How to format a windows vista hard drive

Hope that helps! If you need your key prior to doing the above, all you have to do is download and run Belarc Advisor, and it gives you all of your licenses and all programs, updates, etc. But if you have more than one OS on a disc as I do , then you need to run it on both partitions.

What could be wrong? Should I have to keep XP SP2 as it is or should I have to update it every often through automatic update option including with critical security updates? I have been trying to install Windows Vista on my Intel 3.

Is my PC compatible for the said installation. I always find great help everytime I open this site. Yes this is the right way that I have been using to Format and Install Windows. My computer allows the page scroll buttons and the ESC button to work, but not F8 for some reason. I have a windows xp disk but I dont know how to run it or anything can you help me out?

I was infected by the trojan generic downloader. It would not boot from disc, but did after we pressed the F12 key. I updated gradually to service pack 3, but had no sound. I only found this out by lots of google searching, and reading the tech help forums, as I think Dell will only tell you this, if you pay for their tech. Thanks Leo. I have a question though. Can I copy the installation CDs onto an external drive and follow the above instructions from there? Can I boot from the external drive?

Thanks for your help! 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? Formatting or single partitions can be executed without affecting the other partition. This can be useful in certain situations but what if you want to format the entire hard drive.

Windows Vista, 7 and 8 have a built-in Disk management tool. Choose format from the menu and a new Window will appear with a few formatting options. Within a minute your hard drive will be formatted.

Furthermore, on this article, you'll also learn how to wipe all data on Windows Vista using AweEraser. Note: Please make sure you backup all the important data you don't want to lose. Remember, once the files are erased, it'll be impossible for you to recover your data. This mode allows you to selectively wipe files or folders from Windows Vista hard drive or external storage media device. Just add the files and click on "Erase" button. This mode can help you wipe an entire hard drive on Windows Vista.

It will permanently wipe all data on the selected hard drive. Thanks for your feedback. I accidentally Installed Windows on two drives and I want to delete one of them but it says it cant format that drives. Can you help me? Sorry, I figured out that I cant format the main hard drive. Is there any way to change the main hard drive? This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread.

I have the same question 0.