Delete Widows XP without reformat !!

ramakanta

Ambassador of Buzz
I have one PC having XP loaded . is there any procedure to erase/delete entire hard disk without using xp cd.(means without booting and format)??.
If possible please help me.
thank you.
 

Flash

Lost in speed
If you've Win7 boot cd, boot it and format the XP drive.
Else, try via Linux loaded into USB.
 

arijitsinha

﴾͡๏̯͡๏﴿ O'RLY?
You have to boot "somewhere, other than XP" to be able to delete the hard disk.
If you dont want to boot in xp, try some other bootable disc(Live Linux distros).
If you dont want to boot using cd, create bootable pen drive.

Or,
Connect the hard disk in another PC and delete the partitions. :)
 

rakesh_ic

Cyborg Agent
I want to delete C: Drive, where OS loaded with keeping other drive.

dude, if my understanding is right, you want to clean format your HDD (or one of your drives like C:\) without booting into that HDD.

So all you have to do is, connect this HDD as a secondary and boot windows (any version including win95/98) from another HDD (called primary boot device), right click on the drive from your secondary HDD (ie the HDD you want to format) and select format.

If you want to delete the partitions, you will have to use tools like partition magic or even win 7/8 embedded tool to shrink/expand (win 7/8 terms) the partitions.

PS:: I trust that you understand what I mean by partition, format, primary/secondary boot device and delete. In case you do not understand them, I advice you to check with our best friend (google) for more details.
 

sam1

Journeyman
if OP deletes the c: drive (/partition), don't the other partitions (if there are any) automatically get deleted alongwith?
 

saurav_wow

Broken In
if OP deletes the c: drive (/partition), don't the other partitions (if there are any) automatically get deleted alongwith?

it will delete all other partitions if those are extended ones. If they are independent of the C drive, it wont get deleted.. it all depends on the OP's current partition layout.
 

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
^^wrong.an extended partition can be & will be subdivided into various logical partitions & deleting one drive does not affect other not to mention that people usually install os on a primary partition & not extended partition.
 

Hannah

Zaid Mark
You cannot delete Windows XP when you are booted in Windows XP. You can only delete OS from C: Drive when you are booted in some other OS.
 
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