Guide on Formatting a Windows Based PC

[bharathbala2003]

well i suppose most of you will be knowing but still just thought ill write one for newbies who dont know or ppl who need help

ok here is the way! njoy happy formatting

Formatting a computer with Windows 98:

Req. Items : Windows 98 Startup Disk or Win 98 Setup CD(recommended)

Windows 98 will work on both FAT and FAT32 partitions.. but never on a NTFS so here are the steps..

STEP 1

Change Bios Boot Sequence. you can do this by Hitting the DEL or sumtimes F1 key when u switch on the computer.Once in the BIOS Change the boot sequence by entering the Advanced Bios Features or similar phrase. Make the First Boot device to CD-ROM. Now save the settings and Exit the BIOS

STEP 2

now that your Boot Sequence is changed you will land up on a screen asking two options

1)Boot From Hard Disk
2)Boot From CD-ROM

Select the Second option and boot from the CD ROM

now you will be taken in to the option below..

1)Setup Windows 98 from CD
2)Start Computer with CD-ROM support
3)Start Computer without CD-ROM support

Select the Second option upon which you will be taken to the screen with
A:\>

now type

A:\>fdisk (then press enter)

STEP 3

The first screen as soon as you type fdisk and press enter comes with an option in the bottom of the screen select Y (this is to make sure u are installing a FAT32 type partition)


incase u want it in FAT16 key in N and press enter

Now the FDISK options will be like this


remember ull have the 5th option only if u have two Hard Drives installed.

Now Select the 3rd option if u already have existing partitions..



Here delete the Partition in this order First the Logical Drives then the Extended Drives and finally the Primary you cant do it anyother way.

Now see the pic below carefully and u can del the partition this way


Now that you have no partitions we can proceesd on how to create them

Now select the first option Create a Dos Partition



here select the first option again

now you will be prompted with the option of taking the whole drive for primary Partition


Please Select N If you want more than one partition

now you will get the option of selecting the disk space fot that partition


after selecting press enter
now it will automatically create the partition and after it finishes press the ESC key to return to the main BIOS menu. There you will find a Warning message saying the Partition is not set active and unless you set it active it cannot be used

so now select the 2 option and it will prompt u to select the partition to be set active press 1 and press enter key

now that the partition is active you can either create more partitions or leave it there.In case u need more select the 1st option and then select the 2nd option of Creating an Extended partition.

now when it asks you for the amount of space to be taken jus give the whole remaining space it will automatically say that no logical drives are defined and it will create logical now say you have 2 GB left make sure each partition is above 512 MB as 512 MB will be made into FAT16 partition so say you are selecting

1024 MB i.e 1 GB it will create the partition and come back to the same screen now u have 1 GB left jus select it and press enter now you will have one more partition.

Now your computer has 3 partitions

C:\ (primary)
D:\ (Extended Logical)
E:\ (Logical)

now get out of the Fdisk by pressing ESC key until u reach A:\> now press ctrl+alt+del and restart the system again follow the steps i.e boot from cdrom and start comp with cd rom support. now befor you land up A:\> ull get a message above saying F:\> is the Media drive so Type F: and press enter

Now you will be taken in to the F:\> drive i.e the CD-Rom drive

default the win98 directory is this way

F:\>cd win98
F:\Win98>_

now type Format C: and press enter you will get a warning that all data will be lost press Y and press enter now the formatting will start

After a few mins the formatting of the C: is over now it will ask you for the Disk label say u can keep any thing.. like hello or wat any darn thing

similarly type Format D: and E: seperatly and format them and assign them Driver Label if you want

incase you dont want drive label just press enter without typing anything

thats it your done.You have successfully learnt to create,edit and format partitons based on FDISK(fat16,fat32) now ull be in the path

F:\Win98>_

Type Setup and press enter and you will be guided thro the setup process of Installing the Win 98

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thats it for now will edit when i find time to write the procedure of NTFS partitions using WIN2K and XP

P.S incase you notice mistakes(there cld be sum) pls tell it and i shall edit.

[sms_solver]

good tutorial for beginner.
One problem with fdisk is that it only allow you to make one primary partition.

One can use ranish partition for creating more than one primary partition

[bharathbala2003]

yes but this tutorial is for formatting a std pc with not much 3rd party s/w Fdisk is a external Dos command and can be used on any system with windows startup disk thats the reason