For the love of God, how do I format these disks?

F

fortyways

banned
I have two installations of this awful Vista on two different systems:

Windows Vista Business on a laptop, and Windows Home Premium (came with a mass-distributed PC, so, it's full of shit. Literally.) on a desktop.

I made a recovery disk of the latter using Acer's software, which isn't bootable and doesn't work, no surprise there.

I have the Vista Business DVD.

I have a WinXP Pro CD.

I'd like more than anything to be able to put the XP on the laptop and the Vista on the desktop.

But no. The ****ing install option is grayed out when I put the XP CD in the laptop, and if I install Vista on the desktop it'll say the CD key is in use.

Do I seriously have to buy two new hard drives and operating systems just to get this bullshit off my computer?
 
Go into your bios and set the boot option to boot from the disc then restart your pc it should let you boot from the disc then and just follow the instructions.
 
Not too familiar with Vista installs, but I would know that any more than 1 activation per Key is a PITA. I would call Microsoft and explain what you want to do and not drop it or give in until they allow you another activation (you did, after all, pay for the use of Vista).

As far as ridding Vista and installing XP, the procedure is much easier, thankfully, if not requiring a few steps. You mentioned you already tried the XP CD and an Acer CD. Acer makes the laptop I'm guessing? I'm surprised the XP CD had the option grayed-out. What kind of XP disk do you have? -Full Install? -Upgrade? Would it be possible to list the options you have when you boot to the CD?

An XP CD should contain options to delete partitions after pressing F8 to accept the License Agreement. There should be a screen that pops up with a list of every partition and any information contained on them. Typically, you'll need to press D to delete, then L to confirm. Are these options present with your disk? If they are, then I would recommend deleting every partition (after backing up any personal data of course), then creating new partitions. When you have them set up the way you want, simply move to the partition you wish to install XP and press Enter, then let the disk do it's work. Total time for this method: +/- 40 minutes

The second option is a bit more in-depth but will be a sure-fire way in the end. There is a program called Gparted that you can burn to a CD and run that will allow you do create/delete/format partitions. Many Linux distros use it and it doesn't run by 'normal' Windows rules, so if you tell it to do something, it will, regardless of how Vista may have flagged a particular partition. If you're familiar with burning .iso files and/or basic-to-semimoderate Linux skills, try this option. Download Gparted here: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ Total time for this method: +/- 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours (depending on how well you know or how quickly you find your way around Gparted)

The third option may be the easiest, but will take the most time due to the format of the program and the size of your Hard Drive. Say what you will about Windows ME, but their boot disk was AWESOME. Simply make a boot disk, then boot to it from BIOS. It will take a bit of time to load up, but at the prompt, type 'fdisk' (without quotes), then proceed to delete every partition, then create and format. You must format afterwards (at least the partition where you want to install windows) The formatting will take the most time in this process, but it does work. Download a WinME Boot Disk here: http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm (You most likely want the OEM version.) Total time for this method: +/- 2 hours (depending on Hard Drive size for the format)

Post up with any questions and/or let us know when you've got XP installed :)
 
If the disk you are talking about came with a vendor built computer, then you will not be able to use it on a different computer. It is what is called a OEM version, and it is designed to be installed ONLY on the computer it came with.
 
If the disk you are talking about came with a vendor built computer, then you will not be able to use it on a different computer. It is what is called a OEM version, and it is designed to be installed ONLY on the computer it came with.

And no you do not need to buy new hard drives.
 
paratwa said:
If the disk you are talking about came with a vendor built computer, then you will not be able to use it on a different computer. It is what is called a OEM version, and it is designed to be installed ONLY on the computer it came with.

And no you do not need to buy new hard drives.
Click to expand...

>>I have the Vista Business DVD.

>>I have a WinXP Pro CD.

I took that to mean he had a retail CD of XP. I asked though just to make sure :)

Heading to bed now, so I'll check up tomorrow. Have a great night.
 
Sorry for not being more clear in my first post, I was pretty frustrated at the time.

I have a full install retail version of Windows XP Pro.

I have Acer's version of Vista Home Premium, made from their program. It's supposed to restore factory defaults. CD is set to #1 in Bios, but this won't load.

I have a full install retail version of Windows Vista Business, given to me by my college.

My desktop was originally an Acer, but all that remains are the mobo, HDD, and processor. I replaced everything else.

The laptop is an HP Pavilion dv6000. It originally had its own Home Premium and a partitioned recovery, but the HDD failed and the one HP sent me was blank, so I put my Vista Business on it on a whim, even though I rarely use it.

Neither hard drive has any partitions, aside from the os partitions, I guess, if that's how it works.

I have time to waste and I'm not at all familiar with Linux, so I'm leaning toward trying the ME boot disk. Vista seems to hate things that want to replace it though. I have no idea why the install option is grayed out on the XP disk.
 
>Sorry for not being more clear in my first post, I was pretty frustrated at the time.

Don't worry, Windows will do that to folks ;)

>I have a full install retail version of Windows XP Pro.
>I have a full install retail version of Windows Vista Business, given to me by my college.

Perfect :) We'll move on to that in a bit.

>My desktop was originally an Acer, but all that remains are the mobo, HDD, and processor. I replaced everything else.

The thing with OEM disks is that they look for the MoBo and/or BIOS 'signature' that the parent companies imprint on them. So your Acer disk should work for any Acer product. You're saying it's not bootable from the POST screen when you start your computer? Most BIOS's you'll need to press an F-Key (usually F2, F8, or F11) to enter the 'boot-from' screen. Further more, some (mine included) will require you to press an additional key afterwards just to confirm. However, that option only pops up for a second or two and can be misleading if you're not familiar with BIOS or boot options.

So you want XP on the HP Laptop and what version of Vista on the Desktop?

I would try the XP disk once again on the laptop and take note of all the options you have after pressing F8 to accept the agreement. Then list those options if you can and I might be able to narrow down where the problem lies. As I mentioned before, Vista (windows in general) likes to 'flag' drives in certain ways to make them fussy to deal with. One example is how Windows handles the Master Boot Record. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Vista didn't 'tell' your Hard Drive that nothing else can touch it. Not too sure on that until I can see the XP CD options though.

The ME boot disk works the same way the Gparted program do - neither run according to Windows rules. Gparted was created to be open-source and the ME boot disk runs from DOS, so they generally give more power than a standard Windows partitioning system does.

Please feel free to email me at [email protected] with your AIM/Yahoo/whatever contact info and I'll add you to my list if you need real-time help with getting the laptop up and running.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top