Format

Padmapani · 14th October 2003

so hey, I have all of my stuff backed up, now how do I format my computer?

I have all the system disks, a backup windows 98 cd, my video card as well as my sound card disks,

where do I go from here??

dopey · 15th October 2003

Hi Padmapani. The easiest way to format is to open My Computer, right click on C:/ and select the format option.

-John

Profgab101 · 15th October 2003

You will need to restart in MS-DOS mode to format the system drive.

Be sure you have your Windows PID before formating! - If you can't find the CD case with it, you can still get it from the system registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion "ProductId"

**markp62** · 15th October 2003

While dopey's suggestion would work, I would boot with a floppy and type this in at the prompt;
format c:
then type a Y
I second Profgab101's idea about having the windows product key on paper first.

Ryder · 15th October 2003

If you have the CD, you won't need a floppy. When the CD boots, it gives 2 menus (assuming the correct options are selected). The first menu asks if you want to boot from CD or Hard drive, select CD. The next menu has 3 options - start windows setup from CD, start PC with CD suport, and Start PC w/out CD support. Select option number 2. At the prompt switch to the win98 folder on the CD drive (probably D:, but it will tell you what it is), and then type "format c:".

I would be surpirsed if dopey's option works - as stupid as windows is sometimes, I can't see it allowing you to format it's home drive, thereby erasing itself while still running. Would be a pretty impressive feat if it did work, but I don't think it will. It would work for non-system drives, tho

dopey · 16th October 2003

It works. It seems to me that it is a batch file and executed within dos. But its easier if you have you floppy and cd inserted when you run this option. Easier than rebooting to dos mode and typing the command yourself.

-John

stuartsjg · 16th October 2003

hi, what i do for formatting is, once you are completly sure youve got everything (trust me, you always forget something) restart in DOS mode (eg. start menu > shutdown >restart in MS-DOS mode) and type the following at the prompt.

c:\format c: /u/s

where the 1st c is the location of the format program, the 2nd c is the drive you wish to format.
The format program location could also be on another drive, floppy, cd etc.

/u is a DOS function for unconditonal format. this means that dos will format all of the drive and not miss bits it feels could be usefull.

/s is a DOS function to copy system files after format is complete.
This means that when you boot up the computer the screen will end at a DOS prompt where you can instal WIndows etc. from CD as the system files coped also include dos support for CD-ROM drives.

I would still advise making a boot disk before you format (start > settings > control panel > add/remove prgrams > windows setup tab > boot disk. Or there abouts. Also if you (in windows) format a floppy you can chose to copy system files, this may also work)

Hope it works ok for you,

Stuart.

Profgab101 · 17th October 2003

If you intended to boot to the W98 CD and intall from the CD then I would not use the /s switch - things just tend to go smoother.

I allways use the /u switch if I have not wrote zeros and done a fresh Fdisk or fdisk /mbr

dopey · 17th October 2003

I need to retract my earlier posts. Shortly before I saw this thread I clicked on C: for properties and saw the format option. (Don't think I ever paid attention to it before) and thought to myself that this could be a quicker (and easier) way to format. After reading the replies I tried the option myself and found it would NOT work for formatting the host drive. So I spent some time searching MS and finally followed a link to another board where there was a discussion on this. Ryder summed up the results perfectly. This option will not work on the host drive but is to be used for non-system drives.

I want to apologize to everyone ( especially Padmapani ) for answering a post for which I wasn't 100% sure of my suggestion.

-John

Padmapani · 22nd October 2003

ok, so you are going to have to walk me through this,
once I do the dos format thing, how do I set up windows from dos? please note that my proficiency with dos is about the same as my ability to speak Chinese, nil.

dopey · 22nd October 2003

What I do is to place the boot disk in the floppy drive and the Win98 setup disk in the cd rom. Restart your computer. When the setup screen appears you can format your drive here by pressing F3 twice and typing "Format C:", without quotes, then press enter. Your drive will be formatted and then you will return to the setup screen. To start installing Windows press enter and follow the instructions. This will install Windows on your computer.

Its a good idea to have your Product Key Code handy because setup will ask you for it. If you don't have it you can find it on the Getting Started book that came with the computer, bottom front cover.

-John

Ryder · 23rd October 2003

After formatting, type "md win98" (note: do not type any quotes from this post, unless otherwise instructed by myself) and hit enter. Then type "cd win98" and hit enter. Then, with the Windows 98 CD in the CD drive, type "copy d:\win98" and once again, press enter. This will copy all the startup files to your hard drive, so that if something goes wrong with Windows in the future, you can simply run the start up program from the hard drive, without having to resort to these extreme procedures again.
Once the copying is finished (101 files), type "setup", and then simply follow the on-screen instructions. Windows setup is image-based, so everything behaves the way it would in Windows itself.

Alternatively, after formatting you can simply type "d:\win98\setup" and run windwos setup directly from the CD. However, I genreally run it from the hard drive, as it eliminates the poosibility of a probelm with the CD drive ******** up your windows instalation

. I admit it's is an extremely small possibility (>1/1000), but it doesn't hurt.

dopey · 23rd October 2003

Ryder - I like your idea. I can see some posibilities if its possible to do so, such as:

1 - Once the setup files are on the harddrive, delete unwanted files, like MS Chat and such, so that when and if you do have to reinstall you won't have to go through and delete what you don't want - already deleted.

2 - Add the personal programs that have been installed on the computer to the setup files so they will install after Windows but with no user input required. (Not sure about this.)

3 - Can also add updates to the setup files so after reinstalling everything will be updated, or as closely updated as when the updates were saved. (if 2 above is possible)

4 - Save it all to a cd-rw or dvd as a backup. Maybe have the disk start on it's own when inserted in the cd drive so once you've formatted setup will be automatic.

5 - Any way to tweak the Windows setup so you can automate the input required, such as inputing the Product Key Code, the time zone and such that Windows setup asks when you install or reinstall? So setup will have these inputs already without having the user to supply the input is what I'm asking.

I don't know it any of this is possible but it would sure make a clean reinstall a lot easier if it could be done. Of course it would be a personal setup for each user because each user has different key codes and programs, but the concept or structure for creating such a setup would be able to be used by all who wanted to.

Food for thought. Any possibilities?

-John

**markp62** · 24th October 2003

You would use Msbatch.Inf to customize an installation.

dopey · 24th October 2003

Thanks Markp62, very informative.

-John