Need to uninstall winXP start-up files

[Kathy Gierke]

I started to install Windows XP Professional update over
Windows 98 SE. I had so many incomptabilities with XP with
my system and it locked up at the beginning of installing.
Now when I boot my comptuter, I get the option to finish
setting up XP or by pass install. How can I remove these
files so I can just boot up with my old operating system. I
went into system reg. and I didn't see any XP files on the
Windows boot up or any other conf. window. I sure would
appreciate any suggestions on how to remove XP's install
without having to format my C: drive and reinstall 98 SE.
If I have to reformat, what file do I need to save that has
the short cuts and installed programs that I already
installed.
Is this the win data directory? thanks for all your help.

Helpless in Virgina

[R. C. White]

Hi, Kathy.

One way to get going again is to boot from a Win98 boot floppy and run Sys
C:. This will overwrite the WinXP-style boot sector on C: with the
Win9x/ME-style boot sector. Next time it boots, it will look for the Win98
"system files" (io.sys and msdos.sys) instead of the WinXP system files
(ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini - plus bootsect.dos to allow Win98 to boot
when you choose it from the dual-boot menu). (These files are in C:\, but
they are hidden, system and read-only, so you won't see them in a normal
directory display unless you remove those attributes.) You will no longer
see a boot menu; your computer will simply boot to Win98 as it did before
you tried to install WinXP.

Unless you told WinXP Setup to repartition and/or reformat the drive, Win98
will still be in place, right where you left it, and all your apps and data
should still be fine, too. The aborted install would not have affected
Win98's Registry at all, but it would have left some folders full of
installation files on your HD. These can be deleted, of course, if you
choose not to install WinXP.

Now, what do you want to do next? Do you want to just forget about WinXP
and delete the aborted installation files? Do you want to try again to
install WinXP? Do you want to end up with WinXP only, or with Win98 still
available in a dual-boot setup?

If you tell us what you want to do, we can probably help you do it. In your
next post, tell us such things as how many hard drives you have and how they
are partitioned.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP

"Kathy Gierke" > wrote in message
...
> I started to install Windows XP Professional update over
> Windows 98 SE. I had so many incomptabilities with XP with
> my system and it locked up at the beginning of installing.
> Now when I boot my comptuter, I get the option to finish
> setting up XP or by pass install. How can I remove these
> files so I can just boot up with my old operating system. I
> went into system reg. and I didn't see any XP files on the
> Windows boot up or any other conf. window. I sure would
> appreciate any suggestions on how to remove XP's install
> without having to format my C: drive and reinstall 98 SE.
> If I have to reformat, what file do I need to save that has
> the short cuts and installed programs that I already
> installed.
> Is this the win data directory? thanks for all your help.
>
> Helpless in Virgina

[Michael Stevens]

Kathy Gierke wrote:
> I started to install Windows XP Professional update over
> Windows 98 SE. I had so many incomptabilities with XP with
> my system and it locked up at the beginning of installing.
> Now when I boot my comptuter, I get the option to finish
> setting up XP or by pass install. How can I remove these
> files so I can just boot up with my old operating system. I
> went into system reg. and I didn't see any XP files on the
> Windows boot up or any other conf. window. I sure would
> appreciate any suggestions on how to remove XP's install
> without having to format my C: drive and reinstall 98 SE.
> If I have to reformat, what file do I need to save that has
> the short cuts and installed programs that I already
> installed.
> Is this the win data directory? thanks for all your help.
>
> Helpless in Virgina

Boot with a 98 boot disk and type SYS C: at the prompt.
If you don't have a 98 boot disk, you can obtain one here.
http://www.bootdisk.com

--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP

http://michaelstevenstech.com
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