Formatting a hard drive and reinstalling windows xp

Can you find all the needed installation codes? Do you have data backups to restore? Do you even remember all the customizations and tweaks you may have installed to make everything work the way you like?

Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and far between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person have failed. And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the behavior that caused it, and quickly find yourself back in exactly the same situation.

I mean that seriously. I do fall into the theme that you were discussing where you stated: " And perhaps most important: if you reformat and reinstall without finding out what caused your problem, you will very likely repeat the behavior that caused it, and quickly find yourself back in exactly the same situation. I know that I must be repeating a behavior that will more than likely put me back in the same situation and I would like to avoid that.

I would like to find out what exactly it is that I am doing wrong. My reason for contemplating a reformat is because when I tried to do a restore, it kept failing and then I got a suggestion to attempt a Restore in the Safe Mode so I tried that and then I was asked for a password! I'm sure I had to create a password when initially installing Win 10 but other problems along the way since the initial install of Win 10 caused me to lose the password and it is my understanding that there is no way of obtaining that password without a new install of Windows 10 and a reformat.

Your comment has made the most sense to me thus far. Choose between a quick format that leaves data on your computer but marks it inaccessible, or a full format that will delete all data on the drive. Windows XP automatically installs after the drive is formatted. Immediately after Windows installs you should plan on spending some time getting Windows up-to-date.

That essentially means you take the guts out of the Windows XP CD, download all the Windows updates, and burn a new CD which you then use to format and re-install Windows. But, it's much simpler than it sounds and if you're not an advanced user, we suggest you use the method described above for the best results even though you will have to invest a little more time. It will take you between one hour and three hours depending on the speed of your connection, your computer, and how many device drivers and Windows updates you have to download to complete the format and reinstallation of Windows XP.

So make sure you do it when you have plenty of time to finish the job. If you don't have a Windows XP CD, your computer most like came with a so-called "Recovery" CD or some kind of recovery program included on the hard drive. Any time you do a "recovery" using a recovery disk, you're essentially formatting and returning your computer to the exact state it was in when you bought it.

The problem with this is that many times new computers come with a lot of pre-install software you may not want or need. Pineman 2 Bronze. Format hard drive and reinstall XP. Can anyone confirm this, please? All forum topics Previous Topic Next Topic.

Replies 2. Thanks very much, ejn Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article Steps. Tips and Warnings. Things You'll Need. Related Articles. Author Info Last Updated: May 15, You usually get it with your PC, if you bought Windows. If you don't have the installation CD, you can buy it from Microsoft.

You will need the CD for installation. Your PC Bios settings will be displayed. Find boot menu. Press the Enter key at this screen. Consider creating a separate partition at this screen. Do this by pressing the "C" key and defining the size of the partition. Select your desired partition for installation of Windows XP.

Press the Enter key. Choose to format the partition. Choose NTFS quick for best results. Run Setup. After formatting, Setup will start copying files on to the hard disk.