XP wins, I quit, now what?

[Sig Jumpmaster]

Can't win with XP, so how do I get rid of it? Won't let me format c:. I plan on loading Win 2000 Pro.

[Blakhart]

The 2k install cd won't let you delete the partition?

[Force Flow]

You need to boot from the win2k disk (set as a boot device in your BIOS). Then just go through the installation instructions and delete the partition when it comes to that part and format.

Or...

win98SE boot disk > format c:

[Markoman01027]

Are you trying to type in Format C:\ at the command prompt? If so, you can't do that because FORMAT will not format an NTFS partition, only a FAT32 partition. You have to use the XP setup to reformat the hard drive.

I'm not even 80% sure if XP command prompt will let you FORMAT C:\ if it was a FAT32 partition.

All you have to do is boot up into XP setup and run setup from there. That way, setup will reformat and repartition your hard drive.

[RJ]

No, that's not correct. FORMAT works for NTFS as well, you can format every partition except the system partition, that's the point.
System partition can only be erased when Windows is not loaded. That's why you need to boot from the CD.

Well, that's for FORMAT in the XP command prompt. The FORMAT that is on the Windows 98 CD can't handle NTFS, that's correct, as that is an older version.

Booting from Win98SE CD is therefore not very useful. Win2K/XP and Win9x are different things. Forget about Win9x CDs in general when dealing with 2K/XP.

RJ

[Markoman01027]

Thanks for the correction RJ.

[Sig Jumpmaster]

RJ, you seem to be all over it! Everything you said, I already experienced. XP shuts off the install functionallity of the Win2k cd. As for Win98SE boot disk > format C:, that is a no go. So, I will try to boot with the Win2k CD and see what happens next. Thank you all for the input.

[andyms18a]

boot with a win98 boot disk at the comand prompt type fdisk
and hit enter then enter agen then deleate non dos partitions
and remove the xp partition then shutdown and reboot with the 2k cd and let it make a new partition and format it and install win2k

[RJ]

Win2K/XP and Win9x are completely different. No Win9x stuff is necessary and a floppy is slowwwww.

You have to boot from the Win2K CD anyway to install it, and pressing 2 keys to delete a partition is really not much and definitely alot easier than the FDISK way.

With WinNT/2K/XP, forget anything about Win98 boot disks.

RJ

[andyms18a]

its true the win2k cd is better but some times it wont let you
remove newer versions of windows but fdisk works every time

[Kurt871]

XP wins, I quit, now what?

Mac OS X

j/k

[RJ]

its true the win2k cd is better but some times it wont let you remove newer versions of windows but fdisk works every time

Nope.

RJ

[andyms18a]

Originally posted by RJ Nope. RJ

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;279700

we have all so had the same problams with winxp formated drives trying to downgrade to 2k

[jotto84]

fdisk cannot delete linux partitions, therefor, it does not ALWAYS work. win2k and winxp format/fdisk versions can delete and reformat a linux partition. i only use fdisk when i am upgrading a fat16PC with a big hdd to win98 fat32, or after a brand new hdd and installing win98. All other instances can be dealt with by the winxp/2k setup cd rom.

[RJ]

Hmm. Well Win2K/XP CD never failed for me. Seems that there are always some exceptions.
But can't FDISK remove any non-dos-partition ? I too had Linux on my PC sometime in the past, in the old Win9x days. I must have used FDISK to re-partition.

But to downgrade from XP to 2K you don't need Win98 as you can boot from XP CD and remove the partitions and with 2K format them.
And from ME to 2K, well, then simply use the FDISK on ME CD to delete the partitions.

RJ

[jotto84]

fdisk can remove non dos partitions, but it will continue to say that you cannot delete the deteced extended dos partition while logical drives exist, even though there are no logicals, it just thinks the linux partition is an extended

[Cricket]

Use Delpart to get rid of partitions.

Cricket