Reformat without Windows XP Disk

[nin137]

A few months back my wife's computer got destroyed by a virus. Unfortunately we do not have a windows boot disk or anything of the sort. Is there a way that I can reformat the harddrive without inserting a windows boot disk?

I tried doing it directly in Windows XP (safe mode as nothing else will run in normal mode) but have had no luck. I was just wondering if there is a way to get to the dos command prompt before windows loads so that I could reformat through that mode.

Thanks!

[glc]

I was just wondering if there is a way to get to the dos command prompt before windows loads so that I could reformat through that mode.

Nope.

Are you aware that when you go to reinstall XP, you boot with the XP CD, and you will have all the partitioning and formatting options available?

If you want to do a TOTAL wipe, use a zero fill utility.

www.dban.org

[nin137]

Thanks a lot glc, that utility was exactly what I was looking for, you're always a tremendous help!