Formatting and Installing XP

[ywouldi]

My mum's PC was running XP Pro (as installed by me when the PC last broke down). The PC crashed at Xmas and we couldn't find the disk I used. But we now have an original XP HOME disk. Someone else tried to fix it and installed XP HOME on top of XP PRO, so now I want to reformat the disk and start again with the HOME edition.

In the Recovery and Repair mode (an option during to OS selection menu on boot up) I log on to the original installation. Using the format command I try and format the C: drive and am given the usual warnings, I say Yes to all of them but all that happens is that the command prompt (C:/Windows....) comes back up rather than the formatting percentage.

When I say "I" I mean I am talking to my computer illiterate mum over the phone and talking her through a process that I have only ever seen over some ones shoulder.

Ben

[stud]

Are you getting back to the DOS screen? If so, just type "format c:" - it'll wipe the partition, so you have a fresh install of XP afterwards.

Better still, don't do recovery or repair. Just install a new fresh copy of XP, and it'll wipe out the old one. Ensure you've copied across all data you want to save thou to another partition, CDR, or other.