How do I remove W98 from Dual Boot?

I've inherited a P4 with an 80gb hd which is partitioned as follows:

C: Win 98SE (FAT32 approx 3gb) Primary Active
Extended part/ subdivided into the following logical drives:
D: XP Home (NTFS - approx 8gb)
followed by a series of 7 drives (a mix of FAT32 and NTFS).

I intend to work only on XP - but I can see that XP on its 8 gb drive is choking, not even enough space for defragging it. I've no use for W98, so I'd be over the moon if I could get rid of it anyway. Ideally I'd like to wipe off 98, merge the C: and D: (and possibly E drives together to give XP some breathing space.

Is the above feasible? I've looked at instructions on
http://www.petri.co.il/remove_windows_98.htm

but it appears that if W98 is on a primary partition, its removal is not possible (or so I seem to understand?).

Please folks, tell me there's a way to avoid reformatting the whole hd!! what a boring tiresome start to the new year that would be!

Cheers all,
Teresita

 

You need a copy of partition magic.

http://www.soft32.com/download_151.html

You will need to copy the XP partition to either another part of the hard drive or preferable another drive,
Rejig the partitions on your 80 G drive
Copy XP back
Merge any remaining partitions
Edit the boot.ini file in the root of the xp partition to boot from the new partition number with a text editor such as notepad.

 

Tks for answering. Fair enough re Partition Magic, I thought I'd use that for merging. But gosh, I'm not that computer savvy so bear with me on the matter of organising it all, please.

By *copy the XP partition to another part of the hd* (I haven't got a second hd) - d'you mean I should first copy all contents of D: drive over to another logical drive?

By *rejig the partitions on your 80 gb drive* - d'you mean I should then proceed to merge C: and D:... oh dear, but the moment I do the merging wouldn't it all fall into a black hole? where's the Primary part/ going to be then? I'm afraid I'm awfully hazy regarding how to go about doing this.

 

studiot, since this is a bit daunting for many less-technical users, isn't there another approach? To remove Win 98 and free up that space, she can simply delete all the Windows 98 files on C. Right? And, then, by editing the boot.ini file, she can remove Win 98 from appearing as an OS during startup.

And, rather than resize partitions, she could free up space on D, giving Win XP some breathing room, by uninstalling programs. Of course, if the programs installed on D include programs she would like to keep and she does not have the installation CD for them, then she would not be able to reinstall them without obtaining them somewhere, which may cost some money.

Teresita, does that computer have programs on it that you would be willing to remove, perhaps permanently? If you can free up space on D, programs subsequently installed can be installed on C; they do not need to be on D with Windows.

 

The XP drive is 8 GB. Adding the Win 98 drive will only take that up to 11G, which is far too low if the 8G is unable to defrag.
Teri really needs an xp drive of at least 20G, preferably 40. I did get the impression the remaining drives were eventually to be incorporated.

Teri can you post a screen shot of the drive in disk management ?
In windows XP
start>run>typein
dskmanagmnt.msc

Also post the text of the file XPdrive:\boot.ini where you will find this (short) file on the root of your XP drive.

 

You've gathered I'm not that smart with computers but you're still willing to help - a good-hearted lot you are, folks! I only have time to answer one question to-night, before locking up the room where I work. To-morrow I'll post the info Studiot is asking for.

Usafveteran, I have already freed up as much space as I could on D: - only an absolute minimum of programs are left. I've been left most programs CDs, so I'd have no problems on this score. But as Studiot says, 8G seems much too tight a corner for XP, given that it also refuses to defrag for lack of space.

 

Don't worry and don't rush this. It is a big operation but worth it by the sound of your newly acquired pc. The Geeks have helped lots of non experts through some pretty complicated tasks. We will try to explain a bit of the thinking behind stuff as well.
It is a good idea to do as much preparation as possible before doing anything irrevocable.
So first we will try to 'switch off' W98 and see that the system still boots to XP. Then we can remove W98.
This will be done in the boot.ini file. If something doesn't work properly at this stage it can be reversed.

If you need help with the screen shot let us know. This will help decide what to do with all those other partitions.
If there is anything you want on them it would be a good idea to collect this all together somewhere on one partition and delete the rest.
You will not be able to keep any programs that are installed on these however, and moving the programs to another partition rarely works.

So tell us what you want to keep
Tell us also what resources you have with the pc.
Do you have a Windows disk or Drivers Disk with it?
You seem to have heard of Partition Magic. Do you actually have it?

When we come to copy stuff there are to sorts of processes.

For the data spread over various partitions you can simply copy the files using normal windows copy and paste commands.

For XP itself we have to make identical twin of the partition by what is called disk cloning. This process copies every byte of data to the new partition exactly as it was in the old one. Earlier versions of PM came as two programs PM and Drive image.
The last version (8) combines these functions.

Hope these explanations are helpful.

Sorry there was a typo in my last post
you should typein
dskmgmt.msc

Also before you start moving stuff about do a disk cleanup on all partitions and the XP one in particular. Delete all temporary internet and other temp files.
You can download a free program called CCleaner From Major Geeks to help with this. If you use this program it will also be helpful in the future.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4191.html

There is a wonderful beach on Tenerife, called Teresitas beach, which has the cleanest water I have ever seen. A lovely place.

 

Studiot, I'm so grateful to you for your time. I'm doing exactly as you suggest, and am also check-disking/defragging every partition.

I'm backing up all data of interest onto an external drive. All the rest can go because I've been left cds for Windows and the main programs. The only hitch is drivers - but to-morrow I'll have more time (too busy with work on a Friday!) and I'll look for/collect the necessary drivers.

Actually the former PowerQuest Partition Magic ver 8 is already installed on the machine (so I'm also attaching a screen shot of all partitions as seen by Partition Magic). Drive Image is not installed but I've got the cd somewhere and could install it, if necessary.

oohhh an enchanting Teresita beach, eh? if business goes well, I might make it my next holiday destination!
--------------
Here's the contents of boot.ini
- I couldn't find the file on D: where XP lives, but I see it in the root directory of C:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
C:\="Windows 98"

 

I don't seem to have been able to attach my second shot, I'll try again.

 

No, that should be diskmgmt.msc

 

A buckshee copy of PM8 on the hard drive. What luck it will do all you need for you. It has a way of operating outside windows called boot mode so that you can move windows itself about.

Again apologies and thanks USAFVET. You can see from my Avatar that I've been having a bad hair day lately.

Back to business.

first I assume that the pc normally boots to XP?
Further that you can run the PM8 program OK (check)
Check also that PM8 is installed on the D drive (important)
(right click on the shortcut and choose properties)
I further guess that you also have a floppy drive.
Get a floppy and format it using WinXP
copy the following three files to it

C:\boot.ini
D:\NTLDR (note no extension)
D:\NTDETECT.COM

Test if you can boot the pc from this floppy.
If necessary go into the bios (F2 or Del or whatever at powerup) and set the floppy as the first boot device. While you are there set the CD as the second boot device.

You now have full control of your PC for the future.

From what you have said I also assume you can edit the boot.ini on another pc?

My strategy now is simple

Copy boot.ini to the root of the D drive, D:\
Edit this copy to read

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

That is remove the last line reference to win98 and change the partition (2)reference in lines 2 and 3 to partition (1).
When you save changes make very sure you are saving to the D partition.

Delete all the other unwanted partitions from the extended patition.
This will create lots of free space to the right of the D (the XP one)
You can now move or copy D to the free space to the right.
This will create free space to the left of D in the extended partition
Move the left boundary of the extended partition towards D
This will create free space between the C partition and the extended partition. You need a free space greater than the size of the D drive.

You could select all of these at once in PM8 but it is best to do, complete and test each operation singly. This can all be accomplished without leaving WindowsXP.

Set the next operations togerther
Delete the C drive
Copy the D drive to the free space.
Make the new drive active

Test boot the PC from the new C drive
If it boots OK
If not then you can reboot the pc from the floppy you made earlier!

Once you can boot OK from the new C drive
You can delete all the remaining partitions in the extended partition (including D) and then the extended partition itself.

Finally you can either extend the C drive to the whole disk or (better ) create a new data (D) drive of, say 40 G so that if Windows screws up your data will be safe.

Also when you have the new C drive working replace the original boot.ini on the floppy with the revised one.

 

Success! though not complete. I've done all the partitioning as you advised but by the time XP landed onto the Primary on C: it appeared pretty broken with system files missing etc. - so instead of bothering with repair it's been easier to reinstall. But finally I'm really happy with the end result - for all this I'm grateful to you for your patience and encouragement. Drop in for a thank you pint any time!

 

Sounds a good proposition if you are sitting on that beach.
Remember

7 days with no beer makes one weak


Glad to hear your back up and running.

The biggest single security step you can take with your new pc is to set up dual accounts.
A limited user acount for your normal use
An administrator account for administrating the pc.

Never surf the net as an administrator - over 75% of malware can only install itself from an admin account.

If you set user passwords you can also create a password recovery floppy in case you ever forget them.

 

Super idea, see you on Teresitas beach then!! Tell you what, forget the beer. We'll get sloshed on Pina Colada... with pints of rum in it!

Excellent advice. I'll remember that and tell my colleague too.
Thanks again.