Formatting Windows XP and Windows 2000 (I will refer to the both as just XP from now on to making my typing simple.) is a breeze. There's really not much to it after you have backed up all your information. Backing up your information is the hard part, though. You will know better than I do, but you need to back up your Favorites, Documents, E-Mails you wish to keep, etc. The best way is to burn them to a CD or put them on another, seperate hard drive. Backing up data is beyond the scope of this tutorial, though. You WILL Lose ALL of your data not backed up.
First, make sure you have your XP disk and your CD Key. You will get nowhere without them. After this, go to the Start Menu and choose Shut Down. Put the XP/Win2k CD in the CDROM. Turn your computer back on, and go to your CMOS settings. (Usually these are accessed using the Delete key or the F2 key. Your computer may be different, however. Consult your manual). You will want to find the 'Boot Order' setting(s) in your CMOS and change it so your CDROM boots first. Most computers are already set up this way, but yours may not be.
Now you will want to let your computer boot normally. It will either boot right into start up, or it will display a message which states "Press Any Key to boot from CD..." You have to be quick, but press any key to boot to the CD. If you missed it, just reset your computer and try again. If it didn't come up, you didn't set your bootdrive correctly in CMOS. Once you press any key, the installer will begin.
It will take anywhere from 5-10 minutes to completely load and run the installer. Just sit back and have a cold pop(or soda, or coke, or soft drink or carbonated beverage, depending on your vocabulary) while this loads. You will see a bunch of different files loading at the bottom, too. Those are all the required files for setup to run.
It will come up to a screen which says "Welcome to Setup" and says "To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER." Press enter. You will be given the license agreement - Press F8. It will then search for previous installations of Windows XP, which it will probably find your old installation. Hit esc to not repair. After that, you will be given a list of Partitions on the system. You will want to delete the partition which Windows XP was previously installed (most likely your C: Drive).
You will highlight the C drive and hit the D key for Delete Partition. It will warn you that you are about to lose all your data. Hit the keys it tells you to, then you will be brought back to the partition screen. You will see a space called 'Unpartitioned space'. You'll want to press C to create a slice. Make it the size you wish (Default/Maximum is usually good) and it'll create it for you and bring you back to the partition screen. Sometimes there will still be 7MB or so of unpartitioned space - Just ignore that.. It can't be used due to Logistics and such.
Anyway, Press 'Enter' to install on your newly created partition, and unless you're dual booting with Windows 98 or some other old operating system, choose FORMAT MY DRIVE WITH NTFS. It will go through the (sometimes) lengthly format procedure, then it will copy files over. It'll then reboot itself, and run the installer. Just let it continue to do its thing. It will eventually finish with the automated tasks, and it'll ask you to input a few things - These are all pretty much self explanatory, and if you need help, you can always consult your handy Microsoft Windows XP manual. Once it finishes installing, you will be all back up to Windows XP, but with a fresh install.
I suggest installing an Anti-Virus program first. Then, its up to you what you install. Reinstalling is a pain, for the most part, but it should fix any problems you were having with your computer. All that is left is to restore from back-ups. Good Luck
First, make sure you have your XP disk and your CD Key. You will get nowhere without them. After this, go to the Start Menu and choose Shut Down. Put the XP/Win2k CD in the CDROM. Turn your computer back on, and go to your CMOS settings. (Usually these are accessed using the Delete key or the F2 key. Your computer may be different, however. Consult your manual). You will want to find the 'Boot Order' setting(s) in your CMOS and change it so your CDROM boots first. Most computers are already set up this way, but yours may not be.
Now you will want to let your computer boot normally. It will either boot right into start up, or it will display a message which states "Press Any Key to boot from CD..." You have to be quick, but press any key to boot to the CD. If you missed it, just reset your computer and try again. If it didn't come up, you didn't set your bootdrive correctly in CMOS. Once you press any key, the installer will begin.
It will take anywhere from 5-10 minutes to completely load and run the installer. Just sit back and have a cold pop(or soda, or coke, or soft drink or carbonated beverage, depending on your vocabulary) while this loads. You will see a bunch of different files loading at the bottom, too. Those are all the required files for setup to run.
It will come up to a screen which says "Welcome to Setup" and says "To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER." Press enter. You will be given the license agreement - Press F8. It will then search for previous installations of Windows XP, which it will probably find your old installation. Hit esc to not repair. After that, you will be given a list of Partitions on the system. You will want to delete the partition which Windows XP was previously installed (most likely your C: Drive).
You will highlight the C drive and hit the D key for Delete Partition. It will warn you that you are about to lose all your data. Hit the keys it tells you to, then you will be brought back to the partition screen. You will see a space called 'Unpartitioned space'. You'll want to press C to create a slice. Make it the size you wish (Default/Maximum is usually good) and it'll create it for you and bring you back to the partition screen. Sometimes there will still be 7MB or so of unpartitioned space - Just ignore that.. It can't be used due to Logistics and such.
Anyway, Press 'Enter' to install on your newly created partition, and unless you're dual booting with Windows 98 or some other old operating system, choose FORMAT MY DRIVE WITH NTFS. It will go through the (sometimes) lengthly format procedure, then it will copy files over. It'll then reboot itself, and run the installer. Just let it continue to do its thing. It will eventually finish with the automated tasks, and it'll ask you to input a few things - These are all pretty much self explanatory, and if you need help, you can always consult your handy Microsoft Windows XP manual. Once it finishes installing, you will be all back up to Windows XP, but with a fresh install.
I suggest installing an Anti-Virus program first. Then, its up to you what you install. Reinstalling is a pain, for the most part, but it should fix any problems you were having with your computer. All that is left is to restore from back-ups. Good Luck
© 1997-2007 Ben Holcomb