Windows 7 Need help reformating my hard drive.

[taweisse]

I have Windows 7 on two computers. On one of the computers i want to downgrade from 7 to XP. I have the XP installation disk, but whenever I put the disk in to attempt to boot from it during startup, it bypasses it and boots normally. I checked the BIOS and disk is set to boot before the HD. I did a quick search and found that 7 is bypassing the disk boot because XP is a lower version of Windows than 7. Everyone online was saying the only way to downgrade was to format the HD and do a clean install of XP. I thought it would be easy enough but when I try to format from Computer Management, the option is "grayed" out. I guess because the C: drive is a system disk.

I dont need any files from the HD all I want to do is wipe it clean. Any help would be great. -Thanks

 

[rover477]

download Active KillDisk FREE Suite and install. listed in the program listing (start Menu, all Programs) you will find a folder called Bootable Disk Creators expand to find two options:
Bootable DOS CD Disk Creator and
Bootable DOS Floppy or USB Disk Creator.
I prefer Bootable DOS CD Disk Creator. after cd completes your ready to format

 

[cybercore]

You can format your hdd from XP or from 7 installation process. If you have proper installation disks with the boot sector, you should be able to start installation from boot no problem.

With your xp/7 disk in drive, can you see this message after post:

Press any key to boot from CD/DVD ...

 

[taweisse]

For the active disk creator- why do i have to create a disk for reformatting? I have already backed my files so shouldn't I just be able to go ahead and format. Or does the disk format for you after restart?
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@cybercore: I dont have the installation disks as I was never given them when I bought the computer. I tried to do a similar thing with the recovery disks, but there is no reformat option-you have to reformat and then immedietly begin to reinstall the OS - thanks anyway.

 

[cybercore]

@cybercore: I dont have the installation disks as I was never given them when I bought the computer. I tried to do a similar thing with the recovery disks, but there is no reformat option-you have to reformat and then immedietly begin to reinstall the O

I see. I asked because:

I have the XP installation disk, but whenever I put the disk in to attempt to boot from it during startup, it bypasses it and boots normally. I checked the BIOS and disk is set to boot before the HD.

You can do it with your XP installation disk, if this is the installation disk with the boot sector. This is just the easiest and the most common way.

Start PC > Wait for the message Press any key to boot from CD/DVD ... > Press a key > Start installation > Accept the agreement > Press the "Esc" key to skip the attempt to repair a currently installed copy of Windows if there is one present > Review the list of hard drives presented on the next window, and using the arrow keys, highlight the system partition you wish to format and press "Enter" > Select the format method, such as FAT32 or NTFS, and press "Enter" again.

You can also format from DOS:

Power on or restart > F8 > Wait for the Menu > Command Line, in dos type this format c: (format c:/q -> if you want quick format). Hit "Y" on the keyboard for "Yes" when asked "Are you sure you want to erase everything on drive c:," and then press "Enter.". Hit "Y" on the keyboard for "Yes" when asked "Are you sure you want to erase everything on drive c:," and then press "Enter."

 

[taweisse]

Okay, I managed to make a partition using Gparted. I still would like to keep 7, in case I ever want to go back to it, ill still have it on my computer. I lowered the partition with 7 on it to 90 GB, and left 200 for XP. The new partition is a blank disk formatted with NTFS. I need to be able to boot from that partition to install Xp, but my computer defaults to boot from the HD with 7 on it. I have checked the boot options and BIOS and cant find anything.

 

[cybercore]

The new partition is a blank disk formatted with NTFS. I need to be able to boot from that partition to install Xp

1. Do you have XP installation CD ?
2. Make sure you have correctly configured boot priority in your bios setup. There is no general rule for how to do that as it differs from bios to bios.

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3. Do you have "Advanced BIOS Features/options", "1st boot device", "2nd" ?
4. Do you have "boot from other devices" option ?

 

[taweisse]

I put the installation disk in, and when I turned the computer on, it did boot from it. However, after windows xp setup loads all the files, it gives me a blue error screen. I tried many times, same result.

I tried to install Ubuntu Linux and it worked fine.

I have a new HP laptop, could XP not be able to run on my computer?