# format hard drive from win 2000 to ME

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/format-hard-drive-from-win-2000-to-me/193753>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 8, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/format-hard-drive-from-win-2000-to-me/193753 "2003-08-08T03:59:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71c47a/32.png) [@cw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cw)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/format-hard-drive-from-win-2000-to-me/193753/1 "2003-08-08T03:59:22Z")

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How do I do this? If I type in format C:\ , DOS doesn’t get it. How do I uninstall 2000 and reformat to Windows ME. I know you ask why would I want to do this, but it’s a desperate measure for now.

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**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/format-hard-drive-from-win-2000-to-me/193753/2 "2003-08-08T04:38:36Z")

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Either boot from the Windows 2000 CD and delete it, or use something like [The Ultimate Bootdisk](http://www.startdisk.com/Web1/ubd/ubd.htm) (yeah, the page is a little scary-looking, but it works). There’s also a utility on the Windows NT 3.1 CD called DELPART.EXE that will delete an NTFS partition. A Google search should find it if you don’t have that ancient disc.