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Hello All, I'm working on a PC which had a bad file system. I didn't have the XP Disk for this pc, so I used my Win XP disk (without activating) to reinstall Win XP to make sure the hard drive and all worked OK before I got another copy of Win XP. I'm trying to do a clean install of Windows XP Home Edition and when I get to the screen where I can delete the partion and create a new one it won't let me delete it. It says there's files on the partion that are needed to install windows, so when I try to install over the operating system that's in there now it says installing more than one system on the same partion might cause problems. So how can i uninstall the Win XP operating system that's on the pc now, so I can install the other one?
Thanks in Advance
2bTim
Use the option to DELETE the current partition, then create a new one in the 'unpartitioned space'.
Rich Gu
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Hi Rich, I tried to delete the partion so i could create a new one, but it said I couldn't because the partion had files needed to sepup win XP...Any suggestions?
Thanks in Advance
2bTim
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did you start the setup from within an existing installation of windows or by booting from the setup CD. if it was former, you are likely to get this type of problem
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Hi Abdul_ahad, Thanks for the reply.. I'm not excatly sure what you mean as i'm still learning, but I put in the CD while windows was running. Should I put the Windows CD in and then start the pc??
Thanks in Advance
2bTim
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How big is the hard drive?
You can use a win 98 boot floppy (and FDISK) to delete the partition.
Then after reboot (using the same boot floppy) go into FDISK and create a new partititon.
Rich Gu
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if all else fails you can boot the machine from a win 98 boot disk, delete the offending partition using fdisk, then start the machine using the xp CD, create a new partition in the unpartitioned space and proceed. if you need instructions on using fdisk
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/insta...
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Hi Rich & Abdul_ahad, Thanks a bunch, I'll give this a try and then I'll post back here to let you know how it goes. Thanks very much...
Thanks in Advance
2bTim
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abdul_ahad, I think he'll get it to work by booting the install CD.
I've reinstalled XP many times and it's never refused to do so.
He needs to make sure that his BIOS / SETUP is configured to boot to the CD /DVD drive first, though.
Rich Gu
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Dudes, how long do you think 'til he gets the PC back online?
Probably at least 90 mins. to 2 hours.
Any guesses? (til he posts back)
Rich Gu
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Hold the phone!
Since its a Compaq there is probably a 'secret' partition on the harddrive. This means instead of Compaq giving users an XP installation disk they hide it all on a space on the hard-drive. When users have to re-install XP the Compaq will take all the files from here. This is why you are getting this message.
Check the bios, you may be able to disable the protection for this area of the HDD.
IF YOU ARE REALLY SURE YOU WANT TO ERASE IT get a boot disk and write zeros to the hard disc after disabling the protection
Good luck
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OK, I got it!! Thanks Abdul-ahad and RichGu and all others too. I went and got a win 98 floppy today and booted pc with it and used fdisk to delete partion and then booted with CD and created a new partion and installed win xp :-) It took about an hour 45 minutes... Thanks again all and a special thanks to computing.net!!
Thanks in Advance
2bTim
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