Windows XP

I was wondering if you could tell me how to completely remove Windows XP (if the option isn't in the Add/Remove folder) and it the disc won't let you. I need to remove XP off an old computer and downgrade to Windows 98 so my kids can play. Can you help me? Also, do you know a site where you can get 98 for free and can you tell me how to put it on a cd and then how to install it on the other computer? Thanks.

 

Here is a link on how to remove XP manually. I'mk not sure can get Win98 for free because it is (was) a licensed OS.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314052

This is another on how to uninstall XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303661

 

Not sure why you would want to drop back to W98. Do you know that it is not supported anymore? This means you would not be able to connect to the Internet with this machine without security issues.
Are you having a problem running a certain game. XP has the ability to run programs in compatibility mode.
If you still want to get rid of XP, download a W98 bootdisk. After you boot from the disk format the drive.
You could probably get a copy of W98 from ebay.

 

I wanted to downgrade because we have three computers in our house. The one I am downgrading is an old one for the kids and it previously had 98 on it. I put XP on it. The games won't run with XP so i thought if I put 98 back on it it would be ok. I am trying to play Gearhead Garage and it doesn't support an NT System. I have downloaded all of the patches and upgrades and everything else and it still doesn't work. so that is why. can you help me? do you know a way to play the game on XP without removing Windows again?

 

Try running the game in compatibility mode. Right click the shortcut and choose properties. Click the compatibility tab. Put a check in the box "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" . In the dropdown box choose "Windows 98/ Windows ME". You may also try messing around with the Display Settings checkbox.
Hope this helps and you are able to play the game.

 

I found out the hard way about getting rid of XP. The first computer I ever had was a Windows 98 machine. I had an XP disc, and the temptation was too great, so I installed it. It only had a 2Gb hard drive so a warning appeared telling me that if I continued, I wouldn't be able to go back to W98. So I did it anyway, and then discovered that a 2Gb hard drive really wasn't enough for XP to actually do anything. Then I spent the rest of the night until daylight the next day, trying to work out how to reinstall Windows 98. I had an old book called The MS DOS Primer that someone had given me, and this, combined with the help notes on the W98 startup disc helped me to work out what to do. A complete nightmare, but probably the best way to learn, and certainly cheaper than having to pay a computer shop to do it for me.

 

well I am glad that you finally got it uninstalled, but are you going to tell me how? LOL

 

Insert win 98 or win ME startup disc. (make sure pc is set to boot from floppy before hard drive). Wait until the computer boots from it, and sit there for a while until it's gone through all the blah (too late at night for techincal terms) and eventually you'll just get an 'A' prompt (just a flashing cursor in front of a letter A (or could be C, it doesn't really matter).

Type in the word FDISK

This should delete the partition so make sure there's nothing on the hard drive that you need, or save it somewhere else first if there is.
You might have to format the hard drive next as well, so if you do, it's

format c: /s/v

Then you should be able to run the windows 98 setup. It was quite a long time ago when I did it, but if I remember rightly, you put in the Windows 98 CD, then type in D setup.exe, and if things go right, you should hear the reasurring sound of the CD drive spinning up, and the setup process should start.
Or if you're even luckier, it might just autorun straight off the CD.
If nothing happens, try restarting the computer (can do this by hitting CTRL ALT DELETE) and again, wait while it goes through the motions of booting off the floppy until it gets to the A or C prompt (I wish I could remember which it is)

It's a while since I've had to do it this way, so I may have missed things or got some of them in the wrong order, but basically, once you've got rid of the XP installation from your hard drive, you shouldn't have too much of a problem installing Windows 98. I think it's just that you can't install an older operating system when there's a newer one already there.

* if you get stuck with anything, and if you've got the time, there is a help file on the Windows 98 (and Windows ME) startup floppy, and I think it tells you in there somewhere how to do it.
Feel free to post back if you need to ask anything else.

 

I could be wrong, but as I understand it you can't "uninstall" XP, you have to format the HD and start from scratch. This sounds scary, but it's not. There is a core of 98 users at MG, we have our own debate going on in a neighboring thread.

However, if you don't have a 98 CD you really need to buy one, either at a local computer shop or eBay. I would highly recommend Win98SE, and not Win98, they are different (but closely related) operating systems. SE stands for Second Edition, so you can guess which is the more stable of the 2.

Once you have such a CD you'll find all the help you need here.

 

There is a program called DOSBox you might have used for games.

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/download.php?main=1

 

I've heard of it, never tried it since I'm still in the land of DOS, but I may have to get aquanted with it yet.

 

Re: Windows XP, I'm halfway there

Ok, I finally got the Windows XP off of my computer, but now I am having a new problem. I don't have a floppy drive that works on one of my computers and my new doesn't have one at all. On the computer that I just removed XP on, doesn't have one either. So I had a Windows 98 disk and I put it in after I removed XP and it wouldn't let me do anything to it. This black screen popped up and kept saying, "there is no operating system installed, press any button to try again". It would run off the cd or anything. So I thought, well I need a boot up disk, I can't use it, the A drive doesn't work, it also wouldn't take a thumb drive because the usb ports on the computer are slow and the thumb drives are fast. So, any ideas how to get 98 back on it?

 

An external floppy, or a replacement floppy? Pull the hard drive and swap it to a system that has a working floppy and install 98, then swap it back to the original machine? Reinstall XP? You can download boot disks for any Windows OS free of charge on the web, getting them to run on CD? I haven't tried dosbox yet either, but have some old games on CD I would like to try.The computer I am using now had '98 on it but going wireless with 98 was an issue, not as much so with '98SE, so I am running XP Home.