# I want to delete everything and reinstall Windows XP, but...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-delete-everything-and-reinstall-windows-xp-but/238699>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 7, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-delete-everything-and-reinstall-windows-xp-but/238699 "2004-04-07T06:00:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Palve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Palve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palve)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-delete-everything-and-reinstall-windows-xp-but/238699/1 "2004-04-07T06:00:06Z")

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I can’t seem to figure out how. I put in the installation disc and tried to reinstall Windows XP but it gave me some warning about installing multiple operating systems on my computer. Please help, I’m new to Windows and I just want to make it delete everything on my hard drive (including all that frickin spyware) and start over from scratch.

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-delete-everything-and-reinstall-windows-xp-but/238699/2 "2004-04-07T06:10:41Z")

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Go to the following url (you’ll have to copy-and-paste, since the forum software doesn’t seem to be able to parse square brackets in a url correctly):

[http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];Q313348](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;%5BLN%5D;Q313348)

…and scroll down to the part that says **How to Partition and Format Your Hard Disk by Using Windows XP Setup**.

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-delete-everything-and-reinstall-windows-xp-but/238699/3 "2004-04-07T07:50:20Z")

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Press D for delete partition then start installing windows.