On a friend's computer, everything has become chaos. The internet explorer doesn't work. Wireless drivers don't work, several other programs don't work, including virus scanning programs and firewalls. Printer drivers don't work, updating programs don't work, etc.

I need to format the hard drive.  

When I inserted the Windows XP Prof. CD-ROM, I click install and it installed some installation files on the c: drive. Then it restarted, when it restarted, it opened in the CD program. Eventually, I come to a point where I have to choose a partition to install the OPERATING system on. There are two available, only one is likely (the other is only 31mb). I try to delete the current partition, by following the instructions on the screen, but I get a message informing me that the partition cannot be deleted because it contains some installation files.

Next, I try it from the desktop. I restart the computer normally and go to 'My Computer' and right-click on C: and choose 'Format...' I close the 'My Computer' window and select the options on the small formatting window. I select 'Format' or 'OK' or whatever, and it shows a message informing me that the contents of the drive will be lost; I click 'OK' and another message appears that says the drive c: is still being used by another program.

I went to msconfig and shut down everything, but I still can't figure out how to format. I need help. Thanks in advance!Follow these steps for a proper way to format the Hard Disk Drive.

1. Enter your BIOS
-- This can be done during the POST. Press DEL, F1 or any other key. You should be notified of the proper key by your system.
2. Set the first boot device to CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
-- Depending on what medium you plan on inserting the Windows XP CD in.
3. Follow onscreen instructions
-- I do not remember wheter it automatically boots off the CD or asks you to.
4. Choose to install Windows XP.
-- It will notify you of the fact that an existing copy has allready been installed.

From here you can REMOVE, create and format partitions.


Additional:

Windows XP can not remove it self when it is in use, therefore, trying to format a station that Windows is using from within Windows does not work.

I'm going off memory here so a COUPLE things may be off.  You'll need to boot off CD, this will bring up a blue screen from which you will need to choose to install Windows XP.  It will install a some system files into memory, you'll need to press F8 to ACCEPT the user agreement.  Eventually you'll be presented with the partitions you wish to install Windows XP on.  Go ahead and just delete all the partitions and start from scratch.  Create a new partition and choose that partition to install Windows XP on, you will be given an option to format.  I wish I had a spare computer to walk you through it step by step.  I'll check the web to see if there is one... If you need additional help, you can reach me at ResourcePC.

Daveyou need to make a dos disk and copy format.com from win98 use the dos disk to format the hddThanks Raptor, your method WORKED nicely.