Free Web Hosting by Netfirms
 Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms

DosMaster's fdisk Instructions


What's with these stupid ad banners?!


ALWAYS READ YOUR SCREEN COMPLETELY BEFORE SELECTING ANYTHING!!

READ THIS MESSAGE IN ITS ENTIRETY BEFORE STARTING THIS PROCESS!!



Printing these instructions would probably be a good idea.  Click here for a more printer-friendly version of this page.

You will need to know the volume label for your hard drive.  (For example, my C: drive is named "The Cellar" [long story] and my D: drive is "Storage"; yours may be anything at all, but you will need to know it.)

Boot from the Win9x bootdisk, and type

fdisk /mbr

and press Enter.  Repeat.  Note that there will be no output to the screen from this.

Next, type

fdisk

and press Enter.  You will probably be asked if you wish to enable Large Disk Support (this will depend on your hardware); you should choose Y:

*************************************************************

  Your computer has a disk larger than 512 MB.  This version of Windows includes improved support for large disks, resulting in more efficient use of disk space on large drives, and allowing disks over 2 GB to be formatted as a single drive.

  IMPORTANT: If you enable large disk support and create any new drives on this disk, you will not be able to access the new drive(s) using other operating systems, including some versions of Windows 95 and Windows NT, as well as earlier versions of Windows and MS-DOS.  In addition, disk utilities that were not designed explicitly for the FAT32 file system will not be able to work with this disk.  If you need to access this disk with other operating systems or older disk utilities, do not enable large drive support.

  Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)...........? [Y]

*************************************************************

This will bring you to the root menu:

*************************************************************

Microsoft Windows 98
Fixed Disk Setup Program
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp. 1983 - 1998

FDISK Options


Current fixed disk drive: 1

Choose one of the following:

  1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
  2. Set active partition
  3. Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive
  4. Display partition information
  5. Change current fixed disk drive
Enter choice: [1]

Press Esc to exit FDISK

*************************************************************

The first step is to view the partition information, to verify the current state of the drive, so select option 4 and press enter:

*************************************************************

Display Partition Information


Current fixed disk drive: 1

PartitionStatusTypeVolume LabelMbytesSystemUsage
C: 1APRI DOSTHE CELLAR8056FAT32100%


Total disk space is 8056 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)

Press Esc to continue

*************************************************************

This indicates that I have only one partition on this drive, and it tells us that it is the PRIMARY DOS partition; your display may differ.

To successfully fdisk, all existing partitions must be removed, in reverse order. By this I mean if you had other partitions on your drive, they need to be removed first.

After viewing this information, and making any notes necessary (like volume labels, number of partitions, etc.) press the escape key, and you are back at the main menu. Select option 3 for this screen:

*************************************************************

Delete DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive


Current fixed disk drive: 1

Choose one of the following:

  1. Delete Primary DOS Partition
  2. Delete Extended DOS Partition
  3. Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
  4. Delete Non-DOS Partition
Enter choice: [ ]

Press Esc to return to FDISK Options

*************************************************************

In all likelihood, you only have one partition, and so would select option 1, giving this screen:

*************************************************************

Delete Primary DOS Partition


Current fixed disk drive: 1

PartitionStatusTypeVolume LabelMbytesSystemUsage
C: 1APRI DOSTHE CELLAR8056FAT32100%


Total disk space is 8056 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)

WARNING! Data in the deleted Primary DOS Partition will be lost.

What primary partition do you want to delete..? [1]

Press Esc to return to FDISK Options

*************************************************************

Take a couple of deep, cleansing breaths, and press Enter to proceed (sorry, no screen shot of the next couple screens, as much as I want to help, I'm NOT fdisking my drive for you :)

You will receive a stern warning message, and will have to enter the volume label to continue.  Once done, it should confirm deletion of the primary DOS partition, and return you to the above menu.  You need to go to fdisk options (the root menu) at this point.

Select option 1 for this:

*************************************************************

Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive


Current fixed disk drive: 1

Choose one of the following:

  1. Create Primary DOS Partition
  2. Create Extended DOS Partition
  3. Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
Enter choice: [1]

Press Esc to return to FDISK Options

*************************************************************

Select option 1 again:

*************************************************************

Create Primary DOS Partition


Current fixed disk drive: 1

PartitionStatusTypeVolume LabelMbytesSystemUsage
C: 1APRI DOSTHE CELLAR8056FAT32100%


Primary DOS Partition already exists.

Press Esc to continue

*************************************************************

Note that you will not see "Primary DOS Partition already exists."  You will be asked if you want to use the entire available space for the drive (my recommendation is yes), and to set the partition active.  The entire available space part is optional, but the primary DOS partition MUST be active, or the disk will not be bootable.  Here I'm running directly from memory, but I do believe that is option 1.

Hang in there, you are almost done.

This should result in a running tally of the program's progress; when done, you will want to exit the program, and will be warned to reboot.  Do so.

Note that until you format c: /s you will not be able to access this drive.

You should boot to the Windows StartUp disk again, type

format c: /s

and press Enter.

Don't forget the "/s" part, as this is what allows you to boot to that drive.  Make sure you use the / key, not the \ key.  The one you want is usually under the question mark (?).

This will prepare your hard disk for use, and make it fully bootable.  When prompted, give the drive a name (mine is named: The Cellar, as shown above) and you're done.  Remove the floppy disk from the drive, and reboot.  You should come up to the C:\> prompt.

Once you have verified that part, put your Windows CD in the CD-ROM drive, pop that StartUp floppy back in, and reboot again.  Make sure you tell it you need CD-ROM support. From the A:\> prompt, change to your CD-ROM drive, probably the D: drive by typing

D:

and pressing Enter.  That's a colon after the letter, by the way.

Type

setup

and press Enter, sit back and enjoy the ride.



Click to subscribe to 24hrsupporthelpdesk

 Hosted by:
Computer Guru Consulting
http://www.cguru.com/

Please do not use the email link for computer problem questions!
Why not?

Home  |  About Us  |  Contact Us  |  Email  |  Computer Guru's Linux Guides  |  FAQs
Resources & Links  |  dollface's Maintenance Tips  |  DosMaster's fdisk Instructions  |  User Comments

...the cycle of sharing...returning the knowledge
we gained from others back to the online community.