Run FDISK from Emergency Startup Disk
To RUN FDISK from an Emergency Windows 95 Startup disk:
1) Create a system diskette from Windows 95:
a) Click the 'Start' button to display the 'Start' menu.
b) Select 'Programs' and select 'Windows Explorer'. (The 'Exploring' window appears.)
c) In the left pane of the window, select 'My Computer'.
d) In the right pane of the window, select drive A:.
NOTE: DO NOT double-click the drive A: icon, or you will not be able to format it.
e) Select the 'File' menu and select 'Format...'. (The 'Format' dialog box appears.)
f) In the 'Format type' group, select 'Full'.
g) In the 'Other options' group, select the 'No label' and 'Copy system files' check box.
h) Click 'Start'.
2) Copy FDISK.EXE over to drive A:
a) In the left pane, double-click on the 'Windows' folder.
b) In the left pane, double-click on the 'Command' folder.
c) Select the 'Fdisk.exe' file.
d) Select the 'File' menu and select 'Copy',
e) In the left pane of the window, select drive A:
f) Select the 'File' menu and select 'Paste'.
3) Restart the computer with the newly created system disk.
4) At the DOS prompt type the following, and press ENTER:
FDISK
NOTE: The 'FDISK Options' screen appears.
5) If the computer has two or more hard disks installed:
a) Type 5 and press ENTER. (The 'Change Current Fixed Disk' screen appears.)
b) Type the number that corresponds to the hard disk you wish to partition, and press ENTER.
c) Press ESC.
NOTE: If 'Option 5. Change current fixed disk' is not present on the 'FDisk Options' screen, the computer has only one hard disk installed or only one hard disk is recognized by the BIOS.
6) Type 4 and press ENTER. (The 'Display Partition Information' screen appears).
NOTE: Write the Volume labels of any existing partitions.
7) Press ESC to exit the 'Display Partition Information' screen.
8) To delete existing partitions on the hard drive:
a) To delete any existing NON-DOS Partition on the drive:
1] Type 3 and press ENTER. (The 'Delete DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive' screen appears.)
2] Type 4 and press ENTER.
3] Type the number that corresponds to a NON-DOS partition and press ENTER.
4] Type Y to delete the partition, and press ENTER.
5] Press ESC.
NOTE: If there are more than one NON-DOS partition on the drive repeat steps 8)a)1] through 8)a)5] until all partitions are removed.
b) To delete any existing logical DOS drives on the hard drive:
1] Type 3 and press ENTER. (The 'Delete DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive' screen appears.)
2] Type 3 and press ENTER.
3] Type the drive letter of the logical DOS drive, and press ENTER.
4] Type the Volume Label of the logical drive, and press ENTER.
5] Type Y to delete the partition, and press ENTER.
NOTE: Repeat steps 8)b)1] through 8)b)5] until all logical DOS drives have been deleted.
6] Press ESC.
c) To delete the 'Extended DOS Partition' on the hard drive:
1] Type 3 and press ENTER. (The 'Delete DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive' screen appears.)
2] Type 2 and press ENTER.
NOTE: You must delete all logical DOS drives before deleting the 'Extended DOS Partition'.
3] Type Y to delete the partition, and press ENTER.
4] Press ESC.
d) To delete the 'Primary DOS Partition' on the hard drive:
1] Type 3 and press ENTER. (The 'Delete DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive' screen appears.)
2] Type 1 and press ENTER.
3] Type the number that corresponds to a 'Primary DOS partition', and press ENTER.
4] Type the Volume Label of the 'Primary DOS Partition' drive, and press ENTER.
5] Type Y to delete the partition, and press ENTER.
6] Press ESC.
9) If there are no existing partitions on the hard drive:
a) Type 1 and press ENTER. (The 'Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive' screen appears.)
b) To create a single partition on the hard disk:
1] Type 1 and press ENTER. (The 'Create DOS partition of logical DOS drive' screen appears.)
2] Type 1 and press ENTER. (The 'Create Primary DOS Partition' screen appears.)
3] Type in the total disk space or 100%, and press ENTER.
NOTE: The default value for the partition size will be the total size of the hard disk.
4] Press ESC.
c) To create multiple partitions on the hard disk:
1] Type 1 and press ENTER. (The 'Create DOS partition or logical DOS drive' screen appears.)
2] Type 1 and press ENTER. (The 'Create Primary DOS Partition' screen appears.)
3] Type the partition size in Megabytes or percent of disk space (%), and press ENTER.
NOTE 1: The default value for the partition size will be the total size of the hard disk.
NOTE 2: When creating the 'Primary DOS partition', enter an amount less than the total disk space for the size of the partition. The remaining space that is not used by 'Primary DOS Partition' will be used to create the additional partitions.
4] Press ESC.
5] Type 1 and press ENTER. (The 'Create DOS partition or logical DOS drive' screen appears.)
6] Type 2 and press ENTER. (The 'Create Extended DOS Partition' screen appears.)
7] Type the partition size in Megabytes or percent of disk space (%), and press ENTER.
NOTE 1: The default value for the partition size will be the remaining unused space of the hard disk.
NOTE 2: Type in entire remaining disk space for the partition size.
8] Press ESC. (The 'Create Logical DOS drive(s) in the Extended DOS partition' screen appears.)
9] To create a single logical DOS drive, enter the maximum space available for the logical drive, and press ENTER.
10] To create multiple logical DOS drives, enter an amount less than the maximum space available for the logical drive, and press ENTER.
NOTE 1: Repeat step 9)c)10] until all of the logical drives have been created.
NOTE 2: Make sure than the last logical drive created using the maximum space available in the 'Extended DOS Partition'.
11] Press ESC.
10) Press ESC to exit FDISK.
11) Restart the Windows for the changes to take effect.