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Since you dont have the option to boot in dos when xp starts how would you use the format c:\ command b/c of a virus infecting my computer. The restore disc wont work b/c i upgraded my computer with new processor/motherboard, etc. I want to format the computer than use the win xp cd. I have a burnt copy of it and it says it doesnt have a lot of dlls... when its installing. gives option to retry or skip is that normal or is my disc messed up? What should i do thanks. Its the xp professional
you can use a boot disk from win98. in order to install winXP, you may have to use a real M$ disk. if it's YOUR copy, then it shouldn't be a problem
I'm not sure I follow the whole thing.
First, what virus did you get? Are you sure that reformatting your whole C drive is actually necessary?
Second, you can get to a command prompt when booting Windows XP Pro by pressing F8 when Windows is starting and selecting the option to start in Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
Third, the Windows XP CD is bootable. You can just boot straight to the CD. Once the install process begins you can choose whether to obliterate and recreate the C (or any other) drive, or if you want to reformat the drive before installing the OS.
Yeah, like tony said, the Xp install will walk you through the process of reformatting and partitioning your drive, but from what you wrote I gather you have a bootleg copy. I haven't tried to burn my XP cd, figured it wouldn't really be worth it w/ the activation (less'n you want to reformat every month), but they might have made it so that you can't burn some of the essential dll's/files you need. If you do have a bootleg copy of XP, I would suggest buying an upgrade version, it's cheaper, you just have to have some version of Win on disk (95 and up I think), and you won't have any aggrevation w/ formatting. . .or just screw it all and go *nix.
sickYourIT is right about the burned copy not working. I'm assuming it's a copy of the Pro Corporate that's been floating around the net. Although the CD is bootable, you can't install it if you boot from it (because of said errors). One thing you can try is to format with a 98 boot disk and then copy the installation files from the XP CD to the hard drive and install from there. That doesn't always work, though. The best thing you can do (besides buy your own version, of course) is to install another OS (i.e. Win 2000) and use the XP CD you have to upgrade to XP. That should work.
AJ
The problem of it not installing when you boot from it is dependant on the hardware involved. I've installed it on all my PCs and I'm still not sure which hardware does it... but some PCs install just fine (My P3 800 included) but others (Usually they seem to be AMD processors) tend to mess up during the install.... and before anyone starts negging me for talking about illegal versions of the OS... I do have a legal CD Key... i'm just against having to activate my products.
You can boot from the XP cd. You will get the chance to partition your harddisk right before the setup. Just remove then recreate the partition to clear it (This will nuke everything!)Quote:
Originally posted here by *AdrEnAl_ine*
Since you dont have the option to boot in dos when xp starts how would you use the format c:\ command b/c of a virus infecting my computer. The restore disc wont work b/c i upgraded my computer with new processor/motherboard, etc. I want to format the computer than use the win xp cd.
I think your disk is messed up. It should NOT complain about missing dll's.Quote:
I have a burnt copy of it and it says it doesnt have a lot of dlls... when its installing. gives option to retry or skip is that normal or is my disc messed up? What should i do thanks. Its the xp professional
edit: I just read the rest of the replies. I'm just confirming everybody else it seems.
Buddy just get a winxp bootable cd it will do it all and boot through it.
The best way to do this, I think is to use a bootable XP disk and choose the Recovery Console option. It's basically a DOS type shell with a lot of goodies. You can restore/rebuild just about anything on your box and access it as Admin. You can also install the Console directly into XP and use it as an F8 Boot option...Sweet. Have Phun.
Like everyone else has said, the best way is to use the bootable CD.
However, you can still use a Win9x boot disk.
You'd simply have to make sure fdsik is on the boot disk, then boot the system off the disk, fdisk the drive (nuke the NTFS partition and create a FAT partition), then use your standard format C: command. When you reinstall WinXP you'd simply have to convert the FAT partition back to NTFS, which takes a matter of seconds (on my machines at least).
A more in depth way to do it, but one that still works quite well.
D'elTarra
I had a similar problem with the missing dll's. It turned out to be a memory incompopatibility problem. I had just built a new machine with 2 128mb sticks of ram. It worked with one or the other but if i tried installing XP Home with them both in it gave me the missing dll's error. Took the ram back swapped it for 1 256mb works fine.
Since no one else mentioned it yet, you might want to invest in a good anti-virus and keep updated, not just install and forget. Try updating your anti-virus product once a day. A good one your might want to try is Kasporov Anti-Virus. It always kept me out of trouble when I used windows.
PuRe