I am trying to reformat the hard drive a Windows ME system. At the a: prompt, I'm typing format c:, however it says "Bad Command or File Name." Upon seeing this, I checked and made sure format.com IS on this disk. If I look at the directory on any other computer, format.com along with 25 other files shows up. When looking on this one, there is no format.com and only 17 other files. I have searched and searched for a solution to no avail. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Jonsie,

1.) Do you have all the needed files to install your OS (operating system) again? (not just a recovery disk)

2.) May I/we ask why you are formatting?

3.) Where did you get/make this floppy disk/startup disk? Did it come with the computer, or did you make it/download it?

4.) "If I look at the directory on any other computer, format.com along with 25 other files shows up. When looking on this one, there is no format.com and only 17 other files."

What "directory" (folder) are you talking about, thanks. Might you be talking about,

c:\windows\command
or
c:\windows\command\ebd

If you're talking about last, ebd, it would be in the 'ebd.cab' That's the same thing if you're talking about the files on the startup disk.

5.) What happens if you make a startup disk/emergency boot disk on the computer in question? Or is this where you got the disk from?

Some computers had this problem, will not go into all the details.

Please answer the questions asked of you, to help us better understand your problems and needs, thanks.

S.T.A.R.
p.s. A standard ebd disk will have 27 files on it. This will get into hidden and sytem files. Even more if you expand the archive
;-)

If the FORMAT.COM is hidden or 'sys' it will or won't show on a DIR depending on how the DIRCMD is set.

To find out if this is the issue:

attrib format.com

However, a command will usually run even if it is sys or hidden. So I think you have another problem.

The FDD may need cleaning.

M2

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

Download boot disk from www.bootdisk.com.

Just a little info, for those in need.

MSKB 262502

Good luck
S.T.A.R.
ebd.cab-ebd.cab-ebd.cab
into-into-into
hmm, default *:\
RAM-Drive-RAM-Drive-RAM-Drive

The reason I asked if they had all the needed stuff to reinstall their OS, was to make sure if they didn't, I wouldn't provide them a no-return position. rRrR take this disk, format your drive and then go whoops (I think the word wouldn't be as nice) hmm, you think

;-) I know, not enough coffee. Or is that to much coffee. Either way, probably should calm down.
Later-out

I appreciate the responses. I was able to fix my problem, although now I'm more confused. When I looked at the directory in the a: drive 17 files came up from the floppy. Then I thought I could find the format.com file on the CD, but I didn't know the drive letter (not my computer and d: didn't work). So I went through everything and then tried "b:", then typed in "dir." Lo and behold, all 25 files came up there. Now there is only one floppy drive on this machine, so how in the world could this happen? I've never seen this occur before. After successfully reformatting it, I did a full install of Windows 98 and installed an XP upgrade and left ME out of the mix. Thanks again to those who offered help and if you can shed any light as to how both a: and b: could be attributed to a floppy drive, I'd love to know.

Jonesie, you should of seen the following on your screen.

"The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive"

Following that, will be a drive letter. In your case it was B:, hmm or was it;-). That's your RAM Drive, not a floppy disk, floppy drive, hard drive, CD, DVD, ect., but, a set amount of RAM for a temporary drive. It's gone if/when the RAM is cleared.

Like I said, in response 4, the contents of the EBD.CAB are extracted/loaded into this RAM Drive, along with others. That's what I was referencing in response 1, when I said how many files are on a standard ebd (emergency boot disk). I went on to say, "Even more if you expand the archive". That's just what happened, and they were loaded into the RAM Drive.

Jonesie, did you read the link I gave/provided in response 4?

Just curious about something, auight. Put this floppy in and open a ms dos window. Do a dir on the a: What is the amount of files? Then do a dir /a , and see how many files. If you want to see this mysterious and illusive 'format.com' by just opening the floppy in a window. Do that, open the floppy in a window, and right-click the "EBD.CAB" then click explore. View, if you're using a 98 OS. When this opens, there it will be. As I had said in response 1 - 4.), and it also said in the link I provided in response 4

As was asked of you before, were did you get/make this disk. Just might have something to do with certain things.

Oh, "(not my computer and d: didn't work)" you did a dir on d:, and got an invalid drive or something else. Just an example of something. If you have one hard drive and it's a single partition. That, would be C: Then D: would be your RAM Drive. If you load support and the drive is present. The CD-ROM drive would be E: That would change, with the amount of hard drives and partitions.

You could of installed the XP, without installing the 98 first.
But, enough rambling (sure seems like, that's all they are rrr) for now. Good luck
S.T.A.R.

It's not every day you see letter B assigned to a ramdisk.

M2

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.