Help reformating hard drive

> If by "Reinstallation CD" you mean it's an OEM Windows XP installation CD
> and not some kind of "Recovery" CD then you might want to try this. The
> following assumes you want to wipe out all the files.
>
> Boot from the CD and instead of entering the recovery console, start the
> XP installation. You should be given the option of deleting, creating and
> formatting partitions there.
>
> Nepatsfan
> "Matthew" <turn.deletethis@alltel.net> wrote in message
> news:O$CXWp37EHA.2012@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...

>> Short story: I have an XP Home install with a corrupt registry. It has
>> many problems, including rebooting randomly. I would like to format the
>> hard drive and start over.
>>
>> Because of issues, I need to format it (to NTFS) without knowing the
>> Administrator password. If this can be done, that answers my question.
>> If not, read on.
>>
>> I tried to boot from the "Reinstallation CD" Dell provided, and went to
>> the recovery console. It asked for the Administrator password. Believe
>> it or not, I know what it is.
>> The problem is, I entered the password and it says it's the wrong one. I
>> booted back up, and didn't see Administrator in User Accounts. I booted
>> in Safe Mode, and it still wasn't there. Very strange.
>> Anyway, I went to Start, Run, "control userpasswords2" (without the
>> quotes) and reset the Administor password. (I am able to do that because
>> I have a second admin account.) It still wouldn't let me in to the
>> recovery console.
>>
>> I booted in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, and I saw the welcome screen
>> with my main user and the (hidden) Administrator user. I clicked
>> Administrator, entered my password and it let me in to the command
>> prompt.
>> I couldn't format from there because the C: drive was in use.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> Matthew
>>

>
>

> That worked perfectly.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Matthew
>
> "Nepatsfan" <nepatsfan@SBXXXVIII.com> wrote in message
> news:N-SdnQ3S1pUBV0jcRVn-hA@comcast.com...

>> If by "Reinstallation CD" you mean it's an OEM Windows XP
>> installation CD and not some kind of "Recovery" CD then you
>> might want to try this. The following assumes you want to wipe
>> out all the files.
>>
>> Boot from the CD and instead of entering the recovery console,
>> start the XP installation. You should be given the option of
>> deleting, creating and formatting partitions there.
>>
>> Nepatsfan
>> "Matthew" <turn.deletethis@alltel.net> wrote in message
>> news:O$CXWp37EHA.2012@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...

>>> Short story: I have an XP Home install with a corrupt
>>> registry. It has many problems, including rebooting randomly.
>>> I would like to format the hard drive and start over.
>>>
>>> Because of issues, I need to format it (to NTFS) without
>>> knowing the Administrator password. If this can be done,
>>> that answers my question. If not, read on.
>>>
>>> I tried to boot from the "Reinstallation CD" Dell provided,
>>> and went to the recovery console. It asked for the
>>> Administrator password. Believe it or not, I know what it
>>> is.
>>> The problem is, I entered the password and it says it's the
>>> wrong one. I booted back up, and didn't see Administrator in
>>> User Accounts. I booted in Safe Mode, and it still wasn't
>>> there. Very strange.
>>> Anyway, I went to Start, Run, "control userpasswords2"
>>> (without the quotes) and reset the Administor password. (I
>>> am able to do that because I have a second admin account.)
>>> It still wouldn't let me in to the recovery console.
>>>
>>> I booted in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, and I saw the
>>> welcome screen with my main user and the (hidden)
>>> Administrator user. I clicked Administrator, entered my
>>> password and it let me in to the command prompt.
>>> I couldn't format from there because the C: drive was in use.
>>>
>>> Any ideas?
>>>
>>> Matthew
>>>

>>
>>

>
>

> Glad to hear that helped. Thanks for the feedback.
>
> Nepatsfan
> "Matthew" <turn.deletethis@alltel.net> wrote in message
> news:OIN8cxJ8EHA.2552@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

> > That worked perfectly.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Matthew
> >
> > "Nepatsfan" <nepatsfan@SBXXXVIII.com> wrote in message
> > news:N-SdnQ3S1pUBV0jcRVn-hA@comcast.com...

> >> If by "Reinstallation CD" you mean it's an OEM Windows XP
> >> installation CD and not some kind of "Recovery" CD then you
> >> might want to try this. The following assumes you want to wipe
> >> out all the files.
> >>
> >> Boot from the CD and instead of entering the recovery console,
> >> start the XP installation. You should be given the option of
> >> deleting, creating and formatting partitions there.
> >>
> >> Nepatsfan
> >> "Matthew" <turn.deletethis@alltel.net> wrote in message
> >> news:O$CXWp37EHA.2012@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> >>> Short story: I have an XP Home install with a corrupt
> >>> registry. It has many problems, including rebooting randomly.
> >>> I would like to format the hard drive and start over.
> >>>
> >>> Because of issues, I need to format it (to NTFS) without
> >>> knowing the Administrator password. If this can be done,
> >>> that answers my question. If not, read on.
> >>>
> >>> I tried to boot from the "Reinstallation CD" Dell provided,
> >>> and went to the recovery console. It asked for the
> >>> Administrator password. Believe it or not, I know what it
> >>> is.
> >>> The problem is, I entered the password and it says it's the
> >>> wrong one. I booted back up, and didn't see Administrator in
> >>> User Accounts. I booted in Safe Mode, and it still wasn't
> >>> there. Very strange.
> >>> Anyway, I went to Start, Run, "control userpasswords2"
> >>> (without the quotes) and reset the Administor password. (I
> >>> am able to do that because I have a second admin account.)
> >>> It still wouldn't let me in to the recovery console.
> >>>
> >>> I booted in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, and I saw the
> >>> welcome screen with my main user and the (hidden)
> >>> Administrator user. I clicked Administrator, entered my
> >>> password and it let me in to the command prompt.
> >>> I couldn't format from there because the C: drive was in use.
> >>>
> >>> Any ideas?
> >>>
> >>> Matthew
> >>>
> >>
> >>

> >
> >

>
>
>