A Dell desktop came with Windows 98, but then had XP added. How do you wipe the hard drive and reinstall XP?

The memory isn't being used, but hard drive space may be. If you want to completely blow out the drive then boot to the XP CD, reformat and reinstall. Of course that wipes everything.

Or just find the Windows 98 directory if both operating systems are installed (doubting this though, suspecting he did an "upgrade/replace" of the previous operating system) and delete that directory and everything beneath it.

Hard drives weren't typically as cheap and big when 98 was around so chances are the drive in the machine he's using is just not that big.

I don't think Windows 98 would be causing a problem unless it's a dual-boot system (both operating systems available on the same PC). If he doesn't mind doing a "clean re-installation" then it's very easy: Just put the Windows XP disk in the CD drive, restart and select "Install Windows XP".

You will then be guided through the process. To do a clean re-installation you must format the drive (delete the partition) but you MUST back up everything you want to keep, including passwords, bookmarks etc - EVERYTHING will be lost if you format the drive.

Oh, and make sure you have the Windows XP license key ready.

Hi, there should be no problems at all. Just pop in the xp setup cd and reboot ur pc. Boot the computer from the cd, if the option to boot from cd doesn't come then u may have to change ur bios settings by pressing delete after rebooting, and in bios settings make 1st boot device cd rom.

After u press enter to boot from cd, xp setup will load, just follow the instructions, delete all partitions and create new ones for a better install and then just sit back and relax while Windows Xp is installed on ur computer!

Good Luck!