How EXACTLY do I format my computer?

Question

Can someone take me through it step by step?

Whats BIOS? Wheres BIOS? What CD? Where is this CD?

Answer 1

From the Help and Support center in Windowd XP
All the links to Microsoft have been removed but if you have a working computer wwith Windows XP search on the start menue in the help and support center and search for "format harddrive" (no quotes) and the following are what you get.



How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP
View products that this article applies to.
Article ID : 313348
Last Review : July 19, 2006
Revision : 3.2
This article was previously published under Q313348
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INTRODUCTION

MORE INFORMATION

Options for partitioning and formatting your hard disk

Important things to consider before you partition and format your hard disk

How to partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program

Troubleshooting

REFERENCES
This article describes how to partition and format a hard disk with Microsoft Windows XP. Learn about your partitioning and formatting options, what to consider before you partition or format your hard disk, and how to partition and format your hard disk. Additionally, this article contains links to resources that can help you troubleshoot if problems occur.
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INTRODUCTION
This step-by-step article describes how to partition and format a hard disk with Windows XP.

Before you can install an operating system, you must first create a primary partition on the first physical hard disk (Disk 0) on your computer, and then format a file system on that partition. This partition is named the System partition. Alternatively, you can create a separate partition for the operating system on any physical hard disk. This is named the startup partition. The System partition on Disk 0 can also be used as a startup partition




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MORE INFORMATION
Options for partitioning and formatting your hard disk
You can use the Microsoft Windows XP Setup program or the Fdisk and Format tools to partition and format System and startup partitions.

For additional information about how to use Fdisk and Format to partition and format your hard disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
255867 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255867/) How to use the Fdisk tool and the Format tool to partition or to repartition a hard disk
If your computer is already running Windows XP, and you want to create partitions other than the System or the startup partitions, you can use the Windows XP Disk Management tools.

For additional information about how to use the Windows XP Disk Management tools to partition and format your hard disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
309000 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000/) How to use Disk Management to configure basic disks in Windows XP
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Important things to consider before you partition and format your hard disk
Consider the following questions before you partition and format your hard disk: • Have you prepared the hard disk by following the manufacturer's instructions?

Set the jumpers and the cabling according to the role of the hard disk (for example, master or subordinate) and make any required BIOS (or CMOS) changes. See the documentation that came with your hard disk and motherboard, or contact the manufacturers.
• What type of file system do you want to use?

You can use either the FAT or NTFS file systems.

For additional information about the differences between the FAT and NTFS file systems, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
100108 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100108/) Overview of FAT, HPFS, and NTFS file systems
310525 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310525/) Description of the FAT32 file system in Windows XP
• Does the hard disk already contain data? If yes, have you backed up all your important data?

If not, back up your data before you continue. When you partition and format a hard disk, all the data on that partition is permanently deleted. You can view current partition information without deleting your data.

For additional information about how to use the backup utility or the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
320820 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320820/) How to use the Backup utility to back up files and folders in Windows XP Home Edition
309340 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309340/) How to use Backup to restore files and folders on your computer in Windows XP
293118 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/293118/) How to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
306186 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306186/) How to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard from CD-ROM
306187 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306187/) How to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard Disk in Windows XP
• Does the hard disk have a drive overlay or a disk management program?

If your computer uses drive overlay software for large hard disk support, do not use the Windows XP Setup program to partition or to format the drive until you have verified Windows XP compatibility with the software manufacturer. If you do not know whether you have drive overlay software installed, contact the software manufacturer before you continue.
• Do you have the floppy disks or the CD-ROMs that you need to reinstall your software?

Make sure that you have the software so that you can reinstall your programs after you partition and format your drive. If you purchased an upgrade for a program, make sure that you have the full version of the original program. Many upgrades for programs require a compliance check before you can install the upgraded product. If you cannot find the original floppy disks or CD-ROMs, contact the software manufacturer before you continue.
• Do you have updated device drivers backed up on storage other than the drive that you want to format and partition?

If you have installed an updated device driver for your peripheral devices (for example, modems and printers), make sure that you back up the new driver for the device to a location other than the drive that you want to format and partition. Therefore, you can reinstall it after you install your operating system.
• Can you start your computer from the CD-ROM drive?

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How to partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program
Important If you follow these steps on a hard disk that is not empty, all the data on that hard disk is permanently deleted. We recommend that you back up your hard disk before you follow these steps.

To partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program: 1. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, or insert the first Windows XP Setup disk into the floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer.

Note To start your computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM (or from the startup disk), your computer must be configured to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive. In some cases, you may have to modify your computer's BIOS settings to set this configuration. For information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive, the DVD-ROM drive, or the floppy disk drive, see the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact the computer manufacturer.
2. If you are starting the computer from the Windows XP CD-ROM, select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do this.

Note If your hard disk controller requires a third-party original equipment manufacturer (OEM) driver, press F6 to specify the driver.

For more information about how to use F6 to supply a third-party OEM device driver while the Windows Setup program is running, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314859 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314859/) Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP Setup
If you are starting from the Windows XP Setup disks, insert each of the additional disks when you are prompted, and then press ENTER to continue after you insert each disk.
3. At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.
4.
Note If you are using the Setup disks (6 bootable disks), the setup will prompt you to instert the Windows XP CD.
5. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement.
6. If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.
7. All the existing partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partition or the unpartitioned space where you want to create a new partition. Press D to delete an existing partition, or press C to create a new partition by using unpartitioned space. If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each of the existing partitions that you want to use for the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining unpartitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition.

Note If you want to create a partition where one or more partitions already exist, you must first delete the existing partition or partitions, and then create the new partition.
8. Type the size in megabytes (MB) that you want to use for the new partition, and then press ENTER, or just press ENTER to create the partition with the maximum size.
9. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to create additional partitions if you want them.
10. If you want to install Windows XP, use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER. If you do not want to format the partition and install Windows XP, press F3 two times to quit the Windows Setup program, and then do not follow the remaining steps. In this case, you must use a different utility to format the partition.
11. Select the format option that you want to use for the partition, and then press ENTER. You have the following options: • Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
• Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
• Format the partition by using the FAT file system
• Leave the current file system intact (no changes)
The option to leave the current file system intact is not available if the selected partition is a new partition. The FAT file system option is not available if the selected partition is more than 32 gigabytes (GB). If the partition is larger than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT32 file system (you must press ENTER to confirm). If the partition is smaller than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT16 file system.

Note If you deleted and created a new System partition, but you are installing Windows XP on a different partition, you will be prompted to select a file system for both the System and startup partitions.
12. After the Windows Setup program formats the partition, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to continue. After the Windows Setup program is completed, you can use the Disk Management tools in Windows XP to create or format more partitions.

For additional information about how to use the Windows XP Disk Management tools to partition and format your hard disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
309000 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000/) How to use Disk Management to configure basic disks in Windows XP

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Troubleshooting
For additional information about how to troubleshoot partition problems in Windows XP, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
316505 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316505/) Windows XP does not recognize all available disk space
310359 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310359/) Cannot view NTFS logical drive after using Fdisk
310561 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310561/) Maximum partition size using the FAT16 file system in Windows XP
314097 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314097/) How to use Convert.exe to convert a partition to the NTFS file system
301340 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301340/) During Setup you are unable to format a partition with a File Allocation Table format
307844 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844/) How to change drive letter assignments in Windows XP
315224 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315224/) How to remove the Linux LILO Boot Manager
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REFERENCES
For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
314470 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/) Definition of System partition and Boot partition
314878 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314878/) The default cluster size for the NTFS and FAT file systems
310525 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310525/) Description of the FAT32 file system in Windows XP
314081 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314081/) The purpose of the Boot.ini file in Windows XP
For additional information about how to create and manage partitions in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
307654 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/) How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
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APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Answer 2

Step 1: Backup all documents that are important to you. (Like pictures, musics, e-books etc. -you don't need to backup any system file or program files, just your personal files.)

Step 2: You need windows' bootable CD. If you have genuine windows CD then it is perfect just put it in your cd-rom drive.

Step 3: Restart your computer, and enter BIOS settings. (To enter bios settings you should press DEL key -or F2 button in most laptops- when your computer is running Power-On Self Test. That is the pre-loading session when it detects harddrive,memory size, cpu speed etc.)

Step 4: In BIOS find the Boot-Sequence settings. (It is a list of 4 items -in some bios 3 items- that tells the computer what sequence of hardware should the computer boot. 1.HDD 2.CD-ROM 3. LEGACY FLOPPY etc..
You should set your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive as the first item in the list. Rest of the list is not important.
1. CD-ROM
2. HDD
3. Legacy Floppy
would do good.

Step 4. Save the BIOS settings, and exit bios. When your computer prompts you:
-"Press any key to boot from CDROM..." so press any key.

Step 5. Windows installer will do rest of the work just follow the instructions.

Tip: When you are prompted to format your drive don't use quick formatting and If you have a harddisk of size 20GB or above use NTFS format. If your harddrive is smaller you can use either FAT32 or NTFS.

Security Tip: Define a strong password both for your account and for the administrator account. This is very important when you are surfing the WWW.

VERY COMMON MISTAKE: When windows finishes first session of installation, it will restart your computer. When your computer restarts it will prompt you AGAIN, "Press any key to boot from CDROM" DO NOT PRESS ANY KEY!!! it will reset whole installation and start over. Just wait for a few seconds, then you will see your computer booting from your harddisk.

Answer 3

Your C: drive is your hard drive. When you format it, that will erase everything. Then you have to partition that drive. You can make one, two, partions, etc. I went to school to learn the old DOS commands. No one does that anymore. I had eight programming classes, and a lot of job experience. I would not recommend doing this as a beginner. I would have someone who knows what they are doing, hands on, walk you thru it. If you do it, make sure you know how many partitions to make. I think the last time I went to DOS. C: Format, and made one partion, and loaded all my software back on. I wouldn't bother if you don't install Symatec Norton to protect your PC, in the future, If you don't have enough space, time to get a new one. Don't just go by my advice. Some people make more than one partition. I don't think I did. To get to DOS. You go to your Start button. Go to all programs, and look at Accessories, and go to C:\ I'm sorry this is not in exact order, but I hope you get the idea. When you type in the word, she's all gone! Then it will prompt you how to partion your hard drive. I admire your Bravery! That's how we learn. LOL. I've learned a lot the hard way. LOL Good Luck. And I love people with Guts. If you don't have enough space for Norton's, I guess you'll learn something anyway!

Answer 4

A CD is a compact disc that you Operating System came on. It should have come with your computer.

When your computer boots it should say Hit ***** to enter setup.
The most common things to enter setup are F2, F10, and Delete.

Boot computer into BIOS
Change Boot Options to:
First Floppy Drive
Second CD Drive
Third Hard Disk

Put in your windows CD (hopefully Windows XP)

Let it load.
When it asks tell it that you want to continue installing windows XP (you should have to press the ESC button)
At this point you will delete any current partitions.
So select a partition.
Press D
Press Enter
Press L
Do this until all partitions have been deleted.
Hit Enter to install Windows XP of Current Partition.
Format using NTFS (Quick)

And there ya go. Just remember to backup any data that you want to keep or else you will lose it.

Answer 5

First back up everything,
then go to BIOS change to boot from cd, then put in your windows cd. Switch off then back on and follow instructions
WHEN YOU TURN ON YOUR PC WITH YOUR WINDOWS CD IN THE DRIVE WATCH THE SCREEN and you will be asked if you want to boot from cd hit any key, do so and go from there

Answer 6

yes and that some1 is Microsoft, put in your windows XP disk...

go into BIOS and tell ur PC 2 boot from CD-ROM, and then just follow microsofts prompts set by step, its rly easy GL

Answer 7

open the drive, put your windows disc in, restart the comp and follow the instructions.
you might have to change the boot sequence in your bios.

Answer 8

Seems like you don't know much about computer. So its best to call in a qualified technician and pay him to format your PC.

Answer 9

The easist way is to just reinstall the OS and durring the reinstall process, it will ask you to format the disk.

Answer 10

my computer
right click on C
Format

Answer 11

take it to pc world