HEELLLPPP - Please Reformat message

[Vellamint]

I am trying to reformat a hard drive in order to reinstall windows 98 from windows xp. Got to command prompt, typed in format c:/fs:fat32 and I am getting the following message:

"Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Format may run if this volume is dismounted first.

All open hanndles to this volume would then be invalid. Do you want to force a dismount?"

What does this mean..........I am tempted to just click Yes but am hoping that someone has the answer to this before I do.


HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!

Thank you!

 

[preet2u]

U cannot fromat the the partion from within Xp if the OS is installed on that partition ...

If u need to install Win98 ..then boot from a Cd or a floppy n' then format the drive ..

 

[Vellamint]

I read that

you cannot reinstall 98 from XP with NTFS unless you do what I just did first.....

Do you say that I can reboot from a 98 boot disk and reinstall that way?

Thanks

 

[ScrewDriver]

Hey guys hang on a moment..... Vellamint I know what you are trying to do but listen to this first...
You are correct on your point that win98 could not be installed with a system that has WinXP on NTFS... but Vellamint do you think format c:/fs:fat32 is a valid command at the command line..
I think you are trying to do something like convert c: /fs:fat32 which also is a invalid command (it should be convert c: /fs:ntfs)... as the process of File System Conversion using the convert command is a one way go... u can only convert fat32 to NTFS but not the vice versa... So buddy here's the solution to your problem

Create a win98 bootable disk... boot the system using that disk and you would have to use the fdisk to get rid you the NTFS partition and then create a new Primary DOS partition and then format it using the format c: command and I think you would then be good to go for the win98 installation....

 

[preet2u]

If ur drive is already in NTFS .. what u could do is simply boot from the XP cd ... Partition n' format the drive in Fat32 n' then restart the machine boot from a win98 disk n' reinstall Win98

 

[Vellamint]

Screwdriver

thats exactly what I just did!!! 98 is installing as we speak

THANKS

 

[Vellamint]

Oh No

Windows 98 is reinstalled but my 40 GB harddrive is now only 2! Any thoughts on this?

 

[preet2u]

The rest of the partitions are still in NTFS .. Did u check what fdisk displays the other partions as??

 

[Inaris]

You only created a 2 gig partition for the install, or installed 98 without the upgrades. The issue is that without the upgrade, it will not support drives larger then 2gb. Best thing to do at this point would be to upgrade 98 all the way to SP2 and then create a partition for the remainder of the disk space.
You can also get a Second release of 98 from a friend or someone you know and install it from there.
I know there is a way to Upgrade the Install CD, but I don't know what it is. Read about it a long time ago...

 

[Vellamint]

I have

98 Second Edition.....if I install it then I can fix it?