| I wanted to erase the existing window Xp and install new,?I wanted to erase the existing window Xp and install new, but strangely another set of windows xp installed. Now my computer in its start up has two windows (1st and second), suppose if chose first the computer start and it has drive C & D when off this and agian start with the second window xp it has drive C&E . How to erase (formate) these two windows and install fresh one? I have a windows xp CD.
Asked By: Vijaya - 10/3/2011 |
Just do this.
-start computer format D drive(-start-my computer-right click D Drive-Format-Quick format-done)
A Windows XP machine in dire need of a fresh start
A Windows XP installation CD with a valid Product Key
Step 1. Back up your data.
First, make sure absolutely NOTHING you cannot afford to lose is on the drive you're going to install Windows on (let's say the C: drive.) Move all your documents and settings off the machine
Step 2 Audit computer
So, before we do anything, we're going to take an inventory of all the hardware you've currently got installed. I used to print a report from Device Manager for this purpose (Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager, Action, Print) but a handy little utility called Belarc Adviser [via Nicholas Roussos] does a nicer job than Device Manager. Belarc will create a report detailing your system, its installed hardware components, software applications and serial numbers.
Step 3. Take a deep breath, and say goodbye to everything on your C: drive.
Seriously. It's all going away now. Nervous? Revisit steps 1 & 2.
Step 4. Insert the Windows installation disk into your CD drive. Shut down your PC. Then, boot from CD.
This part is important: do NOT run the Windows installation from Windows itself. Shut down first, and then boot up the machine from CD. My Dell has a little message as it's booting up that says "Press F12 to boot from CD," so that's what I did. If you're not sure how to boot from CD, check your PC's user guide for more info.
The reason why booting from CD is important is because we're going to delete the C: drive partition where Windows is installed and re-format it. You can't do this if Windows booted from C:, because it can't delete the partition from which it is running.
You CAN install Windows without deleting the partition and formatting, but that means all your program files and other riffraff that's collected on your C: drive will still be there when you're done, just taking up unnecessary space. That's not the point of all this. Be sure to boot from CD.
Step 5. Step through the Windows installation.
You'll be greeted by Word-Perfect 5.1-like blue screens with white text on them, which seem scary, but aren't. All the directions are clearly spelled out on each of them. Still, we'll go over what to do.
At the Welcome to Setup page, press Enter. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement. You'll be asked if you want to repair your existing Windows XP installation. Press ESC to bypass the repair and install a fresh copy. All your existing disk partitions will be listed, like this.
You want to delete the current partition where Windows is installed. Use the arrow key to select it, and press D to delete it. Press L to confirm. Then, to create a new partition, select the unpartitioned space and press C. To create a new partition with the maximum amount of space allotted to it, press Enter.
Now select the brand spanking new partition you've just created to install Windows on. Format the drive as NTFS (Quick if you want, but I went thorough just to be sure.) Depending on the size of the drive and how fast your computer is, this will take some time. Get a sandwich. Then, follow Windows Setup's steps, set your area code and name and password and let it reboot as many times as necessary until it asks you to log in for the first time. Congratulations! Welcome to your fresh new Windows installation.
Step 6. Install any missing drivers.
Once you get Windows XP up and running, chances are everything on your computer won't be working perfectly. Are you connected to the internet? Can you play music? Is your screen resolution unusually large? The answer is probably no to all those questions, except the last one. Do not panic. This is the part where you install the right drivers for your hardware. First, get a list of what Windows doesn't have installed correctly. From Control Panel, go to System, then Hardware, and click on the Device Manager. Chances are it'll look something like mine did after my fresh installation:
Step 7. Update Windows.
If you used the Windows installation CD that shipped with your computer three years ago, you've got an old version of Windows that came out 7 service packs ago. As soon as you're online (got that ethernet card/wifi card driver installed?) go directly to Windows Update and patch up Windows nice and tight and secure. Do not wait to do this as there are probably lots of computer baddies just beyond your network card waiting to ravage your virginal machine the minute it's out there alone in the wild internet. Yes, that sounded dirty on purpose.
Step 8. Install all needed software applications and tweak Windows to taste.
ALL DONE!!!!
Answered By: Dæd §öÜl - 10/3/2011 |