📎 AI Summary:
The thread discusses methods and limitations of formatting the C drive, with the original poster asking if formatting via command prompt is possible within Windows XP or from a limited user account. The responses clarify that Windows prevents formatting the system drive from within the OS for security reasons and recommend using alternative bootable tools like Acronis or Partition Wizard to perform such operations. Overall, the consensus is that to safely format the system drive, one must boot from external media rather than attempting within Windows itself.

RJDG14

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I know that when formatting the C drive from within the Windows command prompt, you get an error message, however would it format it successfully if you were to boot into the command prompt version of Windows XP and type the same command?

Also, I know that typing "del c:\/f /s /q" can delete all the system files, destroying your OS, but what if you were to type a variant such as "rd c:\/f /s /q" or "rd c:\ /f /s /q"? In addition, will it do the action if logged in as a limited user, or does the user then get an "access denied" error message?

Please help me on this. How can I refrain from performing the actions in reality?
 

Solution
You cannot format the system drive from within windows (full stop) because windows doesn’t allow that command to run for obvious reasons.
The standard work around is to boot into some kind of shell i.e Acronis, Linux or even a modern windows install disc then run the format command from there.

ussnorway

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You cannot format the system drive from within windows (full stop) because windows doesn’t allow that command to run for obvious reasons.
The standard work around is to boot into some kind of shell i.e Acronis, Linux or even a modern windows install disc then run the format command from there.
 

Solution