I've just reinstalled Windows XP on my computer, the installation went well but it left all my old data & programs on the C: drive.

The programs don't show up in the Add & Remove Programs window.

So I tried to Format my C: drive & install windows onto a fresh hard drive, I created an MS-DOS start disc and then copied the Format program from system32 folder onto the floppy. When the computer booted from the DOS disc and I used the command FORMAT C: it tells me the program isn't an MS-DOS program.

I also booted into the recovery console and tried the FORMAT C: command, this time I got the warning about losing all data on the drive. After telling it to continue it pauses for a few seconds & then goes back to the command line prompt C:\.

Anyone know what I am doing wrong, or any advice?

Any help would be great.

Tried booting directly from the XP disc? (set first boot device to yr dvd/cd drive in bios , save settings and reboot with the cd in the drive) then follow the onscreen instructions.
XP setup allows you to completely reformat your HD as well as create partitions before doing a fresh install.

indeed... he could try one of those custom formatting programs though, usually work better than a normal format c:.

yup, format c is...erm you know that windows XP doesn't have MSDOS anymore? Your actually running format c in an msdos emulator.

To format in windows XP, you have to boot from the cd, and choose the windows setup and follow the formating commands.

D i think is delete the selected parition, then C to clear, then L to make a new partition, then RETURN to install windows

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm? ... 78&page=10

That might help

Thanks for the replies guys.

The first time I did boot from the XP CD but it didn't format my drive, it just installed a fresh install of windows leaving the crap I wanted to get rid of on my drive.

In the end I used Kill Disk to format my drive from the MS-DOS start disk I made, and it worked like a charm.

Then when I installed XP from the CD and this time it formatted the drive, why it didn't the first time I'll never know.

Now I've got a lovely junk free comp so I can do a bit of ripping for you guys.

Thanks.