Leithreas

I'm trying to format my c drive cause my computer is too crowded with useless **** and i want to start all over, but when i go to format it it says "windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or other programs that are using this drive, and make sure that no window is displaying the conents of the drive. Then try formatting again." even though everything is closed. only program running is Windows XP pro.

how do you start your computer in DOS mode with windows XP? or how do you get passed this damned message?

__________________
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." --Revelation 1:8

Have a nice day!

PsYcHoLoGiCaL

Just put your restore disk or xp disk in and boot from it, then reinstall and it will format for you during the installation process.

__________________
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." -- Thomas A. Edison

Higher Logic

When you restart, either [1] put a diskette in the floppy drive with a boot-up sequence (for Windows 95/98/ME/XP), or you can [2] put the backup/recovery CD/disk that came with your PC if you bought it from Dell, Gateway, etc., or [3] when you start the computer up, there's a command key to let you do certain things, it depends on the computer make, but it's usually like [SHIFT] + [F8] or just [F8] or sometimes [F2] or sometimes [DEL]...hehe, just press buttons

Google.com, search for: "format drive" windows

__________________
Crucial Web Hosting · Garden's Cure · Marijuana Recipes · Drug Testing Facts

Dilution · Substitution · Urine Testing · Hair Testing · Drug Testing FAQ

BloodNOil

If you can wait about a month, I can swing down from Ft. Collins and help you
out in person...

but it's really easy. you just need the right tools. and a proper backup.

__________________
It's like a koala bear crapped a rainbow in my brain!!

HippyWarlock

OK Dude, it seems you are attempting to FORMAT your C: drive from windows. Now just step back a minute and think about this... if you delete everything on your C: drive you will also delete the Operating System that is ding the deletion.... ie it will dissapear up its own backside without completing the task.

As you mention, the only way of deleting the drive is to have either your operating system on another drive/partition (we'll ignore partitions for now) or install a startup disk that has a minimal OS on it, or put your XP install disk in.

The W98 startup disk will only work if you have a FAT32 FS not an NT FS.

Go here to download an XP startup disk set (SP1a so you'll have to re-download all your updates again):

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download1039.html

__________________
HTH - Peace

HippyWarlock

Signatures Reduce available Bandwidth

My Homepage:
http://www.kakak.karoo.net/
Under Construction

HippyWarlock

Sorry lost myself - too many windows open.

Here's a couple of links 4u2 follow:
http://www.d-a-l.com/format-hard-disk.html

http://www.d-a-l.com/repair-xp.html

blizzah

reformatting is the best thing you can do for your computer. it makes it like new, thats why i format every month. it makes your computer sooo nice for about 2 weeks after the format

imported_Rugbee

What ever you do don’t accidentally reinstall/ over ride windows again or you will somehow over ride the original settings and ruin your computer. Be carefulll

HippyWarlock

Why not be less radical - Uninstall the software you don't want using

Firstly: The programs uninstall procedure, or if that isn't available
Then: Add remove Programs in windows.

The reason PC's slow down is mainly twofold:

1. Disk fragmentation (which can affect your swapfile also)

2. Registry size becoming silly

HippyWarlock

........What?