Formatting laptop with Win ME?

[Foley471]

I'm going to be selling a laptop that came with win ME, and I want to format the system clean beofre I sell it. winME does not offer a "restart in MSDOS mode" option in shutdown, and when I press F8 during boot up for the boot options "command prompt only" isn't one of those options. so, how the hell can I format?

 

[dstrand]

Use a Win ME startup disk, and change your setting in BIOS to boot from a:\ drive first, then format. If you really want to get info off the drive for good, also use a disk eraser program...zdnet has them.

 

[Foley471]

OK, how do I make a boot disk that will startup to the command prompt?

 

[kiwiguy]

Your Windows ME CD is bootable, so just boot from it and make the selections.

 

[Foley471]

^^ problem with that is I don't have a winME CD, it's a hewlett packard system restore disc, and it doesn't offer the option to just format. the CD autoboots to "Norton Ghost" system restore program that formats as well as reinstalls the OS. I don't want to do that, I just want to wipe the drive totally clean for resale.

 

[NiteHawk]

Go to http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm and download the Windows 98 SE OEM bootdisk to a folder or your desktop (NOT a floppy) This is a compressed file and it will CREATE a boot floppy.

Next insert a clean floppy in the drive and then double click on the file you just downloaded. This will create your boot disk.

Leave the floppy in and power down the pc. Now when you power back up it should boot into DOS from the floppy. It will ask you if you want to boot with or without CD support. Since all you want to do is format the answer really doesn't matter.

You should get an A:\> prompt.
Type in format c: and confirm when it asks you.
That should do it!

Not sure if you want to restore ME from the restore CD, but if you do, you should be able to do everything from the restore CD.