Unable to format Master Hard Drive

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

"Tony Kirk" <Tony Kirk@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9E30FE83-54D6-4B12-9C27-7880E25B4AC3@microsoft.com...
>I need to format my hard drive, but this is the error I get when I come to
> the "yes" portion of the process: "Format cannot run because the volume
> is
> in use by another process. Format may run if this volume is dismounted
> first. "ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID" Would
> you
> like to force a dismount on this volume (y/n)? I press yes and this is the
> reply I get! Cannot lock the drive. The volume is still in use." Can
> anyone
> help me with this delima. There is only one user on this computer, so I
> don't know why I'm not able to format my Master drive??? Anyone with
> this
> problem in the past that can help me.


You cannot format the drive where Windows is installed. This is like cutting
your own legs off.

Use you Windows XP CD to boot from and then you can reformat the drive and
install XP.

How to install or upgrade to Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/defau [...] -us;316941

See the section on "Perform a clean install of Windows XP"

--
William