How to Wipe Windows XP Hard Drive Without CD?.[Detailed Guide] Format a Windows XP Hard Drive With / Without its CD

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It's unclear from your question whether you mean that you don't have the installation CD, or if your computer simply doesn't have a CD drive at all. It's also not clear if you just want to wipe the drive, or also want to reinstall Windows.

If you just want to wipe the disk, you can download a tool for free that will let you securely delete everything on the hard drive. If you need to actually format the drive DBAN will completely wipe it blank , then you can use a tool like the Gparted live CD which again, can be installed to a flash drive to format the drive with any of a wide variety of file systems.

If you want to reinstall Windows, have an installation disk, and don't have a CD-ROM drive, you can install from a flash drive. If you want to reinstall Windows but don't have an installation disk, you will have to find a friend who owns one, or else try to buy one somewhere. If your Windows installation came with the computer i. If you want to format drive C:, just install Windows 7 or XP on another drive eg D: then boot into Windows 7, go to 'My Computer' and right click on drive where XP is installed, then click on 'Format' and click 'Start'.

Drive will be formatted! If you want to just format it but don't want to reinstall another Windows, you can do the following there are other ways :. That is, the files for format, and probably fdisk. If not possible, copy them to some device you will be able to read from console. You have a list of console commands in Windows here. If you have a sort of not totally devastated installation, you yet might have the ability to hit F8 key when starting the machine hit it several times once you here the "bip" of your machine when booting.

There you can choose to boot in console mode can't remember exactly how it calls it. If you had copied the format etc files to some device ie, floppy, usb stick if booted that way and have it available at your bios you can type that unit ie, a: , intro , then type format c: and follow instructions.

Sign up to join this community. Select the NTFS hard drive option using the arrow keys, then press the "Delete" key usually D that's listed at the bottom of the screen. This will indicate to Windows that you want to delete the selected installation. Press L when prompted. Doing so erases the hard drive and returns you to the installation menu. This will select your computer's hard drive as the installation point. Format your computer's hard drive. Doing so will set up the hard drive for a Windows installation.

This process will take several minutes to an hour depending on your hard drive's size. You can select the Quick option here as well, though your hard drive might be improperly formatted if you do so.

Wait for your computer to restart. After the computer finishes formatting, it will restart into the user options setup window. Make sure that you don't press any keys until you arrive at the user options setup window.

Part 3. Click Next. It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. You can also click Customize Enter your name, then click Next. Your name goes in the "Name" text field. You can also add a business name in the "Organization" section. Enter your product key, then click Next.

Type the character key that you retrieved earlier into the "Product Key" boxes. Add a password, then click Next. Type your preferred password into the "Administrator password" and "Confirm password" text fields at the bottom of the window.

You can also change your computer's name in the text field at the top of the window. Set a date and time zone, then click Next. Click the "Date" drop-down box, select the current date, and then repeat with the "Time" and "Time Zone" boxes. Check the "Typical Settings" box, then click Next. This will cause Windows XP to install using default settings.

Check the "No" box. It's at the top of the window. If your computer is part of a workgroup, you'll instead check the "Yes" box and enter your workgroup's address in the text box. This will complete the installation setup process, at which point Windows XP will resume installing. You may have to wait for 30 minutes or so before the installation finishes.

It might be on a sticker on the bottom of your laptop if that's what you're using. Yes No. Not Helpful 13 Helpful Unless you keep a backup copy of your i folder, you can't.

Ubuntu allows you to dual-boot your computer, which keeps both XP and Ubuntu. Not Helpful 4 Helpful 9. I found an old XP computer. I want to factory reset it. How can I do that without knowing the admin password? Try to reintall the OS completely. If your PC did not come with a Windows installation disc or if you no longer have your Windows setup media, you can use Easy Recovery Essentials for Windows instead.

EasyRE will automatically find and fix many problems, and can also be used to solve this problem with the directions below. To access the snapshots, you need the installation media: original Windows 8 DVD or original Windows 8.

Easy Recovery Essentials can access the snapshots created by System Restore and restore your computer. System Restore can restore your Windows 10 to a working condition. To access the snapshots, you need the original Windows 10 installation media. Read more at Windows Recovery Disks. The NeoSmart Support Forums , member-to-member technical support and troubleshooting.

Applicable Systems This Windows-related knowledgebase article applies to the following operating systems:. Download Easy Recovery Essentials. Contents 1 Restore Windows XP to factory settings 1. Download recovery disk for Windows 10 free Using Windows 8? Download recovery disk for Windows 8 Using Windows 7?