It is your choice whether to delete all patitions and create one big partition and then install Windows. Thanks for your reply.
So, if I reformat the whole drive, the reinstall won't automatically create the other partitions--d: recovery and media direct? The reason I'm doing this is because I had a hard drive failure, and startup repair failed and said there was a corrupt file. If it turns out there's a hardware failure I was able to access C: and D: through DOS and I want to reinstall on a new physical drive, will there be options to create d: recovery, and the media direct partition?
It will not auto-creat partitions. You would have to Delete all Partitons and then Re-create. Also, if you are going to install Media Direct it will first need to be installed.
Below are instructions to install Media Direct. How To Reinstall Media Direct. How to Partiton and Format Hard Disk. Thanks again. I went ahead and reformatted c: partition, and installed vista without a problem. However, I ran into another little glitch.
I see Inspirons , , , , , and I had misplaced the CDs that came with the computer, and Dell was kind enough to send me another set, so I hope the vista install is OK, but I went to the drivers download page, entered my service tag and downloaded the drivers. I do have a question regarding the driver intall.
This method will allow you to boot and install Windows directly from the hard drive. This guide involves plugging the hard drive into another working computer, preparing the hard drive, placing it back in the system, and installing Windows as usual. This guide is for Windows Vista only, though the guide for Windows 7 and 8 is extremely similar. Check out my Windows 7 and Windows 8 guide if that applies to you. Solutions: Use a computer with a bit version of Windows OR A little trick that worked for me: If you have a bit Windows Vista disc, you can copy bootsect.
Place the hard drive back into the target machine. Make sure that the BIOS is configured to boot from the hard drive. This step is extremely important. This will force a repair command prompt console. I hope this helps some people out. Feel free to comment :. Question 12 months ago on Step 1. Didn't work for me the first time I tried, but I repeated the process and second time it worked a treat. This looks like it's going to be a continued problem going forward, as DVD's and CD's are simply old hat.
Even tried installing form USB, but that simply refused to work as well, so this was my last option! Thank you for this guide, you helped me alot. Thank you again. I got it to work by holding CTRL as soon as I saw windows loading, and holding it through windows startup.
First, thank you for this guide. Thank you Leo 1 for the helpful answer 2 for constantly reminding us to back up our data in SOME way I wanted to share a bit about my experience in case it helps someone else, and ask a question…. On April 1st, for some reason virus? From there, I was able to follow the directions in your article.
How do I know which one to delete? I figured I had nothing to lose, so I reluctantly deleted all of them except for the unpartitioned space.
From my description, can you tell me why I had those additional partitions that are not on your screen shots? Was it a bad idea to delete them all, or is that what I was supposed to do? Fortunately, my computer is running again. Anyway, thanks to your constant reminders, I did not permanently lose my files, emails, and projects, and I was able to bring my computer back to life by myself! I read through several solutions online, but it was your explanation and screen shots that made the most sense to me and made me feel comfortable that I was on the right track.
Thanks again! Dear Leo i do not understand Partition is this a seperate part of the disk which will contain the O. S is it really needed? Thank you for your excellent article , You are the best Regards Burt.
This week my brother wanted me to upgrade some stuff on his newly acquired but used xp machine and I requested the CD to reformat it. Are there hidden, not so obvious, things that get messed?? Please advise… Thanks! For some reason my PC crashed: stating it has lost windows rootsystem32hal. I have the windows XP recovery CD, but cant get it to run. Is there a way to recover those files? If not how to I go about erasing the hard drive and reinstalling windows XP?
Theres no data on the hard drive I care about. Are these the same steps for those using a vendor OEM installation disc? In my experience, there is some minor difference. Asking because, years ago, had to reinstall Windows. I got the steps on the Dell website, which as it turned out. On first try, was able to complete the process … it seemed OK … but, unfortunately, the system was not usable due to some kind of issue with the product key, according to the onscreen message.
Started all over, with Dell technical support on the phone. But there was some step different about the procedure, so that no product key info was necessary to enter … and the install worked.
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