Solved Cannot Format C Drive Because All Process Have Not Been Ended Dell Laptop

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I’m trying to reformat the harddrive on an older Dell laptop running WIN XP. However, when I try to format C:; I get a message that processes are still running. I’ve tried ending programs and processes in the task manager but no luck. Any ideas?

Hi Richard, Because this is a laptop and the C: drive, I’m guessing it’s the only drive in the machine. Windows can’t reformat the drive it’s installed on and running off of, so to reformat you’re going to have to boot from a Windows install CD. Follow Microsoft’s directions on how to perform the reformat and reinstall: Microsoft: Install Windows XP