I got a USED Compaq DeskPro with Win NT installed. I want to install Win Me. The Win Me CD says to restart the PC in DOS mode, which I don't have on my computer. I read elsewhere that I need to reformat the hard drive first, but I'm not sure how to go about this. I tried to make a boot disk using the utility in Win NT, but it wouldn't let me. I'm a relative novice when it comes to working with OS, so a step-by-step explanation of how to go about this would be GREATLY appreciated. (p.s., I don't have the NT system disks -- only the Win Me CD)

It will be best to format the drive first. If the drive is in NTFS format, Windows ME will not be able to see it. You can get a bootdisk with cdrom support at www.bootdisk.com. Once you boot up with the bootdisk, run fdisk and remove all partitions. You will then need to create a partition to install windows ME. Once you rebooted then type format c: /s and it will format the drive.

format /s doesn't work the same like in the old days. So to be sure, get a win98 or older bootdisk. Johan

The /s switch copies over the System files from the bootdisk to the hard drive, to make the hard disk bootable. Why would you want to copy over 98 bootfiles to a hard drive you are going to install ME on, then, reboot to the bootdisk so you have cdrom drivers? *confused* Just format c: The problem is going to arise when you attempt to format because a bootdisk from the 9x platform will not see your hard drive. Windows NT installed itself on NTFS, a file system the 9x platform cannot read and does not see. If you have more than one NTFS partition on the hard drive, your best bet will be to go to the hard drive manufacturer's(Open it up and look to find out who it is, or go into the BIOS and see what it has to say) website and download their utilities for wiping the hard drive. This will "write zeros" to the drive and allow a 9x bootdisk to see the drive, so you can properly fdisk and format FAT32. If you only have one NTFS partition, you can use FDISK to delete the Non-DOS partiton and then recreate a Primary DOS partiton. Then format c: Good luck!

I hope you have the Full Product and not the upgrade because the upgrade will ask for a Win98 CD as confirmation that you qualify for the upgrade (I'm not sure if NT counts ... anyone else know otherwise?) The problem here is which 'format' is going to be used ... Win 98's format with the /s switch is quite acceptable to Windows ME - Windows NT's NTFS format is not. I would really suggest borrowing a WindowsME or Windows98 StartUp floppy from a friend and then - 1) Boot with the startup floppy and use Fdisk to remove the old partitions and create a new primary partition. 2) Reboot and format the harddrive with - format c: (no switch required under ME) 3) Install ME.