Problems reformatting my Windows XP machine?

I'm trying to reformat my Windows XP machine. I'm having some problems tho, so I will walk you through what has been done so far...





Upon inserting the CD and going through the GUI setup where i enter my cd key it asks me to restart. Then it asks whether Id like to load Windows XP Home or Windows XP Home Setup. I chose setup. Now it loads the blue XP setup screen as normal. Then i get to the point where it asks what to do with my C drive... I press "D" to delete it and start it fresh. But instead, it wont let me, I get this message:





"Setup is unable to perform the requested operation on the selected partition. This partition contains temporary setup files that are required to complete the installation".





So I cant format my drive to install a fresh copy of windows? What am I supposed to do in order to get my C drive whiped out so I can do a fresh install of XP? XP setup leaves me w/ only the option of installing a 2nd copy of XP on the C drive. Any help would be much appreciated.

Problems reformatting my Windows XP machine?
Use a linux live cd to reforamat then reinstall windoze
Reply:What is on the 'C' drive? Another installation of XP or is it blank?





I am guessing you have a SATA drive and the "D" drive you are referring to is your CD/DVD drive and naturally you can't install it there and XP installation is not even able to see the SATA drive since no drivers were installed.





What you need to do is right when the setup process begins, at the very bottom of the screen, it tells you that you have to press F6 to install 3rd party drivers which is what you to do to be able to install the required SATA drivers since SATA is treated much like SCSI and without installing the XP drivers from a Floppy Disk you will run into the problem you mentioned.





If I misunderstood then please clarify what it is that you were trying to do.
Reply:what you should do is delete the partitions windos xp will make a bran new partition and do a format of the drive, I reccomend a full format.





i reccomend that as soon as you power on the pc put the windows cd in the drive and when it asks you to press a key to boot from cd do that then windows will start the install processes.
Reply:Hey pal i also have been through this


the problem is dat you are installing windows from your current windows it copies some files onto your c drive which it will use later when you try to format in the dos(blue screen) setup will obviously give the error because it needs that files


the solution is


Try installing from dos


insert your cd Restart Boot it from cd rom and press any key when asked and follow on the instruction

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