win xp question
 

i just downloaded a copy of win xp to my computer that already had win98 on it just to see if winxp would work fine. i just want to know how i get back to ms dos from winxp so i can format my harddrive, or if theres any other way to format it. i already tried formatting drive C in my control panel, and in the command prompt, but neither worked.

"I just downloaded a copy of win xp to my computer" = warez so dont ask.

But I can say this much:
There is no msdos included in xp, you miiiight still have it if you just updated 98 though.

that in no way answered my question. and i never said i warezed it, i just said i downloaded a copy (familys winxp cd) onto my comp.

Find an old win98 bootup disk and boot to dos.

Do you mean you installed it from a physical CD? "Downloading" means that you received it through a network connection from a remote site.

The easiest way to "reformat" with windows xp is to just stick the cd in the drive and boot to cd. Gotta have recent hardware for this to boot, and you may have to look at the boot device order in the bios.

If your bios or cdrom doesn't support this, google for a floppy image you can use to boot up with. You'll need to find one with formatting tools (fdisk/format) and a cdrom driver if you plan on accessing a cd.

When booting to cd, you'll be back in the familiar MS-DOS style setup program. In there, you'll be given an option to reformat. I haven't played around with the home edition, but I think the professional edition doesn't even give you the option to format to fat32 - it's all NTFS now. NTFS has it's pros and cons, so you may want to look at these before reformatting - I personally have done well with it.

If this is too overwhelming, try just installing the operating system from within win98 directly. Sure, you'll have the shame of a dirty OS :P but it'll get the job done.

...
 

Merth may I come live with you ? -----

As with NTFS it does not work with Win98.

When my C: crashed I was forced to reformat then install win98. Tried to acces my D: drive ( XP - NTFS) woudnt read it.

Also if you do set up a NTFS make sure it doesnt fuck up if you have all your files locked down on your user name...If so youll never be able to access them if your not logged in.

As of now I lost my password for that Username and I cant access some old files I need :evil:

this downloaded file you got is a CCD. Get some burning software and select Burn CD from ISO or CCD image. Then you burn it to the disc and restart with the cd in your primary cdrom drive and it will say somethign like

Press any key to enter setup . . .

Can u guess what you do at this point?

I'd guess that if you're running Win98, then your machine may just be old enough to not support booting from the CD-ROM.

That being the case, you'll need a Win98 boot floppy disk to boot to DOS prompt and format C:\

Before you rush off and do that though, you need to visit the following URL and download the relevant boot disk creator ;

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];310994

Once downloaded, just run the exe to create your XP boot disk set. You will need half a dozen blank floppy disks to create the set and will then re-boot with the first of these in your drive (borrow the XP CD from yer Ma & Pa again)

Note to SUP2069: Even if you have lost the SID to access a previous NTFS drive it is very easy to get your files back. I installed XP onto a FAT32 drive and lost access to a previous NT4 NTFS partition (silly me). Simply run the BACKUP util under XP and backup the NTFS drive to someplace on your FAT 32 partition. Then reformat the NTFS party so you can access it and restore your backup. As the BACKUP app runs as a member of the Backup Operators group it ignores file/folder/drive security permissions that may have been assigned on NTFS drives.

Hope all your woes disappear....

Both Windows XP Home & PRO allow you to format drives using both FAT32 & NTFS during setup. They're pretty much the same package....

i dunno bro ive seen worse than 98 on newer comps
its sad in a way

Well....
 

If you'ved locked files on yourself, You could simply go into a administrator account, and take ownership of the said files.

If you've lost the password to the administor then.... well Either reinstall to setup a new one, or find another method.

All is not lost.

Corellon

just saying

NTFS can read FAT32 and FAT16 (windows 98 95 ME and even XP)
but FAT32 or FAT16 cant read NTFS

any way if you want to format your Hard Driver is make a boot disk