Reformatting and reinstalling Windows ME

[Michael B.]

I am on a laptop with no floppy drive. How do I reinstall Windows ME and erase my hard drive (so pretty much just start new)? I believe I have all the disks that came with ME, and I have a CD burner with Nero. What is the best way to reformat and reinstall Windows ME? From what I have read would I need to make some bootable CD? Thanks for your help!

[GX1_Man]

Read through all of this. A lot of info about Windows ME.

http://computerhope.com/winmeqa.htm

[pcdoc4christ]

Michael:

Yeah, you may download a free Windows Me boot disk from here:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

1. After you have the prepared the boot disk, put it in the floppy drive

2. Restart your computer

3. When the computer finishes booting, you will see A:\> (i.e., the A prompt)

4. At the A prompt, type FORMAT C:

5. Press the Enter key

6. When the formatting is complete, remove the boot disk, put in the Windows Me CD and reboot your computer by pressing the Ctrl Alt Del keys together

7. The Windows Me setup will begin

Best regards,
Doc

BTW, i knew a Michael Bush some years ago.  If you don't mind my asking, is Bush your last name?  

[Mac]

(He doesn't have a floppy drive Doc.)

I wonder if you can use that recovery console .ISO (RC.ISO) to burn to an 80mm MiniCD and use diskpart, and format to FAT32 before installing ME?

There is also EBCD 060 which I have used in the past.

I just hope this laptop has a CD-ROM drive.

Do you have an ME CD or is this an OEM install with recovery CDs?

[Michael B.]

I have the Windows ME CD with a Drivers CD and that stuff... and I can't use a floppy either. No, my last name is not Bush, sorry!

[Michael B.]

I found this on this website under the bootdisk section:

Not all CDs are bootable; in order to boot from a CD you must have a CD that is stated to be bootable. Keep in mind that Windows 95 CDs are not bootable; however, Windows 98 and Windows ME CDs are bootable.
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Does that mean that I don't even need to create a boot CD if I can use my Windows ME disk since it says it's bootable?

[Mac]

Yes it does. You just need to change the BIOS sequence to make your CD-ROM the first boot device.

It is a LOT easier to have a floppy drive though, if you can fit one, as there are a number of maintenance and recovery techniques that can be applied from a floppy drive.

Maybe $12.

[Mac]

I have the Windows ME CD with a Drivers CD and that stuff... and I can't use a floppy either. No, my last name is not Bush, sorry!

Which make and model of computer do you have ?

[Michael B.]

Windows ME on a Dell Inspiron 3800 (Laptop). So do I just pop my ME reinstall disk in and boot from that? And then it will reformat my hard drive and reinstall Windows? Or do I reformat first?

[Mac]

Sorry, but I have never installed ME from a Microsoft/DELL CD. I would say yes, but you will have to do the formatting.

Check out this page INSTALL ME

[GX1_Man]

Just insert the CD in the drive. If fit doesn't start fixing it then, then just restart the machine, and it should go fine.

I hope all important data is backed up.