What can I do about an error message "system partition is not allowed to be formatted?"

Answer by  Quual (161)

Boot to a alternate operating system and run format from there. Some examples Win98 Startup Disk (Dos like cmd line enviorment) WinXP Startup Disk (Windows setup (formatting options are one of the setup steps) The ultimate boot cd (Windows Pre-install enviorment.) BartPE (Windows Pre-install enviorment.) Ubuntu Linux Live CD (Linux running from the cd)

Answer by  DreamScaper (354)

Do not try to format the system partition. If you are attempting to reinstall windows clear the partitions, create new partitions, and go from there. Otherwise maybe partition magic software might help you change the partitions for whatever reason. Generally speaking, if you format the system partition, you'll need to reformat your drive completely.

Answer by  Kit (558)

Some Vista Systems cannot convert to XP. However, try creating a separate partition on which you can install Windows XP professional Service Pack 2 or 3 if you have a bigger hard drive space. Try also free up some space, by defragmenting your hard disk, or use disk clean-up today.

Answer by  murali680 (559)

At that time we can use another operating system. Some vista can't change to XP. If you have more hard drive you can use XP 2 or 3. To get extra memory, use defragment process because it make and store the data in sequencing order and we can use disk cleanup process.