Step by Step Guide to Clean XP Install

This Guide is out of date. Please see the updated guide located as a sticky on the dell forum:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=42340

Thanks,
SG

 

very nice...

the only thing i would add is under license agreement, you might want to mention that the user has to scroll down the bottom, then press f8... it sounds obvious, but might as well make it idiot proof

 

k, will add...i didn't know that. Thanks

 

nice reformatting guide!!!!!1

 

haha nice. pretty good to help for people that are especially new to formatting. also when you added in the partition thing, its good for people who never heard of it.

 

Never have had to scroll down on mine. Nice job SG.

 

lol...like meeeee

 

thanks guys...i was worried that it was too long, but at least it covers everything

 

Thanks for posting this SG, it's a great resource, should help people that are nervous to do the the reformat thing a little more confident...and now you don't have to answer the same question over and over and just point them here. Now that's efficiency.

 

thanks for this info on reformatting.

i have a couple questions.
i'm getting a inspiron xps system in about a week.
can i do this reformat befor i even go into the part of windows xp pro to register?
if so, is there any additional or other steps involved?
i'm going to call dell now and ask them what software cd come with the laptop.

when you talked about: To create a partition
1.) select the unpartition space and press C
2.) Enter the size (in MB) that you would like the partition to be and press enter (if you want maximum size, press enter) (Example 30,000mb is 30gb)
3.) repeat if you want to create additional partitions,

will the xp cd automatically take me to the place to add/delete the partitions?

The restore partition will restore your system back to factory condition and will include all junk software (press ctrl + F11 when you see the Dell logo). This partition takes about 5gb of your hard drive.
when i'm in the add/delete partition part will i be able to delete this restore partition?

what size would you recommend making the new partition(s)
do i need to make just 1 partition?

i like your idea of (what i think your saying) having a partition for data and a partition for applications. is that what your suggesting?
if so, will each partition show up as a different harddrive in my windows explorer?
sorry if what i'm saying doesn't make any sense. i'm trying to understand.
perhaps when i have the system in front of me some of what you said will be obvious.

thanks.

 

unless you have a copy of XP, you'll have to get into windows to burn it. With mine, I didn't have to register or do anything like that when i first booted it up.

For the partitions, after you accept the license, it will come up to the partition window. You have 3 options, create, delete or install windows on selected partition. Yes you can delete the restore partition. Most people do since they have the disks.

As for the size, depends on how big your HDD is and what you want to use the spare partition for. For me, i only wanted my documents, pictures, music, etc on the spare. I wanted to keep all programs on the main. I use 25 for windows and 35 for spare, which i could have gone with 15 for windows easily and wouldn't have had a problem. I'm not sure how much windows uses, but right now, i'm using less than 7gigs for everything that I have installed which includes MS office.

As for the 1 partition, i'm guessing you mean making 1 spare partition, then leaving the rest unpartitioned. You can do that, make sure to select the unpartitioned space for the windows install. (i know that sounds confusing, but you'll see what i'm talking about when you are actually doing this). If you want more than 1 spare partition, you can make more. Just make sure you have a partition or unpartition space large enough for windows.

Yes, it will show up under my computer. You'll see a drive label as C, and most likely the other one label as D. By default, when you are installing windows and it is creating the partitions, it labels the partitions from the top to the bottom. For example, you have a unpartition space of 15 gig, then a partition of 20gigs, and another partition of 25 gigs. The unpartition space will be label C Drive, the 20gig would be D, the 25 gig would be E drive. This is just something to keep in mind if you want windows to be on the C: drive...just make sure to select to the top partition or unpartition space when choosing where to install windows.

SG

 

i think i'm getting it.
so, if i have 2 partitions, one will be C and the other D.
i have to put windows on C.
can i or should i put other applications on C also?
so, now when i save my data i should see a D drive which is my partition. now could i redirect the folder of My Documents to that drive(partition) and save into it?

is there someplace on this site that already talks about how i can find where the folders are saved to and can i copy and move them?
do you know if it is possible to change the format or something so i could have them as a word doc so then i could work with them better?
thanks

 

You don't have to put windows on C. Most people do because that's what they are use to, but it won't effect your system at all. Theroetically you can create a partition just for programs/applications. Problem is they might not run properly, so its probably best to put them on the same partition with windows.

i'm not really sure what you are wanting to do in your second question. Are you talking about like My Documents?

 

Windows "My Documents" is a core item and I don't think can be moved to another drive because the path of the My Documents extension (C:\Documents and Settings\Account Name\My Documents). You can make another My Documents folder on the other Drive, and make a shortcut to that folder on your Desktop. I think you can even change the icon to make it look like the My Documents icon. I hope this helps.

 

yeah, i was talking about moving the my documents but what you said makes sense of it being part of windows.

the following may be some really dumb questions on my part but i have to ask anyway.
why have partitions in the first place?
what way do most people use them and why?
will each partition show up in windows explorer as a different drive?

oh sorry, i left out a word. 2 words actually.
is there someplace on this site that already talks about how i can find where the outlook express folders are saved to and can i copy and move them?
do you know if it is possible to change the format or something so i could have them as a word doc so then i could work with them better?

thanks

 

some very good questions....

1.)why have partitions in the first place?
organization is the big one as well as the formatting issue that i discussed. Its a lot easier to find certain things knowing that they are on the partition. Like i said before, if you have to reformat and are careful when you come to the partition screen, you won't lose any documents on the spare partition.

2.)what way do most people use them and why?
reasons stated in the question above....generally people hate going thru the hassle of backing up everything when you are reformatting

3.)will each partition show up in windows explorer as a different drive?
yes, each partition will be label with a letter.

4.)is there someplace on this site that already talks about how i can find where the outlook express folders are saved to and can i copy and move them?
you can edit your outlook settings to change folders. If you create a new folder on the spare partition, you can redirect outlook to save things there.

5.)do you know if it is possible to change the format or something so i could have them as a word doc so then i could work with them better?
talking about your email, calendar,etc? you can export them in to a csv file, and edit them that way...what exactly are you wanting to change the format of?

 

ok dudes.. i just got my XPS Gen2 today... i'm on it now as a matter of fact! lol.. anywho.. i finnaly realized all the crap they put on here (first dell computer ive owned) and i am thinking about the reinstall thing... only i'm just so unsure on what to do... you guys talking abuot disks and drivers and making sure u d/l the right ones and stuff.. it scares me b.c i just payed lots of money for this system.. it works fine now.. and i dont want to mess it up, ya know? i was wondering if someone could send me a personal e-mail, or auctually give me a call (or i'll call u if long-distance) on how and what exactially to do. i'll list the cd's i got..
windows XP PRo reinstallation CD
word perfect productivity pack
drivers and utilities (though someone said that the disk is outdated.. i dunno)
and application..?
those are the disks that came with my XPS2.. if someone feels like taking the time out to help me.. i would really like that. e-mail me first if you could and we'll figure out what to do from there (if u want me to call or just e-mail it to me or whatever) [email protected] thank you verry much to whomever helps me out! L8ter~

 

thanks southerngirl,

a few more questions.

so what would be the best way to use partitions? i will have a 60 gig harddrive.
i see the point to get rid of the restore partition that dell puts on.

should i have 2 partitions?

if so, what should i put on each partition?

typically, when i get a new system how are the partitions set up and what would you recommend i change?

i guess what i'm asking is what is the best way to set the partitions up and use them?

with the outlook express folders.
do you know where the outlook folders are located?

do you know how to copy the information out of those folders so i can use them as word documents?

right now i have to copy and paste the files from the folder in order to use them. that is a lot of work because some of the folders have over 1,000 files that i need to do that to.

 

mine is a 60gig also...
I have 25 for windows (c: drive) and 35 for spare partition. All of my music, files, email, etc is on the spare. Then i have all the applications/programs on the windows.

generally on a new dell system, you have 5gig dedicated to the hidded restore partition (you can't see it in windows, but you can see it when reinstalling) and then the rest is 1 big partition dedicated to windows.

Most people set up 2 partitions. One for windows. One for spare. The spare has all of the documents and files that is not crucial to windows. Like any word document that you created and save would go on the spare partition.

The outlook express...now I understand what you want to do. You want to transfer your email/calendar/contacts over to the new computer? The easiest way in my opinion is to open Outlook Express and click on file. Then use export settings. I always select cvs file(windows). With mine, you have to select each folder that you want to export, but I have Outlook. It will create a excel file that has your all of your emails in it for that folder. You can then edit (if you need to) & burn the excel files to a cd. Once you get the reformat done, you can open Outlook Express, and select import.

You can find the file location in Outlook express. I believe it is under tools-->options (not 100% sure though). It will give you the location of the folder.

 

gee, what is up with this log in. i seem to have to re-log in again each time i write a reply.

this is great, thank you.

so, 2 partitions, a 25(c drive) and 35(spare(d?)). my windows and applications go on the 25 and my files go on my 35. got it.

with outlook express.
i don't use calendar or contacts. i just have folders of information.

i want to transfer the information out more then i want to import it back in.

you said when i use export settings i can select cvs file which will create an excell file.
can i create a word file instead?
well using the cvs setting will get me out of whatever format outlook has the file formated as which is good. i guess i could then go from a cvs to a word doc.

is that how i would move over my address book and favorates folders also?

 

for you email...you can go to tools-->options-->Maintenance-->store folder. Copy that address and post it in a windows explorer window. I was wrong about the cvs file...I have outlook, not outlook express. With outlook express you can export them to a .dbx file, but i seriously doubt you can transfer it to a word file without damaging it. You might be able to go to the folder location and edit them there. You could just edit them in Outlook Express also and then just save them.

For you favorites...depends on which you have. If you have i.e., you can open i.e., click on file, then export. With FF, you'll have to click on bookmarks, manage bookmarks, then export them.

I'm assuming you are using the normal windows address book. If that is the case, it is the same process. Open the address book, click on file, then select export.

Once you get your new laptop all set up, you'll want to select iimport.

 

According to an email I just got from Dell, all Inspirons (and Dimensions) ordered after July 15 do not have the Win XP OS Recovery CD Utility that allows you to burn yourself one copy of Win XP.
Some people on this forum have said maybe if you reboot a few times it will show up, but if you ordered after July 15 then the utility will not ever show up.
During your online order, if you didn't select the option to have backup CD's included with your PC ($10 i think?) then you have no way to do a clean install without the junk software.
Now I am trying to figure out how to order a Win XP CD for myself. I don't see any place on dell.com to order one, and I would rather not call and spend hours on hold talking to 10 different people just to get one sent to me.

 

hmm, thanks for letting me know that. I'll try to verify what is going on. They seem to be changing thier CD policy every month. If you or a family member has an XP CD that matches the version you order (home/PRO/media), you can use that. As for legal concerns, you have the license. The key is on the bottom of your laptop so you do own it.

If that's not an option, you'll probably have to call/email/chat with dell. Judging from what some other sites say and what you have said, it sounds like you will have to pay for the cds.

SG

 

I spoke to dell today. actually i spoke to 3 different people in the last 3 days about getting cd's with my xps order. the first person told me i was getting the cd's with my order. the second one didn't know. the third said no i wasn't. the third said it will be on the recovery partition only. i asked if i could purchase them and he told me no, you can't order them.
i think that sucks and i will write to someone at dell about it.

mean time southerngirl i like your idea of using one of my other win xp cd's and use my new code.

 

I used this method earlier today, with the latest cd-policy I didn't recieve a restore cd or a backup method in which to create one (although the reason for the reformat was to remove the dellware & partitions that came bundled.)

I was at first concerned about using the XP OEM key on the underside of the notebook with my Xp Pro SP1 CD I bought a system ago - but the key was accepted through the Windows Activation without any hassle.

It would seem as though the Inspiron OEM keys are not concerned with the service pack version of windows - only with the actual Home/Pro aspect - which is a large plus.

 

Hey good job southerngirl on how to clean windows xp up. Is there a way i can back up my stuff on to blank cds. I have all the cds dell gave to me but is there a way i can put my stuff onto blank cds. Thanks.

 

nickspohn,
If you have the cds, the only backups that you need is any of your personal files. You can copy and burn these to cds.

Again, please do not keep creating threads for posts that are a continuance of a current topic. If you do this again, I will report your account to the admins to be locked.

SG

 

I got my xps today and it did come with drivers and xp pro cd.
i'm glad about that.
now i'll work on reinstalling everything to clean it up.

 

I'm not really sure about the whole XP CD situation. I *believe* that with the XPS systems, you get the CDs free of charge. I've seen several posts where the XPS system got the additional CDs

SG

 

well, i got my new xps laptop.
i did the clean xp install above.
i have a partition which is my c drive but the other unpartitioned space doesn't show up as d.
d shows up as my dvd drive.
i wanted to have my c partition for the operating system and applications and the unpartitioned part for my data.
any idea what i missed?
thanks

 

You have to partition the unpartition space...sounds confusing.

In My Computer, you will only see the partitions...so if something isn't partitioned, then you won't see it. An eays fix is to use Partition Magic. I bought a downloaded version from buy.com .

Not sure if this will work: Another option is use your XP disk, and follow the steps till you get to the partition screen. Then create the partition from the unpartition space. Once you've done this press F3 two times to exit from Windows setup. This won't format your pc, so you shouldn't have any problems. This was a suggestion on microsoft.com I've never tried it.

SG

 

once windows is up and running, you can paritition empty space via disk management in administrator tools. you don't need a 3rd party app.

this will only work if you already have unpartitioned space on the HD. you cannot modify the primary/system partition from within windows without a 3rd party app.

administrative tools > computer management > disk management

(administrative tools may be disabled by default in XP, you may have to enable it via taskbar properties > start menu > customize > advanced > System Administrative Tools, choose which radio button option you would like)

 

so, i have a 60 gig hard drive.
30 is for c partition which will hold my operating system and applications.
30 is unpartitioned space.
so that i'm using my full hard drive space, would i do what you suggested in disk management and partition the remaining unpartitioned space?

 

Thanks Drumfu, i didn't even think about that...

Yes you need to partition the remaining unpartition space.

 

ok, i partitioned the unportitioned space in disk management and it seemed to work.
when i went into the systems folder i saw the c drive the D dvd drive and the new e drive.
when i clicked on the e drive i get a message: E:\ is not accessible. the parameter is not correct.

any idea what that means?

 

forget my last post.
i had to restart the computer for it to take.
thanks for all the help

 

I haven't seen that error on partitions, but I've seen on 3.5 floppys. I would suggest to format the partition. You can open My Computer, right click on the e:\ and select format.

 

I got my new 700m last week without CD's. I sent an email to Dell asking how I can obtain or buy the Win XP CD since there is no OS Recovery Utility anymore for Inspirons. They were very nice and sent it to me for free with the Drivers CD also and they sent it 2-day UPS. I find it puzzling that they eliminated the OS Recovery Utility which I think would cost almost nothing to put on the computer, but then they will go to the extra expense and labor of sending out CD's separately. They are wasting money doing it this way.

 

actually, they aren't wasting money because before they sent media out with every laptop, now they only send it out for people who request which is a much lower percentage than, well, 100%, which is what they were doing before.

 

Plus you were able to get it without any problems. Since implementing this plan in Feb., it has been difficult to request the OS cd from them.

Thanks for letting us know about the CDs.

 

So, my inspiron 6000d just shipped, and I'm wondering what I'll need to do to clean it up once I get it.

I'm pretty good with uninstalling stuff (done it with every single HP computer that's come through my house) but I wouldn't mind doing a nice, clean install with my new 80 GB hard drive (that's TOTALLY my own). The only thing that I'm hesitant about is getting all of the drivers as I'm not sure what I would need...

I would probably make 2 partitions (30/50) if I do do a "clean install".

 

In my first post on this thread, you can see little notes about what you will need before you begin. If you didn't order a backup copy of the XP cd, you might have the burning utility located on your 6000 when you receive it. You can use that to copy a OEM cd which will give you a clean install. If you don't have the burning utility, you can call Dell and request it. Hopefully they will send it to you. Of course, you can always use a retail version of XP and use your key (located on the bottom of the laptop). Just make sure that you have a XP edition that matches your key (home key must have XP home, etc).

As for the drivers, they are located on Dell's website. I have the link to that in my first post. You can download your networking driver (either ethernet or wireless) and save them to a disk. Once you do a clean install, then you would be able to install them back on to your new system and download the remaining drivers.

You can also copy and burn the Dell folder located on your c: drive before you reformat, and then return it to the c: drive once you get the reformat finished. The partitions is easy to create. Again I have instructions about that in the first post. Just make sure that you create a partition for the unpartition space....don't leave any unpartition space.

SG

 

i'm quite comfortable partitioning and reformatting disks but when i did a reformat on my inspiron 9300 60 gb hdd i saw something weird. i wanted to create 4 partitions. so i cleared all the partions to get one allocations of unpartioned space. then i created 4 partions. however 8gb (mb? i forgot, but i think it was 8bg) of space still remained unallocated and couldn't be combined with any partion. thats weird, right? is it the hidden recovery partion of dell's? but i thought that i already freed that partion space when i created these partions. any ideas?

 

It doesn't sound like the recovery partition. It could be there was a max number of partitions that you can create (not really sure). You could try deleting one partition which would make all of that unpartition space and combined with previous 8mb/gb space. Then create a partition from that and press enter instead of entering an amount in the "amount of space".

SG

 

I'm about to reformat a Dell 9300 and came across these instructions looking for information on the new third restore partition. Overall, pretty good, so thanks.

I think I'll keep my restore partition for now, however, since I may wind up selling this computer down the road and may want to restore it to original condition. I also may be able to extend the original C: partition into the space required by the restore partition in the future by converting to dynamic disks, which allow for such expansion on Win2K3. I'm not sure if that will work with XP though without experimentation as I write this. The 5GB I lose isn't worth the risk of not being able to restore to like-new condition, considering the fact I usually have many USB 2.0 portable hard disks I use for backup and additional storage of large items.

Also, I used to be strongly in favor of creating a separate data-only partition for the reasons you mention, but have more recently come to the conclusion it is not a good idea. Here's why:

1. You are pre-determining how much space to allocate to each partition. No matter how well you try and guess, you will certainly find that you fill up one partition before the other and wish you had allocated differently. (This would happen to me every time, and I would wind up having to install applications on the second partition or uninstall and move files around - always a very big hassle.) By creating all of your files under My Documents on a single C: partition on your primary disk, you avoid this problem.

2. It is easy to underestimate just how much disk space newer applications will take up - this grows with every year due to increased disk sizes, so what you think is enough today will frequently not be enough two years from now if you still own the PC and want to use the latest versions of Office, Photoshop, etc. It is also easy to underestimate just how large your Outlook or Outlook express mail folders can become if you tend to save all your email like I do. You must plan much more carefully to account for these issues if you split the disk, because of point 1.

3. Windows REALLY wants you to store all of your data under My Documents. It is not only easier to get to from every save dialog, but there are more advanced features in Windows XP and 2003 which make the assumption all of your critical data is stored within My Documents, such as offline files and some backup features. In an office setting with a domain your administrator can setup your My Documents so that a local copy on your hard disk is automatically synchronized with the file servers so you can access your data from other PCs. You will lose these features if you split your drive into two partitions.

4. I've found that it is best to make sure your backup system is working properly, then you don't have to worry if a system crash or something else corrupts your C: or a second D: drive. I have usually wound up reformatting the entire drive if I ever need to rebuild a PC. It is common, even when you store stuff in a second data partition, to have dependencies on system files (i.e. a Word doc which uses a custom Word template, or Visio template, etc.) which will be created on the C: drive. So sometimes I would find I could not recover every file on a second partition because of this, and learned it is best to make sure you whole drive is backed up together and regularly.

5. Related to points 1 and 4, the most common reason I've found to rebuild a PC down the road is because I've split the disk and one partition runs out of space before the other, or because Windows tends to accumulate junk and become slower and more unstable to the point where I want to rebuild after about a year. If the latter, by that point, if I haven't already seen one partition fill before the other, I can see it coming, which means if I'm going to go through the effort to rebuild the computer, I might as repartition to account for my better understanding of where I need the space. Well, if I need to do that, I need to save, then restore all the data on the second partition, which sort of makes the idea of having one moot!

6. If you ever switch from basic to dynamic disks (this may be only a Windows 2003 feature - I haven't tried to do this on Windows XP Pro), even though you may create two partitions, it is not possible to reinstall Windows on the primary disk without destroying all partitions on that disk. I did this by accident one time and learned my lesson when I was still using a separate data partition. So if you do create a separate data partition, don't upgrade to dynamic disks if you want to keep the data in the second partition through an OS reinstall.

I used a two-partition strategy between 1995 and last year, before I came to this conclusion. Since I've been using one partition, I have ZERO regrets. Hopefully, I can help others avoid some of the two partition hassles I've been through with these points from my experience...

My two cents!

Mike

 

That 8GB of space is something which exists in all versions of Windows 2003 or XP. It is reserved so the disk can be converted from a "basic" to a "dynamic" disk. It holds a more advanced version of a File Allocation Table used with dynamic disks. You should ignore it.

Note that there is also a limit of 4 "primary" partitions on an IDE hard disk. If you want more, you convert one of these to an "extended" partition, which holds as many additional partitions as you want. You usually don't see this, unless you are working directly with the partition table, such as in fdisk for linux distros.

I now only use multiple partitions per disk when setting up linux, and stick with one partition for Windows. You will also usually have an EISA setup FAT partition as well, and newer Dells I notice now have a hidden third partition for system restore which I have not seen on older systems.

Mike

 

So what exactly are the advantages of doing a clean install?

Will it make a computer run faster or is it just to clear hard drive space?

I have owned two computers in the past few years that I loaded many programs on to and never found myself in need of extra space; would doing a clean install beneift me?

Approximately how much space does doing a clean install free up?

I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about computers, but have never done something like this. I'm trying to decide if it's worth the trouble to attempt it or just leave it like it is.

 

You will defiantly see an increase in speed. Dell and hp and whole lot others install all this bloatware on there computers and it is very good to do s clean install. It is reccomemded on every computer once you recieve it. Very good idea.

 

If you feel comfortable reformatting your computer, then it would be a good idea to get rid of the junk software and spare partition. It's not a very difficult process, but it is a little time consuming. Using the XP cd, it will walk you thru most of the steps.

If you don't feel comfortable, you can always add/remove the software using the control panel. The problem with add/remove is that it will leave registry keys and folders behind.

You'll gain at around 5gb of space by deleting the spare partition alone. Its hard to estimate all of the space that the junk software will take up. It does make the computer go faster because most of that junk software will load up at the start. You could also just use msconfig to start only the important programs.

Eventhough you haven't used the space in the past, I think it is always beneficial to do a clean install. Its basically cleans out your harddrive from all of the software that you most likely will never use. You'll have a quicker boot up and shut down time. Also if you are wanting to organize your harddrive better, it is easier to create partitions on a clean harddrive versus one that has all of the junk on it.

SG

 

Well, I guess I'll try it then; I'm sure I can figure it out. My computer will be arriving in about a week, I ordered the backup XP cd.

I also ordered 36 months of McAfee protection, do I need to call Dell and request a cd for it?