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2 Posts
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3877
February 29th, 2004 14:00
Want to reinstall Windows 2000 Prof
Hoping someone can help me here.
I want to re-format my hard drive and reinstall Windows 2000 Professional. Can someone help with the following questions?
1) The operating system CD i received with my dell says it is for "Reinstalling Windows 2000 Professional Including Service Pack 1". Also, the instructions in the dell manual only cover reinstalling by booting from this cd. If i format my hard drive, will i be able to use this cd to perform a completely clean install?
2) How do i go about creating a floppy boot disk which will save all the files, drivers, etc that I need to be able to reinstall from the dell operating system cd?
3) If i follow the instructions in the dell manual, i am assuming that this will only perform a clean install of the operating system but it won't format the drive. is that correct?
4) If anyone has any links to websites that give a step-by-step explanation for formatting your hard drive and reinstalling Windows 2000 Professional, that would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help.
max_carnage
2 Posts
0
February 29th, 2004 15:00
i've managed to work out how to create the boot floppy but this only gives you the option to install from the windows disc.
if i want to format my hard disk, how do i get access to an MS-DOS prompt to enable me to do this?
again, i am assuming that if i reinstall from the boot disks, this will just reinstall over the existing files without first formatting the hard disk. is this correct?
cheers.
LeeSoCar
14 Posts
0
March 2nd, 2004 06:00
I am not sure if this will help or not.
1) I have never tried a clean install from a reinstallation disk. I would think it should work, but you might want to check with Dell first just to be sure.
2) I recently tried to do a clean install of Windows XP Pro and couldn't get my CD drive to work to run the install CD (for some reason, the boot disk for the XP don't create a RAM drive and load drivers like 98/ME did). I went to the Microsoft site and found the download to create 6 floppy disks that allow you to load the system on a clean HD with the CD. I am not sure if 2000 creates a fully operational boot disk or one of the newer (and useless) ones. Try looking on the MS site for something similar for 2000.It is also good to have these in case something happens and you can't load your OS (I had a power failure while loading a service pack for XP on a desktop. When I tried to restart the computer, I received a fatal error and the OS wouldn't load).
3) Reloading the system with the Disk will not format your HD, just a clean install of the OS.
4) Try doing a google search for reloading Windows guides...there should be a bunch of them. Maximum PC had an issue a few years ago with a great article, but I couldnt find it on their site.
I hope this helps a bit!
Message Edited by LeeSoCar on 03-02-2004 03:45 AM ADD: I looked it up and 2000 does create a full opertional boot disk.
Message Edited by LeeSoCar on 03-02-2004 03:50 AM
Red Dragon
221 Posts
0
March 3rd, 2004 20:00
Change the boot order to boot to the CD first. Then put in the Windows 2000 CD and reboot. You will go directly into setup. During setup you will be given the option to format the drive. Could not be simpler.