How To Format a Computer Using a Windows XP Disc

The word Format can mean quite a few things in the world of computers. You could format text in a word document, have a different file format, or in this case, format the hard drive in your computer. Sometimes you need to format your computer to ultra clean your computer. It makes it faster, new looking and gets rid of errors and viruses.

However before you do format a computer you should backup your data. Some things to backup include: photos, my documents, favorites folder, emails, all contacts, passwords and more…

Windows XP disc is bootable and really does everything for you. (Well nearly) This means that when you insert a Windows XP disc into your computer, it should start automatically.

Next is to make sure you have a system disk that came with your computer for display drivers, LAN drivers, USB, audio etc. If you do not have this there is a program called Driver Robot which find your drivers for you after you have formatted…It is a lifesaver. Its a must have program and saves you a load of work. Even after it is has found your drivers it will also keep them up to date later on.
If you do not want to spend money you will have to find your computers drivers on the internet and download them manually. Drivers are one of the most important tiny bits of software that will make your computer run like its meant to.

Now lets move on to formatting with Windows Xp.

1. First you must Put on your Computer and enter your computer setup eg{F1,F2,F10,dell}.
2. Make sure you set your Cd/Dvd Rom to first boot and your hard drive to second boot and Save and exit.
3. Then restart,
4. If it doesn’t ask you to press any key to boot from cd then restart your computer again.
5. A blue screen will appear and you are on your way..format Windows XP
6. Press Enter to setup Windows XP now.

7. If there is a copy of Windows XP on your computer and you wish to overwrite it you will have to press the escape button when prompted.
Windows XP in another directory unless you know what you are doing. Just overwrite the previous version as you should have backed up your data anyway.


Format Windows XP cd
1. You should now make the partition that had windows on it blue and press D to delete the partition. It will ask if you are sure. Press L to confirm.
2. Then Press C to create another partition and Windows will estimate a size for you. If you wanted to partition your hard drive into two equal parts you would have to do some math’s and then type the appropriate number in. Otherwise just going with what Windows puts there will be the minimum partition size.
3. Press Enter to confirm size.
4. Then it will ask you which partition you want to install Windows on. The default is C: drive. Select this by making it blue and press enter.
5. If there are no partitions it will create one for you.
6. Then it will ask you to format quick, normal, in fat32 or NTFS. Fat32 suits older computers so I choose a quick format with NTFS for newer computers. Quick or Slow is fine. If you had errors it is better to use a slow format which can also be known as a low level format.
7. From now on you just Follow the prompts and let it go..
8. The computer will restart and it will try to boot from cd again…Do not press anything on the keyboard.. Just let it go through the stages of setup. You only press the ANY KEY at the start to get it to boot to the Windows XP cd.
9. Make sure you have your serial number ready to enter in. This can be found on your coa certificate which is a sticker usually put on the side of your computer or you can check on my post on serial keys
10. Do not remove the Windows XP CD until the computer has started up with a new desktop and icons.