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I have Windows XP now (only for a couple months so far) and I was wondering how you get into Dos....you know, like where you can format your hard drive and such? Like, before windows starts...In 98 is was holding ctrl and alt. In ME it was repeatedly hitting F8, but with XP it's not one of those.
So could some please tell me that, and also, why are there so many negative comments about Service Pack 2?
Windows XP isn't a DOS shell, so there's no "getting into DOS" anymore per se. If you want to run a DOS command, go to Start -> Run and type "command". If you want to reformat and reinstall XP, use your XP install CD.
Service Pack 2 is fine with a fresh install of XP, but pretty lame if you just plop it on top of your existing install. A cacophony of whining from the Nerd Belt (aka "Internet") came up because of this.
Ah ok...so I just need to stick in the Windows XP install cd and it will give me the reformatting option? Will it like, let me just reformat, or will it reformat and reinstall?
It'll reformat and reinstall. XP doesn't want you going back to any other OS. You could always boot up into Knoppix and format your Windows partition or drive as FAT32, Ext3, or Reiserfs. Of course if you're planning on reinstalling Windows, why not just let it do it for you?
If you just want to format a drive (except the one windows is installed on) and not reinstall, go to your control panel, admin tools, computer management, disk management and there you can do basic stuff on your drives (partition a drive, format the partitions, mount/demount them, etc...)
Also, to get a command line in XP, it's start > run, enter cmd and then ok. If your system still has an old command.com, running "command" will start it, which isn't what you want.
And on my comp, hitting F8 repeatedly before the win logo appears at boot time lets me choose if I want to boot in safe mode, normal, or command line.
Booting off the XP cd also give you a command line (in you select "recovery console" I think)
Ok, thanks everyone. I'm just doing this for my friend (I have no reason or intention to reformat), because the computer he's currently using for some reason isn't reading his soundcard and will only let him get 256 colors with 1024X7678 resolution, and he says he put in the restore disk, it reformatted and reinstalled it all for him, but now for some reason there's those problems, and when he turns it on there's two windows XPs and he has to select on, and one of them is nothing and just gives him all this weird stuff. o_O
So I was thinking if he could just reformat and reinstall himself instead of letting the computer's restore disk do it for him it may solve those problems...but then I've never had something quite like that happen, so I may have no clue what I speak of. =/
The display problem is a result of incorrect display drivers, which won't be fixed with a reinstall of XP. And the same with the lack of sound card workage. What he needs to do is find out what the makes and models of his sound card and video card/chipset, and get the correct drivers from the manufacturers' websites.
And as Endless said, just boot up into the command line and format from there. :p