Can I delete Windows OS?

[jenjen26]

Hi.
I want to completely delete everything off of my computer and then start over by installing a new Windows OS. How do I do this? I don't have any files on there I need to save. Then once everything is erased do I just insert the CD of the new OS I buy and it will load?
Thanks.

[confus-ed]

Welcome to wd forums Jen.

There's probably a few ways to do this, but the simplest to me (given that I can't think windows will let you erase itself), is to get/make yourself a windows 98 boot disk (bootdisk.com has self extracting images, all you need is a floppy disk), then boot to that by changing the boot order in bios to start from floppy disk. You can then use the command FDisk found on that disk to delete all of the information on your drive, by deleting the partition info & thus effectively removing everything

A windows system cd then should be able to take care of everything as far as re-setup goes (note: you may need to change the boot order yet again, to make it look at the CD instead of 'a:' ! ..depends on bios features)

[NooNoo]

I would boot from the xp cd
When you get to the screen that asks you what partition you want to put windows on, read the entire screen - there are instructions on how to remove a partition. Remove the current windows partition, then create it again - windows all gone and the xp setup will ask you to format the newly created partition.

All this is done in a couple of key strokes.