I tried to use an unattended Windows XP CD to reformat a computers hard drive and to, ultimately, reinstall Windows XP from scratch, but wasn't able to. It ended up installing Windows XP to another partition.

I then tried with an "attended" CD and was, after a while, presented a prompt, asking me if I wanted to, iirc, format or repair among other things (iirc, there was one other option, but I can't recall, off hand, what it was).

Is it possible to make an unattended CD give you this same prompt?

The reason I ask is because I don't mind hitting keys a minute or two after I've inserted the CD. Having to do a bunch of lengthy keystrokes 10-30 minutes after I've inserted the CD is what I don't want.

Did you omit autopartition and repartition?

here's the [Data] portion and relevant portion of [unattended] of my "WINNT.SIF" file:

[Data]
AutoPartition=0
MsDosInitiated="0"
UnattendedInstall="Yes"
AutomaticUpdates=yes

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=Yes
Repartition=No
UnattendSwitch="yes"
WaitForReboot="No"

I forget what does what, but the gist is... it boots... then presents the current partition structure giving oportunity to delete, create, format, etc.

I like this cause AutoPartitioning seems to use "quickformat" and I like the choice of doing long format (heard it was a good thing to do to test an unknown harddrive) and I'm always paranoid I might clobber existing important data. I believe this fulfills your request.

Edited September 7, 200619 yr by JoeMSFN