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Hello. My dad recently gave me an old laptop of his (Windows 98), which is absolutely wonderful for me to type notes for class. However, the 3 GB harddrive is almost full and it only has 544 MB left. Since my dad no longer needs any information on the hard drive, I thought it would be easiest for me to just wipe it. I have the CDs for all programs I need to reinstall, including Windows.
So, I looked up online how to wipe a hard drive. I've made my boot disk, but I have no idea how to close windows and be in JUST dos. When I go to DOS and type FORMAT C: it says "Warning, all data on non-removable disk drive c: will be lost! Proceed with format (Y/N)? I type Y, and it says "Drive C: is currently in use by another process. Aborting Format."
I believe it does this because Windows is still open. I've spent a couple of hours on yahoo, searching for a way to close Windows 98 to DOS, but I can't figure it out. Can anybody help me?
Thank you so much to everybody that reads this! Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Thanks Bokonon, I wasn't doing that. However, I've now tried that and it says the same thing. Do you think I still need to get out of Windows?
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Win98 changes the way you boot your system directly to an MS-DOS command prompt. Instead of waiting for the Starting Windows screen and then pressing F8 (like you did under Win95), just hold down the Ctrl key when you first see any text on the screen during boot. You'll be offered the usual options (Safe Mode, Command Prompt Only and so on). Pressing F8 still works, but Win98 doesn't include a Starting Windows 98 prompt, so it's hard to know when to press the key. (Note: If you receive a keyboard error during your system tests, try holding down the Ctrl key after the keyboard test.)
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Thanks Dagonee!! The F8 worked. It gave me an option to go straight to Command Prompt. Unfortunately, now when I type "format c:" it says "bad command or file name", which it didn't say before.
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Hmmm, something odd is definately going on. Not only does it not recognize the "format c:" command, it doesn't even recognize the "win" command.
After I go straight to command prompt, it states "Windows is bypassing yoru startup files." I would guess this is what's making it act so wierd....
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Yes - it's probably not setting the path variable, which would tell it where format was. That's why you'll have to tell it where format is yourself.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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You said that you have a DOS boot disk, right? Restart your computer with that disk in your floppy drive, and assuming the computer is set to check the A: drive and boot from that if there is a disk in it, it should boot to a command prompt from which you can FDISK the hard drive.
Of course, it's been years since I've done this, so I could easily have forgotten all sorts of information and be spouting complete garbage.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Windows 98 didn't install the DOS commands to the harddrive after setup. You'll have to change your path to the files on the CD-ROM drive.
A better bet is to boot the thing up with the setup boot disk or with the CD itself. Can you do this? What have you tried?
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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quote: You said that you have a DOS boot disk, right? Restart your computer with that disk in your floppy drive, and assuming the computer is set to check the A: drive and boot from that if there is a disk in it, it should boot to a command prompt from which you can FDISK the hard drive.
I have used Fdisk a lot, and it is very simple. Radified has a very good guide on how to use Fdisk. The above link is set to where his FDISK instructions start.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Wait, did you get the enabling key file off the drive first? If you didn't do that, you can't install Win 98 again.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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What are you talking about, Dags? The license key? I'm sure, if he has a legitimate copy of Win98, the key is included with the OEM software manual or is affixed to the computer itself.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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Dagonee, I think (hope) that was included on the boot disk. Right now, I'm going through creating a new partition drive. I'll let you know how if I have any problems when I get to that step. Thank you Dagonee- you've been very helpful! Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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