RE: Reformatting and reinstalling Windows XP

Hi Mike,

The easiest way by far is to use the windows xp cd. Now if you don't have
your bios set up correctly to boot from your cd-rom before your hard drive
this will need to be done first. Find out the way to enter your bios there
are a number of different keys you might have to hit because of the different
bios manufacturers. Hit the Del(or whatever key it might be) after you first
hit the power button on the pc to turn it on. Find the boot selection and
make sure to select cd before hard drive after that as long as hard drive is
in the list don't worry about it. Press f10 or go to the exit screen and
select save settings and exit(f10 does the same thing in most bios's). You
may know all this but I always assume the worst. Now insert the cd into the
drive and reboot your computer. Hit the spacebar when it says hit a key to
boot from cd. > When the blue screen comes up to repair or install select
install. > f8 to agree to EULA > again do not select repair select install >
hit d to delete partition > Enter > L > hit enter on unpartitioned
space(unless wanting to make multiple partitions then hit c to create the
partition size that you want) > format in NTFS (quick or full up to you
instructor always told me to do a full when installing operating systems but
I haven't had any problems with the quick and its about 15 minutes faster)
and you're off to the races. Just fill in the boxes with the right stuff
when you are asked to.

Also make sure you have your license Key and make sure if this is an upgrade
version of windows that you have a windows 98/ME/2000 pro Cd.

Thats all there is to it. Good luck.

Joe
Kemco IT Professional

"Mike" wrote:

> Can someone tell me the easiest way to reformat my hard drive and reinstall
> Windows XP? I assume the best way is to use the Windows XP CD but I've not
> done this before and want to make sure I get it right.
>
> Thanks.
.