[Lmfpresley]

hi i have a dell inspirion 5100 and I want to whip everything off of it and start fresh.
It came with windows xp. I have the disk to that.

Please help.

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Create an MS-DOS start up disk with a floppy disk. Right click on the floppy disk, select 'Format' and check the Create MS-DOS startup disk. Restart your machine and type "format c:" at the command prompt. Then put your xp disk in and then follow the onscreen instructions. Simple.

[GrantG]

Create an MS-DOS start up disk with a floppy disk. Right click on the floppy disk, select 'Format' and check the Create MS-DOS startup disk. Restart your machine and type "format c:" at the command prompt. Then put your xp disk in and then follow the onscreen instructions. Simple.

[Fenor]

You said you have the XP CD, so THIS GUIDE should help you out.

Fenor

[Lmfpresley]

thanks so much. also i do not have a floopy drive on my latop, will this affect the process?

[GrantG]

No, if you boot from the XP cd, the cd shall inspect your hardware and prepare to install. You'll then be given a choice to install, repair or to quit. Select Install by pressing Enter. You can then select your partition(on an unpartitioned harddrive there will obviously only be 1 partition). You then need to press 'D' then press Enter at the next screen followed by pressing 'L' to confirm at the next screen. This will now effectively format your harddrive. Then you'll be returned to the partition page, you then need to press Enter, and XP will install in no time, actually, it's suggested it shall take "39" minutes - and it never works out that long. I shall presume you know how to reinstall XP and set up your internet connections/programs etc. If not, reply with what you need help with

[Lmfpresley]

ohhh ur so awesome! Thanks. I am going to work on this tomorrow (got to find XP cd, i know i have it SOMEWHERE! lol) If I need additional help i'll def respond back to this. and thank you again, everyone