for windows 2000 pro i have one physical drive and three partitions on it: c for system (2gb), d for data and (30gb) and x for pagefile (500mb). i have read the forum posts about the theme, but not found clear answer:

is it possible and if yes, how to reformat (fat32) an existing partition during unattended setup with winnt.sif (no repartitionig or resizing existing partitions: only formatting the first partition and installing on it system files)?

right now i have only one pc to "play with" and i'm not interesting to take a risk of loseing any data.

can someone post a clear answer?

you can do this by setting AutoPartition=0 in your sif file

setup will ask you which partition to install on and let you choose using the cursor keys.

It will also give you the option to delete the partition and create a new one

it won`t resize or move boundries, just delete the partition and recreate it

You can create more than 1 partition in the unused space if you want

then format it, ntfs or fat32 (quick format for both fs`s if u want) and install os

this should solve your problem

I do this all the time with my test cd`s it is a godsend

have fun partitioning!

@quirrel

this information i know. maybe i was not clear previously: i'm interested in unnattended solution (if such one exsits): installation cd automaticly (without human interaction) formats the first partition (ie c) to fat32, irrespective of it content, and installs windows on it. other partitions and/or disks leave intact