How to partition and format a hard disk by using Windows XP Setup program

View products that this article applies to. This article was previously published under Q313348

To continue receiving security updates for Windows, make sure you're running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). For more information, refer to this Microsoft web page: Support is ending for some versions of Windows
INTRODUCTION

This article describes how to partition (prepare) and format a hard disk before you install Windows XP using the Windows XP Setup program. This article also contains things to consider before you partition or format your hard disk, and links to resources that can help you troubleshoot if problems occur. This article is intended for an advanced user.

You can use other methods to partition and format the hard disk before you install Windows XP, such as the Fdisk and Format tools. For additional information about how to use Fdisk and Format to partition and format your hard disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 255867 How to use the Fdisk tool and the Format tool to partition or to repartition a hard disk If your computer is already running Windows XP, and you want to create partitions other than the System or the Startup partitions, you can use the Windows XP Disk Management tools. For additional information about how to use the Windows XP Disk Management tools to partition and format your hard disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 309000 How to use Disk Management to configure basic disks in Windows XP Back to the top MORE INFORMATION

Before you partition and format the hard disk

Before you partition and format your hard disk, make sure that you do the following:

Prepare the hard disk according to the manufacturer's instructions

If you are using a SATA hard disk, skip this step and go to the "Determine the type of file system that you want to use" section. If you are using an IDE hard disk, set the jumpers and the cabling according to the role of the hard disk (for example, master or subordinate) and make any required BIOS (or CMOS) changes. To set the jumpers and cabling, and make any required BIOS or CMOS changes, see the documentation that was included with your hard disk and motherboard, or contact the manufacturers.

Determine the type of file system that you want to use

You can use either the NTFS or FAT file systems. NTFS is the preferred file system to format the hard disk unless you want to run an earlier version of Windows that cannot read NTFS partitions. For additional information about the differences between the FAT and NTFS file systems, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 100108 Overview of FAT, HPFS, and NTFS file systems 310525 Description of the FAT32 file system in Windows XP

If the hard disk already contains data, back it up

Make sure that you back up all your important data before you continue. When you partition and format a hard disk, all the data on that partition is permanently deleted. You can view current partition information without deleting your data. For additional information about how to use the backup utility or the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 320820 How to use the Backup utility to back up files and folders in Windows XP Home Edition 309340 How to use Backup to restore files and folders on your computer in Windows XP 293118 How to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard 306186 How to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard from CD-ROM 306187 How to use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard Disk in Windows XP

If the hard disk has a drive overlay or a disk management program, make sure that it is compatible
If your computer uses drive overlay software for large hard disk support, do not use the Windows XP Setup program to partition or to format the drive until you have verified that Windows XP is compatible with the software. If you have drive overlay software installed, contact the software manufacturer to find out whether it is compatible with Windows XP. If you are not sure whether you have drive overlay software installed, contact the manufacturer of your hard disk drive or motherboard.

If you have software that you want to reinstall, verify that you have the disks
Make sure that you have the original CDs or floppy disks so that you can reinstall the software programs after you partition and format your drive. If you purchased an upgrade for a program, make sure that you have the full version of the original program. Many upgrades for programs require a compliance check before you can install the upgraded product. If you cannot find the original CDs or floppy disks, contact the software manufacturer before you continue.

If you have updated device drivers for peripheral devices, back them up
If you have installed an updated device driver for your peripheral devices (for example, modems and printers), make sure that you back up the new driver for the device to a location other than the drive that you want to format and partition so that you can reinstall it after you install your operating system.

Configure your computer to start from the CD or DVD drive

To start your computer from the Windows XP CD, your computer must be configured to start from the CD or DVD drive. In some cases, you may have to modify your computer's BIOS settings to set this configuration. For information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD or DVD drive, see the documentation that is included with your computer, or contact the computer manufacturer.

If you have a computer that cannot start from the CD or DVD drive and you need to start your computer from the startup disk, make sure that you have the floppy setup disks so that you can run the Setup program from the floppy disk drive.

Note You can obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks from Microsoft, but only by download. We provide the Setup boot disks so that you can run the Setup program on computers that cannot use a bootable CD-ROM. If you can start your computer from a CD-ROM or from a network-based installation, we strongly recommend that you use those installation methods instead. Future products will no longer support installation by using the Setup boot disks. Back to the top

How to partition and format the hard disk using the Windows XP Setup program
You can use the Windows XP Setup program to partition and format the hard disk. To do this, use the following steps:

Step 1: Partition the hard disk

a.

Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD or DVD drive, or insert the first Windows XP Setup disk into the

floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer to start the Windows XP Setup program.

Note If you are using the Windows XP Setup disks, insert each additional disk when you are prompted, and then press ENTER to continue after you insert each disk. b. If you are prompted, select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD or DVD drive. c. If your hard disk controller requires a third-party original equipment manufacturer (OEM) driver, press F6 to specify the driver. For more information about how to use F6 to supply a third-party OEM device driver while the Windows Setup program is running, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

314859 Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP Setup

d.

At the Welcome to Setup page, press ENTER.

Note If you are using the Setup disks (six bootable disks), the setup prompts you to insert the Windows XP CD. e. f. Press F8 to accept the Windows XP Licensing Agreement. If an existing Windows XP installation is detected, you are prompted to repair it. To bypass the repair, press ESC.

g.

All existing partitions and non-partitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard disk. Use the ARROW keys to select an existing partition, or create a new partition by selecting the non-partitioned space where you want to create a new partition. You can also press C to create a new partition using non-partitioned space.

Note If you want to create a partition where one or more partitions already exist, you must first delete the existing partition or partitions, and then create the new partition. You can press D to delete an existing partition, and then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this step for each existing partition that you want to include in the new partition. When all the partitions are deleted, select the remaining non-partitioned space, and then press C to create the new partition. h. To create the partition with the maximum size, press ENTER. To specify the partition size, type the size in megabytes (MB) for the new partition, and then press ENTER. i. If you want to create additional partitions, repeat steps g. and h. To format the partition and install Windows XP, go to step 2.

j.

If you do not want to install Windows XP, press F3 two times to exit the Windows Setup program, and then do not follow the remaining steps in this article.

To format the partition without installing Windows XP, use a different utility.

Step 2: Format the hard disk and install Windows XP

a. ENTER. b. Select the format option that you want to use to format the partition. You can select from the following options: Use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press

o o o o o

Format the partition by using the NTFS file

system (Quick) Format the partition by using the FAT file

system (Quick) Format the partition by using the NTFS file

system Format the partition by using the FAT file

system Leave the current file system intact (no

changes)

Notes

If the selected partition is a new partition, the

option to leave the current file system intact is not available.

o o

If the selected partition is larger than 32 gigabytes

(GB), the FAT file system option is not available. If the selected partition is larger than 2 GB, the

Windows Setup program uses the FAT32 file system (you must press ENTER to confirm).

o o

If the partition is smaller than 2 GB, the Windows

Setup program uses the FAT16 file system. If you deleted and created a new System partition,

but you are installing Windows XP on a different partition, you are prompted to select a file system for both the System and Startup partitions.

c.

Press ENTER. d. After the Windows Setup program formats the partition, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to install Windows XP. After the Windows Setup program is finished and you have restarted the computer, you can use the Disk Management tools in Windows XP to create or format more partitions. For additional information about how to use the Windows XP Disk Management tools to partition and format your hard disk, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

309000 How to use Disk Management to configure basic disks in Windows XP

Back to the top

Additional notes
Before you can install an operating system such as Windows XP, you must first create a primary partition on the first physical hard disk (Disk 0) on your computer. Then, you can format a file system on that partition to create what is called the System partition.

Or, you can create a separate partition for the operating system on any physical hard disk. This is known as the Startup partition. The System partition on Disk 0 can also be used as a Startup partition. Back to the top TROUBLESHOOTING

For additional information about how to troubleshoot partition problems in Windows XP, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 316505 Windows XP does not recognize all available disk space 310359 Cannot view NTFS logical drive after using Fdisk 310561 Maximum partition size using the FAT16 file system in Windows XP 314097 How to use Convert.exe to convert a partition to the NTFS file system 301340 During Setup you are unable to format a partition with a File Allocation Table format 307844 How to change drive letter assignments in Windows XP 315224 How to remove the Linux LILO Boot Manager Back to the top REFERENCES

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 314470 Definition of System partition and Boot partition 314878 The default cluster size for the NTFS and FAT file systems 310525 Description of the FAT32 file system in Windows XP 314081 The purpose of the Boot.ini file in Windows XP For additional information about how to create and manage partitions in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 307654 How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

Limited OEM driver support is available with F6 during Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 setup
View products that this article applies to. This article was previously published under Q314859 Expand all | Collapse all SUMMARY

When you are installing Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 on a new computer or on a computer that has the latest SCSI or IDE controller technology, you may have to use an OEM device driver to support, for example, a new mass storage controller, to continue with the installation. The symptoms that you have to install an OEM device driver include the following:

The computer may keep restarting and never start the GUI

installation after the text mode Setup is finished. The Setup program may stop, and you may receive an error

message if the Setup program does not correctly detect the controller.

If you are booting from the installation floppy disks or CD-

ROM disc, you receive the following error message:

Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your system

If you are upgrading by using the Winnt32.exe file, or if you are performing a new installation by using the Winnt.exe file, you receive the following Stop error:

Stop 0x0000007B Inaccessible_boot_device

This behavior may also occur after you update the firmware or the BIOS of a supported SCSI controller if the update causes incompatibility with the SCSI driver that is included with Windows. MORE INFORMATION

During the text-mode phase of the setup process, Windows pauses briefly and prompts you to press F6. This option is displayed in the status line and lets you use an OEM mass storage controller driver. The F6 option is provided strictly as a means to install OEM drivers for mass storage controllers only. This is required to let the installation of the operating system continue. Microsoft does not support using F6 to install any device driver other than mass storage controller drivers.

Note Mass storage controller drivers can be loaded only from floppy disks by using the F6 key. The F6 key cannot be used to load drivers that are stored on USB flash drives, on USB hard disks, or on other external storage devices.

Use of an OEM driver is limited to installing a driver that is not natively supported or that does not match a driver that is included with Windows. If you use a newer version of an OEM driver, and this new OEM driver has the same name or Plug and Play Identifier as a driver that is included with Windows, the Setup program ignores the new OEM driver and uses the driver that is included with Windows. Therefore, you receive the error message that is quoted in the Summary.

If you press F6 when you are prompted, you receive a screen that requires you to have the appropriate driver on a floppy disk and to insert the disk into the floppy disk drive to load the driver.

Windows XP Setup boot disks are available only by download from Microsoft. The Setup boot disks are available so that you can run the Setup program on computers that do not support a bootable CD-ROM. For additional information about how to obtain and use the Setup boot disks, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 310994 How to obtain Windows XP Setup boot disks Note The Windows Server 2003 family does not include Setup boot floppy disks.

If you require an updated OEM driver to support an existing controller that is natively supported by Windows but is not detected during setup, you must replace the Windows driver for the controller with the new OEM driver. You can find the Windows driver for the controller on one of the six Windows Setup boot disks or in the temporary installation folder ($WIN_NT$.~BT). This replacement allows Windows to use the updated OEM driver during text-mode setup, but you must copy the same updated OEM driver to the System32\Drivers folder of the final Windows installation before the installation continues into graphics-mode setup.

Note that if you choose to format the partition in the NTFS file system during setup, you cannot copy the newer OEM driver into the System32\Drivers folder after text-mode setup finishes. This is because the Windows Setup program formats the partition as NTFS before copying files. To work around this limitation, install Windows into a file allocation table (FAT) partition that is less than 2 GB in size or into a FAT32 partition that is less than 32 GB in size. Doing this allows access by using a startup disk from Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me). After Windows is installed, use the following command to convert the FAT or FAT32 partition to NTFS: convert c: /fs:ntfs