive
> and do a complete re-install.
>
> The problem is my NTFS C: drive won't let me format it - WHY? there
> must be a way????
>
>
> Ron
>

You can not re-format the booting drive (C) while with-in the XP. You must
boot the PC with the XP install CD or the recovery system process.



On 19/12/2006 "Cast-it Admin" <cast-it@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>Hi
>
>I want to start afresh... get rid of all clutter, re-format my C: drive and
>do a complete re-install.
>
>The problem is my NTFS C: drive won't let me format it - WHY? there must
>be a way????
>
>
>Ron
>
>

--
---

Y.

Thanks - I knew there was a away, I forgot the XP CD was also a boot-disk!

Ron


"LVTravel" <none@nonet.com> wrote in message
news:12og1ce334vrgc6@corp.supernews.com...
> Boot with the XP CD. During the install process it will allow you to
> format the hard drive to start fresh.
>
> See here http://support.microsoft.com/default...B;en-us;316941
> and scroll down to "Perform a clean install of Windows XP"
>
>
> "Cast-it Admin" <cast-it@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> news:DwThh.504$Wy6.199@newsfe1-win.ntli.net...
>> Hi
>>
>> I want to start afresh... get rid of all clutter, re-format my C: drive
>> and do a complete re-install.
>>
>> The problem is my NTFS C: drive won't let me format it - WHY? there
>> must be a way????
>>
>>
>> Ron
>>
>
>

"Cast-it Admin" wrote

> Hi
>
> I want to start afresh... get rid of all clutter, re-format my C: drive
> and do a complete re-install.
>
> The problem is my NTFS C: drive won't let me format it - WHY? there
> must be a way????

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

A Google search for install XP would have given you that link as the first
hit.

Cast-it Admin wrote:

> Hi
>
> I want to start afresh... get rid of all clutter, re-format my C: drive
> and do a complete re-install.
>
> The problem is my NTFS C: drive won't let me format it - WHY? there
> must be a way????

In any operating system, there is no method to format a mounted filesystem
(or in Windowsese: there is no method to format a disk that's being used
by software currently running).

Reboot to your favorite boot disk and try again. I suggest Knoppix,
mkfs.vfat will create you a vfat (Windowsese: FAT32) filesystem. If you're
adventurous, you can try for mkfs.ntfs but that might not actually work
given how recent read/write NTFS support is in Linux.

Hope this helps.