I hope that someone can help me...my desktop had a virus, after removing it and by error removing other files(initially I had WIN 98), Iam now trying to install WIN95, however after the 2nd disk I get a message "NEED TO CREATE BOOT PARTITION...." I do not now DOS...how do I command this partition to be created...or better yeat how do I erase all previous files, format the HD and start clean from WIN 95 diskettes...HELP!!!! Iam now at my office PC..the problem is at home. Thanks.....

Create yourself a boot disk, by typing sys c: a: at your work-computer. Further transfer Format.com, Fdisk.exe to the disk. When booting though this disk you can run the fdisk application (first delete all partitions, reboot, create the new one) then format them and install your program again. For further help, don't hesitate to mail

Read this completely before you start, if possible copy and paste it to your word program or notepad and printed out. If you don't have a bootdisk you can go to www.bootdisk.com and d/l one from there. Prepare the Hard Drive: In order to use your hard drive, it must be partitioned and formatted. There are some considerations here. If you are using Windows 95 OSR2 or Win98, then you can partition using the FAT32 file system. This will allow smaller clusters, saving disk space due to slack, and will allow massive partition sizes. With any other version of Windows, you will have to use FAT16, which uses 32K clusters and limits partition sizes to 2G. Take a little time to plan your partitions. Do you want one large partition for the entire drive? Or do you want to separate it into different drive volumes? If you have FAT32, it is very popular to create one partition for the entire drive. Otherwise, if you are using a drive larger than 2G, you will have to separate it into more than one partition. Also, keep in mind that smaller partitions lead to smaller clusters, thus less slack or wasted disk space. At this point, partition the drive. Type "fdisk" at the C command prompt. At the A prompt, type "fdisk c:". If it does not work, it is because your hard drive is not attached properly. The first partition is your primary DOS partition. This is your C: drive and can't be divided. This is also called the active partition. You can only have one active partition. The second partition is optional. It is called an extended partition. This is the space left over after the primary partition. Then, logical DOS drives are created within the extended partition, each having a letter by which you will refer to it. First you have to setup a primary DOS partition. Choose Option 1 (Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive). Choose Option 1 in the next menu. Now you can make your entire C: drive the primary partition or only a part of it. Many people just make the entire drive one partition just to stay simple. If you want to break from this norm, specify the amount of drive you want to partition in either megabytes or percentage of total drive. If you are using a percentage, be sure to follow the number by a "%" or the computer will think you're talking MB's. Next, you'll need to make this partition active. Return to the main FDISK menu and choose Option 2 (Set Active Partition). Follow the prompts. If you're going to create an extended partition, choose Option 1 again, but this time choose Option 2 in the next menu (Create Extended DOS partition). Plug in the percentage of drive to partition for this one. Do not make this partition active. Only one can be active. After you create an extended partition, you will be given the Create Logical Drives option in the extended partition menu. Follow the on-screen instructions to assign drive letters to your partitions D: through Z:. After all this is done, you can choose Option 4 (Display Partition Information) and check your work. If you have FAT32 and wish to use it, enter "Y" when asked if you want to use "Large Disk Support". After the drive has been partitioned, reboot the machine with the system disk in Drive A:. If you try to do anything on the C: drive, you may get an error about Invalid Media Type. Don't worry about it. It's because you haven't formatted it yet. Now you must format the new C: drive. At the A> prompt, type "format c: /s/u". The "/s" tells it to make the disk bootable and the "/u" gives the command of unconditional format. You will get a warning saying that this action will erase all data on the drive. This is normal, and since there is no data on the drive, just press "Y" and move on. It will show the status as it happens. If you created additional partitions on this drive, format those volumes now. Type "format d:" or "format e:", where the letter corresponds to the volume you wish to format. Do not type the "/s" since you only want the C: drive bootable. Now remove the system disk and reboot. It is supposed to boot normally and up at the C: prompt. If you get an error like "No boot device found" or "No ROM Basic", you probably forgot to make the primary partition active. Run Fdisk again and fix that. If you get an error like "No Operating System", you probably forgot to make the disk bootable. Make sure you typed "/s" at the format command. Install The Operating System(Win95) At this point, the CD-ROM drivers are installed. So, you are ready to install the operating system. There are some things I should make note of before outlining this procedure. First, I am assuming that you will be installing Windows 95 on this machine. The following procedure walks you through the installation of Windows 95. The following optional steps will walk you through the install of other OS's. Also, this procedure should only serve as a general outline. The ease of installing an operating system is fully dependent on your system. Many times, it goes smoothly, but, with others, it can be more difficult to iron out all the conflicts that arise. If your hard drive is not blank, I recommend reformatting it before installing Windows 95. Although it is possible to install over a copy of Windows 3.x, you are asking for trouble, in my humble opinion. Let's begin: Begin Setup . At the DOS prompt, type "D:setup". If your CD-ROM is a letter other than D:, type in that drive letter instead. SCANDISK. Once begun, the setup program will begin to run a SCANDISK on your hard drive. This will proceed automatically and, hopefully, without error. If you get an immediate error stating that you have no extended memory manager, don't fret. This is probably because this drive is brand new and you don't have DOS installed on it. Simply hit ESC and move on. Welcome Screen . At this point, you will see the graphical interface of Windows 95 and a Welcome screen. You should see a mouse cursor. Makes sure your mouse works. If not, double-check its connections. You can setup Win95 without a mouse, but I wouldn't recommend it. Now, hit "Continue". License Agreement . You should see the Setup Wizard load, then a license agreement. Read it, if you want, then click Yes. Setup Start . Setup will tell you all about the three phases of this install process. How nice of Microsoft to warn us.=) Click Next. Choose Install Directory . You will be prompted to tell the computer what directory to install Windows to. The default is C:\WINDOWS, and I strongly recommend leaving this value at default. Options. Upon continuation, setup will run some routine tests on your system. After this, you will be offered four options for a setup routine, "Typical", "Portable", "Compact", and "Custom". Pick the options that best suits you. For most people, I recommend choosing "Typical". If you wish to have more control over what Microsoft would like to install on your machine, choose "Custom". Authentication Code . Setup will prompt you for a long string of numbers and letters that proves you indeed bought this software. This code should be available with a Certificate of Authenticity. Hardware Search . At this point, setup will analyze your computer to see what components are installed. When asked if it has a MIDI or sound card, or video capture card, check the appropriate boxes. This search may take several minutes, and expect your hard drive to be very loud and active. Select Components . Windows will ask you which components you would like to install. Simply click on those you want. I recommend choosing at least Accessories, Communications, Multimedia, and Disk Tools. Network Configuration . Even if you don't have a network, Windows will want to add a network card. Just accept the defaults and move on. This can be fixed later. ID. You will be asked for your network identification. Just type something in for each line just to make Windows happy. You can always change these names later. Double-Check Settings. Change any settings that aren't right. Some drivers will have to be installed later. StartUp Disk . Windows will ask you if you want to make a startup disk. Make one if you would like. You can always make one later as well. Copy Files. Setup will now copy all of the files to your computer's hard drive. This may take awhile depending on the speed of your system. When it is finished, click "Finished". First Boot . Well, first Windows 95 boot. You will see a nice blue screen. At the bottom, it will say "Getting Ready To Run Windows 95 For The First Time". It will do some thinking, and it might take a while. Just let it go. Password. You might be prompted for a password. Just hit "Cancel". Hardware Setup . Windows will now detect all plug-and-play devices and configure them automatically. Time Zone. You will see a lovely world map. If you are installing OSR1, you can click on the map on your location and set the time zone. In OSR2, Microsoft made the map unclickable (to be politically correct with regards to border disputes) so you will have to chose it manually below. Add Printer . The Add Printer Wizard will appear. You can install your printer now, if you like, or later if you want. If you'd like to wait, just hit "Cancel". SetUp Finished . You will see a dialog saying setup is done. Click OK and the system will reboot. Check Settings . Upon reboot, you should see basic Widows 95. At this point, you can check a few things to just to make sure setup did its job and that there are no problems. Right-click on "My Computer" and choose "Properties". Then, just double-check everything. Is the correct CPU detected? Right amount of memory? All of your hardware listed? Optimize the OS . At this point, you might as well optimize the system a tad from the start. Follow the procedures in the section on OS optimization. This includes optimizing your swap file and disk cache settings, integral components of performance that Microsoft configured poorly. Install Additional Drivers . If you're like most, you have additional hardware that is not yet set up. This probably includes your video card, sound card, modem, etc. Install these drivers now. Follow the procedures outlined in their documentation. You may have to reboot a few times. Last-minute changes. At this point, reboot your machine and make sure all parts work. Then, change your wallpaper, screensaver, etc to match your innermost desires. Then, YOUR DONE!

well put.