format and install XP Pro?

Question

I have XP Home Edition, and I need to format because I have Trojan Horses, and too many files as it is, and I want to install XP Pro anyway. Everything I try doesnt work. The CD doesnt read (and I know the CD does work). Re-starting doesnt help. It wont go into safe mode. When I try to format it, it says I need to exit all applications that are running windows. I even used another hard drive with Win98 on it and tried to do it from there, and it says the same thing. I changed the boot record to Cd-Rom, that doesnt work. DOS doesnt work. HELP!!!!

Answer 1

I doubt you need to reformat your hard drive. That's a drastic step and a lot of trouble. YOu oughtta get some spyware killer and anti-virus and get rid of whatever it is FIRST.

Then install XP Pro over the home edition.

If you got a lotta stuff, off-load your vids, pics, and music to dvds or cds.

1. Are you signed in as administrator?
2. Is the XP Pro a valid purchased copy with key?

Answer 2

Did you try restarting the machine with the XP disk in the CD Drive? If so then your issue is with the CD drive itself. Especially if you tried another hard drive. I would try installing a different CD Rom device, or at least check and see if the cables are all connected. But double check in DOS the Boot Sequence, and make sure you have CD Rom selected on top.

Answer 3

I agree that the CD would be a problem, and/or the Boot sequence in the BIOS. I also think that the trojan/virus is working even if you used the hard disk with win98 in it. Download a good antivirus software first and installl it in a PC with another OS, such as that hard disk with win98 and scan your hard disk before you format it. I also think that you need to scan your hard disk with win98 because it could've been infected with the trojan.

Also try to check you cd-drive, it may have problem... Try to look at the BIOS, it could have been disabled.

Download a good and free antivirus at free.grisoft.com

I've been in that once, and i used an old windows 98 startup disk to manually format my hard disk. You can create a strtup disk from other computers.

Answer 4

if you want to format the drive and not have anything on there at all you can download max blast to a floppy disk and run a low lv format on the drive.
this will remove everything on the drive.
Also you can make sure the the cd drive you have allows booting, if it is an older CD drive or an older computing this will be the cause of your problems which means that you will need a boot disk which has CD drivers installed (such as a Windows 98 boot disk), once booted you can navigate to the CD-ROM folder in the comand prompt or simply type in {CD-ROM drive letter}:\i386\setup.exe.