Windows 7: Remove XP bootsect from flash stick

Hi - I was trying to boot XP installer from my stick and wrote the XP bootsect onto it. Even after formatting stick, it remains to block successful booting of Windows 7 now.

Should I diskpart to clean all the stick? Or is there a command to reverse XP bootsect?

Thanks.

Can you overwrite XP's boot sector with 7's?

Previously I had no bootsect on this stick. It was able to boot simply by formatting primary and placing the 7 install files into the root.

I would like to get it back to this state. Do you think DISKPART "clean all" command will do it?

If not, any way to reverse the XP bootsecting if I don't need 7's to boot?

I don't know, maybe Windows 7 automatically writes its own boot sector to the disk when you do a full format.

I do suspect that a clean will wipe it. Then maybe a format will work.

Have you tried overwriting the boot sector with 7's though?

Diskpart "clean all" should do it.

Yes, it still hangs when it should boot.

I am cleaning stick now, will reformat primary, copy files and tools back in and see if it boots magically with 7 files in root as it has for a year now.

I know this is obvious, but everyone makes stupid mistakes. You are formatting with NTFS, right?

No, the native formatting for the stick is FAT32 so I have stuck with that all along (as I recall) and it has worked and booted fine.

Is there a reason that I should use NTFS instead, other than that it is preferred?

If it is a older type stick,keep with fat32.

I guess I always assumed the drive needed to be formatted with NTFS.

That's what I have always done. I guess I never tried FAT32.