boot disc

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tmb867

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I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual ways. I

believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is Win

XP. How can I create this disk?
 
And what do you mean by cannot format in the usual way?

The usuall method is to boot using the winxp cd and delete any/all

partitions, you cannot format your sys drive within win.



"tmb867" wrote in message

news:1A9DD850-2087-4A86-BFF1-055A784C1790@microsoft.com...

>I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual ways.

>I

> believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is

> Win

> XP. How can I create this disk?
 
tmb867 wrote:

> I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual ways. I

> believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is Win

> XP. How can I create this disk?



And if someone tells you how to create a boot disk with Fdisk on it,

what do you propose to do with that empty formatted hard drive?



If you want to take the drastic action of wiping your hard drive and

reinstalling Windows, see http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html



--

Lem



Apollo 11 - 40 years ago:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html
 
tmb867 wrote:

> I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual ways. I

> believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is Win

> XP. How can I create this disk?



Download this Avira Antivir Rescue System program which will burn a CD

image to a blank CD. It's updated a few times per day. Insert the CD

into the damaged machine and let it do a scan of your system. Before

starting the scan, select "Configuration" and set to repair or rename

the infected files. Sometimes your machine won't restart after such a

repair process, so you might want to save needed files to another system

before using this. If you can't, then you can move the hard drive to

another machine to copy needed files. You can do that before, or after

this scan.



http://www.free-av.com/en/tools/12/avira_antivir_rescue_system.html



Then run these:



Malwarebytes© Corporation

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe



SuperAntispyware

http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html



You can try some of the CD's mentioned at the following site.

BitDefender was my favorite, but if the infected machine can't connect

to the internet to get updates, Avira comes with current virus

definitions. Also, some of these just won't run on some systems,

perhaps because there's no drivers available for some system devices,

motherboard, graphics card, etc. So try a few of these till you find

one that works:



Burn BitDefender, or another program listed at the link below, to a CD

(using a working machine) and test the infected machine with it.

BitDefender also has a Rootkit checker on the Linux Desktop; run it if

you think that's the problem:



http://www.techmixer.com/free-bootable-antivirus-rescue-cds-download-list/



Download the executable rather than the .iso image, if one is available,

(though no .exe is available for BitDefender).



After the scan is run, if you elect to quarantine files, they're

quarantined to RAM and lost after you reboot. You'll need to copy any

quarantined files to the hard drive, a thumb drive or elsewhere before

exiting.



--

Joe =o)
 
tmb867 wrote:

> I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual ways. I

> believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is Win

> XP. How can I create this disk?





nope



assuming all your data is backed up

just set your bios to boot first from cd



then boot with your XP cd

format the drive and perform a fresh install



that's all there is to it







BTW: did you even try to get rid of the virus???



I'd try that first
 
Yes using the winxp cd would be one of the usual ways. It gets an error. I

have a virus and need to reformat the drive clean. It effected all the

..exe's. I can format from dos either.



"DL" wrote:



> And what do you mean by cannot format in the usual way?

> The usuall method is to boot using the winxp cd and delete any/all

> partitions, you cannot format your sys drive within win.

>

> "tmb867" wrote in message

> news:1A9DD850-2087-4A86-BFF1-055A784C1790@microsoft.com...

> >I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual ways.

> >I

> > believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is

> > Win

> > XP. How can I create this disk?

>

>

> .

>
 
Reformat obviously. I want it wiped clean. I cannot do it with the winxp cd.

it gets an error because of the virus.



"Lem" wrote:



> tmb867 wrote:

> > I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual ways. I

> > believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is Win

> > XP. How can I create this disk?

>

> And if someone tells you how to create a boot disk with Fdisk on it,

> what do you propose to do with that empty formatted hard drive?

>

> If you want to take the drastic action of wiping your hard drive and

> reinstalling Windows, see http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

>

> --

> Lem

>

> Apollo 11 - 40 years ago:

> http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html

> .

>
 
tmb867 wrote:

> Reformat obviously. I want it wiped clean. I cannot do it with the winxp cd.

> it gets an error because of the virus.

>





If you're truly booting from the WinXP CD, there is no way it'd be

possible for any virus on the hard drive to come "into play." You'll

not have loaded or accessed the hard drive's WinXP installation in any way.



All legitimate WinXP installation CDs are bootable and have the

capability of deleting, creating, and formatting partitions.



Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the

opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the

installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot

devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)



HOW TO Install Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;316941



http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html



http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm



If the computer is failing to boot from the WinXP CD and/or you're not

able to delete the partition and create/format a new partition in its

place, there is something else wrong. What is the *exact* text of the

error message(s) you get when booting from the WinXP CD and trying to

format the partition?









--



Bruce Chambers



Help us help you:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html



http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary

safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin



Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell



The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has

killed a great many philosophers.

~ Denis Diderot
 
Yes, you can (and must) do it with the Windows XP installation CD. Use

the method in the link provided by Lem.



You need to make sure you boot off the CD instead of the hard drive!!!

Otherwise, you will continue to get errors!





tmb867 wrote:

> Reformat obviously. I want it wiped clean. I cannot do it with the

> winxp cd. it gets an error because of the virus.

>

> "Lem" wrote:

>

>> tmb867 wrote:

>>> I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the

>>> usual ways. I believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I

>>> can reformat. It is Win XP. How can I create this disk?

>>

>> And if someone tells you how to create a boot disk with Fdisk on it,

>> what do you propose to do with that empty formatted hard drive?

>>

>> If you want to take the drastic action of wiping your hard drive and

>> reinstalling Windows, see

>> http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

>>

>> --

>> Lem

>>

>> Apollo 11 - 40 years ago:

>> http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html

>> .
 
tmb867 wrote:

> I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual

> ways. I believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can

> reformat. It is Win XP. How can I create this disk?



Formatting your hard drive is a radical way to get rid of the virus! It

takes a lot of time and effort to do it correctly.



Perhaps you would prefer a far less drastic solution (removing the

virus). If so, post back with details, such as the name of the virus,

which AV program you used, etc. If there are error messages, post them

verbatim. Same thing goes for text in popup windows.



If your PC is indeed far too compromised and a Clean Install is the only

sensible move, make sure all your data is backed up first (including

e-mails and Web browser favorites/bookmarks). You will also need all the

installation media/files for all your programs as well as all the

necessary hardware drivers (now is the time to ask questions if you have

any). Once all the prep work is done, follow the directions here:



http://michaelstevenstech.com:80/cleanxpinstall.html



And make sure you configure your BIOS so that you boot off the CD and

not the hard drive!!!



What is the make and model of your PC?
 
On Mar 1, 4:08 pm, tmb867 wrote:

> Yes using the winxp cd would be one of the usual ways. It gets an error. I

> have a virus and need to reformat the drive clean. It effected all the

> .exe's. I can format from dos either.

>

>

>

> "DL" wrote:

> > And what do you mean by cannot format in the usual way?

> > The usuall method is to boot using the winxp cd and delete any/all

> > partitions, you cannot format your sys drive within win.

>

> > "tmb867" wrote in message

> >news:1A9DD850-2087-4A86-BFF1-055A784C1790@microsoft.com...

> > >I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual ways.

> > >I

> > > believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is

> > > Win

> > > XP. How can I create this disk?

>

> > .



You should be able to start over using your genuine bootable XP

installation CD.



Here is a popular link that tells you how:



http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html



We still don't know what the problem is though - it may be fixable.



What is the error and when do you get it?



What do you mean it effected all the .exe's?



The chances are good if you want to try to fix it, somebody here has

seen it before an is familiar with the problem or we can gang up on

it.



I have never reinstalled XP to fix any problem.
 
On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 11:04:14 -0800, tmb867

wrote:



> I have a computer that has a virus





What virus?



How do you know you have it?



How long have you had it?





> and I cannot reformat it the usual ways.





Why do you want to reformat it? It's very seldom the best way to deal

with a single virus?





> I

> believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is Win

> XP. How can I create this disk?





If your plans are to reinstall Windows XP, you do not need a boot

disk. Simply boot from the XP CD and follow the prompts for a clean

installation. It will do the reformat as its first step.



--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003

Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
Unless your PC has a bios virus, booting from the winxp to clean install

would not be affected by any virus.

Of course you cannot format via dos, niether can you format within win, you

wont see anything on the drive if you boot from the winxp cd



"tmb867" wrote in message

news:D2EC2DFE-611A-4F7A-85B0-90BC533C405F@microsoft.com...

> Yes using the winxp cd would be one of the usual ways. It gets an error. I

> have a virus and need to reformat the drive clean. It effected all the

> .exe's. I can format from dos either.

>

> "DL" wrote:

>

>> And what do you mean by cannot format in the usual way?

>> The usuall method is to boot using the winxp cd and delete any/all

>> partitions, you cannot format your sys drive within win.

>>

>> "tmb867" wrote in message

>> news:1A9DD850-2087-4A86-BFF1-055A784C1790@microsoft.com...

>> >I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual

>> >ways.

>> >I

>> > believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It

>> > is

>> > Win

>> > XP. How can I create this disk?

>>

>>

>> .

>>
 
"tmb867" wrote in message news:1A9DD850-2087-4A86-BFF1-055A784C1790@microsoft.com...

> I have a computer that has a virus and I cannot reformat it the usual ways. I

> believe I need a boot disk with FDisk on it so that I can reformat. It is Win

> XP. How can I create this disk?



If there is nothing on the disk worth saving, go into the BIOS setup, find

"Boot Sequence" and make sure "CD" is first. Be sure to save any

changes. Then try booting with the XP CD. If this doesn't help, try a

different CD or try booting a known good computer with the Windows

XP CD.



Ben
 
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