How do I perform a “clean install” of Windows without reformatting the hard drive?
Assuming you are using FAT16 or FAT32 filesystem, you’ll need a boot diskette for the machine that loads CD-ROM drivers. Most computers can use the standard ATAPI.SYS from Windows 95 OSR2 boot floppies. Once you have the boot disk, here’s the procedure: • Boot the computer from the diskette. • Run SCANDISK.EXE to look for any filesystem problems. Then, run the surface test to find bad clusters. If is locate any bad clusters, run it again to make sure it doesn’t find any more. If it does find more, you disk may have hardware problems. • Rename the \WINNT (or \WINDOWSdirectory to \WINBAD, and \PROGRA~1 (aka, \Program Files) directory to PROGBAD • Restart and boot from the Windows CD. • Reinstall network drivers and any applications. • Once everything is running fine, you can delete WINBAD and PROGBAD, once you make sure the user hasn’t inadvertently stored documents there. Of course, if the computer is formatted with the NTFS file system, this won’t work.
