How to go to MS DOS while I am using windows XP currently?

Question

Hi,
I actually want to format my C drive and for that I need to go to MS DOS. I am using windows XP proffessional edition. I want to switch back to win98 so need to format C drive. But formating can be done only when I go to ms dos prompt which I am unable to do. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

you can (if you have one) use any variety of windows FLOPPY disks. I perfer 98. That is if you have a floppy drive. You can download a good bootdisk from http://www.bootdisk.com. You can find all boot disks there. It rocks. Xp only uses a "dos" shell so you can't perform a format from the shell.

Answer 2

Well, your win98 installer will probably give you the option to format your drive before you install, if it doesn't do it automatically. You don't have to manually format your drive.

The fact is, you can't format the drive that you're currently running windows from at that moment, because that would then format the formatter, and all the system software that runs it, and you get the picture. So if you can't use your install disc or another rescue disc (most copies of windows come with a rescue console on the install disc that will perform a number of simple functions like formatting a drive) than you can create a rescue disc from within win98 and boot from that into a command prompt.

If you're going through all that trouble anyway though why not just switch to Ubuntu? It's free, runs fast on old hardware, and is better and easier to use than Windows.

Answer 3

Actually, the above answers aren't completely correct. You do need to get to DOS, not exactly in the fashion listed above. If you do use a 98 startup disk, you'll have to do a few extra steps to format it. Otherwise, to get to DOS in XP:
Start>Run and type in CMD
OR
Restart in Safe Mode (push F8 when the computer starts up), and select Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

There you can type format c:\

You'd need to convert the drive back to FAT32 from NTFS, if you need help with that, let me know.

Answer 4

Press the Winkey + R and then type "cmd" (without the quotes)

Note:
You cannot format the partition which has windows on it. In order to do so, you have to be running a different windows from a different partition. Else, try using startup disks (Any windows 98 user should have one handy).

Answer 5

Boot up with floppy or CD and when you get to drive a:\ type the followings
a:\ format c:/s press enter and follow to the end of format.

Answer 6

alright. let me cover some things here. when you delete something no1 it doesnt delete it, all you are doing is telling your computer that you wish to replace if space becomes unavailable. so if you delete and you have ran out of space by putting something over it, you and law enforcement (they do a better job at it for obvious reasons) can recover it. and no2 if you delete something off your hard drive while attached to that certain computer, yeah, its not on there anymore. but if you are talking you have two different files in two different places and you delete one on your computer, ITS STILL ON YOUR PORTABLE HARD DRIVE UNTIL YOU DELETE IT. just like if i erase music off my computer or move it, then i come to synchronize it again, its still on my ipod whether i removed it or not, the ipod only checks for new files.

Answer 7

insert your start up disk, it will lead you to MS DOS