cannot format hard drive

I'm triing to format my "c" drive. I have two hard drives both with vista 32
on them. I want to format one so I can do a clean install of XP on it. I
tried to right click c then format, I followed the prompts but after I click
"start" it says "cannot format c drive"( I'm running on D drive at this
time). What am I doing wrong???

If you installed the first OS on drive c then the drive c is
the first bootable drive on your system. If you want to install
XP as a Second OS, then install it to drive d. Put your cd
and boot from it. When you be at the point that setup asks you
where do you want to install XP then give it the d drive.

Stanos

"SCORPIO" wrote:

> If you installed the first OS on drive c then the drive c is
> the first bootable drive on your system. If you want to install
> XP as a Second OS, then install it to drive d. Put your cd
> and boot from it. When you be at the point that setup asks you
> where do you want to install XP then give it the d drive.
>
> Stanos
> I tried to use the XP disc, wouldn't boot from disc. Then I just tried to run the disc and do an install(hoping to wipe Vista off of D)but the "install XP" icon is greyed out and non functional.
What I did originally was upgrade to Vista on c. Then I started having
problems with lots of stuff and got p@#$$ed at Vista and decided to do a
clean install on D. Didnt fix the problems I had, Still annoyed with vista.
Decided I would say to heck with Vista and format C and do a clean install of
XP and start over. The computer automatically boots to D, I cannot get it to
boot to C... When starting, the keyboard doesnt work so when I get to the
screen that gives me the choice of which drive to boot with, I can't use the
keyboard to choose

Boot from your XP CD and install XP. During the installation delete the
partitions on C: then recreate and format them. Note this will erase
everything on C:. You will not be able to boot into Vista until you restore
the Vista boot sector and setup a dual boot.

Make sure you have any data you need backed up. It is very easy to pick the
wrong partitions and accidently delete something you need.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/



"mark" <> wrote in message
news:A40CAD72-E74A-4FCD-9DC0-...
>
>
> "SCORPIO" wrote:
>
>> If you installed the first OS on drive c then the drive c is
>> the first bootable drive on your system. If you want to install
>> XP as a Second OS, then install it to drive d. Put your cd
>> and boot from it. When you be at the point that setup asks you
>> where do you want to install XP then give it the d drive.
>>
>> Stanos
>> I tried to use the XP disc, wouldn't boot from disc. Then I just tried to
>> run the disc and do an install(hoping to wipe Vista off of D)but the
>> "install XP" icon is greyed out and non functional.
> What I did originally was upgrade to Vista on c. Then I started having
> problems with lots of stuff and got p@#$$ed at Vista and decided to do a
> clean install on D. Didnt fix the problems I had, Still annoyed with
> vista.
> Decided I would say to heck with Vista and format C and do a clean install
> of
> XP and start over. The computer automatically boots to D, I cannot get it
> to
> boot to C... When starting, the keyboard doesnt work so when I get to the
> screen that gives me the choice of which drive to boot with, I can't use
> the
> keyboard to choose

After booting into Vista, right click on Computer and select Properties.
From there click on Advanced System Settings. In the tap Advanced, click on
Startup and Recovery.

You can now change your default operating system to be XP and tell it to
display a list of installed operating systems, and a time length to display
these before booting to default if no further action is taken.

By installing Vista on the d: drive, an entry is placed on the c: drive.
Windows may drive you insane at times but it's not suicidal. While you are
'in' a drive, you cannot format it. Even if you are 'in' the c: drive,
using XP, you cannot format d: because of the entry on it for Vista.

You can however remove this. Download and install Vista Boot Pro from:
http://www.vistabootpro.org/

Once you've installed it and set it up, you can then remove it, and at the
same time it will remove the entry for the Vista operating system from drive
c:. You will then be able to format drive d: and all will be as it once
was.
--
Cari (MS-MVP Printing & Imaging)
http://www.coribright.com/windows

"mark" <> wrote in message
news:A40CAD72-E74A-4FCD-9DC0-...

>> I tried to use the XP disc, wouldn't boot from disc. Then I just tried to
>> run the disc and do an install(hoping to wipe Vista off of D)but the
>> "install XP" icon is greyed out and non functional.
> What I did originally was upgrade to Vista on c. Then I started having
> problems with lots of stuff and got p@#$$ed at Vista and decided to do a
> clean install on D. Didnt fix the problems I had, Still annoyed with
> vista.
> Decided I would say to heck with Vista and format C and do a clean install
> of
> XP and start over. The computer automatically boots to D, I cannot get it
> to
> boot to C... When starting, the keyboard doesnt work so when I get to the
> screen that gives me the choice of which drive to boot with, I can't use
> the
> keyboard to choose