Re: Format HD, reinstall XP Home - no floppy drive

Ricardo Dell usually install a recovery partition on the hard drive so that
you can re-install xp should problems arise. If there is no recovery
partition you should have had recovery disk to perform the job. I suggest
you read your PC's user manual to see how to access the recovery option. By
using this type of recovery your system will be returned to 'factory'
conditions - in other words just like it was the day your first switched it
on.

However, if you have purchased a full boxed retail copy of Windows XP then
the windows xp cd is bootable. If you do have a full retail version of xp
you will find more details on install, formatting and partitioning on my
website http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org Clickt he Win XP Faq button and
take a look at questions 7, 41 and 85. Please Note: Only use these
instructions if you have the retail xp cd.

You could also use third party software, such as partition magic to format
the drive but i would advise against it if you have to rely upon Dells
recovery partition because you could delete that partition too, resulting in
you having to buy a full retail copy of xp


--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org


"Ricardo Delazy" <damnspam@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2712777A-1F33-414B-A7D8-47AD9370282F@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I have a DELL Dimension 4600 with matching DELL Windows XP Home Edition
> installation disk. I have not had any problems formatting my HD since Win
> 3.1. However, the info to re-format my Win XP HD seems to be highly
> classified and compartmentalized, and although I've looked, I can't seem
> to
> find any step by step instructions on how to do it without creating a
> bootable floppy disk, as my computer has 2 DVD drives but no floppy drive,
> and even if that were not a problem, finding the correct application/s to
> do
> the job and using it/them in the correct sequence also seems to be well
> hidden and a mystery.
>
> Can some one please point me to a document that goes through this
> procedure
> step by step, that is how to re-format an NTFS HD and re-install Win XP
> without a floppy drive.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help with this.


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