Installed apps & formating from XP

[SoulBlade]

Hi

Question 1
------------
I normall re-install Xp by booting into 98 (on C. XP is on D) & deleting the Windows directory of XP.

I then reboot & re-install. Problem is, there's installed programs that windows don't know about (obviously). How do I tell windows that My Office/Other apps are installed?

I tried exporting my registry before installation & importing it again afterwards. That didn't worked. (can't remember exactly what.)
And it can get quite tedious re-installing everthing.

So my question is. What should I do to tell XP that there are installed programs installed.

Question 2
------------
I've never done/tried/researched this. How do I format my hdd from XP (if it's the only OS on hdd) if one can't boot into MSDOS to do it?

Can one format while XP is running? Is it possible? Won't XP squeal about it's system files being removed?

Thanks in advance
SoulBlade

[OnlyOneKenobi]

Hi

Question 1
------------
I normall re-install Xp by booting into 98 (on C. XP is on D) & deleting the Windows directory of XP.

I then reboot & re-install. Problem is, there's installed programs that windows don't know about (obviously). How do I tell windows that My Office/Other apps are installed?

I tried exporting my registry before installation & importing it again afterwards. That didn't worked. (can't remember exactly what.)
And it can get quite tedious re-installing everthing.

So my question is. What should I do to tell XP that there are installed programs installed.

Unfortunately you will have to reinstall everything you had before. Luckily, some programs seem to copy faster if you install it to the same path it was in before, and your data \ saved games remain in the same folders.

Also some programs seem to run without requiring an installation \ reinstallation. Just find the .exe, run it and see if it works or not. If it doesn't, reinstall.

Question 2
------------
I've never done/tried/researched this. How do I format my hdd from XP (if it's the only OS on hdd) if one can't boot into MSDOS to do it?

Can one format while XP is running? Is it possible? Won't XP squeal about it's system files being removed?

Thanks in advance
SoulBlade

If you boot from your Win XP CD, it gives you the option to reformat the drive before installing the OS. Or you could use a boot disk - assuming you have a fat32 partition, boot disks won't work if your partition is NTFS.

[SoulBlade]

Thanks OnlyOneKenobi!

That really helps