>The only thing I would recommend for installing Windows XP is to use the install program to partition and format your hard drive. I always recommend, if you have a big hard drive, to have at least two partitions, one for the OS and one for your documents; that way, if you have to reformat, you don't have to worry much about what to do with your files other than being careful not to delete the partition.

I always do that with servers (> 1 partition, Partition Magic), but not workstations (there are exceptions for certain reasons). But often we use workstations to run huge offline overnight vfp/SAS jobs (much faster, don't tie up servers, and also use one of the terrific features about vfp DBs - and SAS datasets, as well - they're entirely portable), which need all the contiguous space available I can get. Even 80 GB drives I can burn up the space on, with heavyweight SAS/VFP statistical programs that output all kinds of different large datasets. So I usually keep a C: only, it's better for my needs. But I don't disagree philosophically with multi-partitions, they suit many users fine, and have some advantages as you mention.

Anyway, I recall having some big problem trying to uninstall/reformat my first XP on a Dell. And this user says he can't seem to get a reformat/uninstall to work either (I think he means he can't find any XP boot-options to do it). His XP-CD just offers a repair, or a "reinstall-over" option, but not a full reformat. (Me, I normally Ghost, so this sort of simple CD-install is not my specialty, I must admit.) However, could it be OEM CDs have limited XP install-options, maybe?

OTOH, maybe the user is just doing something really dumb, friend or no friend :-) Maybe he even has some sort of licensing issue...It might be simpler just to ask him to bring his home OEM XP-CD in to work, for me to examine. I think I'll do just that tomorrow. We're not accomplishing much with him giving me vague descriptions...

Anyway, thanks for helping me think through this better.