Getting rid of previous OS

  • Thread starter Thread starter simonc
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simonc

I did a clean install of Windows 2000 over a previous
Windows 98SE. Now when I start the machine the first
screen is a blank DOS screen asking me which OS I want to
boot up with.

How do I uninstall the previous operating system, (and
clear the disk space it was occupying)?

Grateful for any advice.
 
To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
|I did a clean install of Windows 2000 over a previous
| Windows 98SE. Now when I start the machine the first
| screen is a blank DOS screen asking me which OS I want to
| boot up with.
|
| How do I uninstall the previous operating system, (and
| clear the disk space it was occupying)?
|
| Grateful for any advice.
 
I have already completed the installation of Windows 2000
from the CD-ROM. One of the first questions that comes up
during the installation was whether I wanted to Upgrade
the previous OS or do a clean install. I chose Clean
Install and it's working fine. But because whenever I
start the computer I get a boot screen asking me to choose
which OS I want to boot from I get the impression that the
previous OS is still available. Certainly the main Win 98
Windows directory is still on the system, and taking up
266MB.

Is there a way of simply uninstalling the previous OS, so
I no longer get the choice when I start the machine?
 
Then you now have a dual-boot. If both OS's are installed to the same
partition then there won't be a clean break as they share some files and or
folders. Best to do a clean install.

First Control Panel|System|Startup /Shutdown, choose the correct System
Startup option as default, then you'll need to delete the options you want
removed from the boot.ini, it's a system, hidden file in the root of the
system partition C:\. So you'll need to show-all-files, hidden, system, in
Explorer. You should end up with something like this. The timeout value is
not functional when there is only one startup choice. Then you can remove
the \windows directory (assuming Windows 2000 is installed in \winnt)

The line your going to remove from the boot.ini will be similar to
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000"
/fastdetect

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
|I have already completed the installation of Windows 2000
| from the CD-ROM. One of the first questions that comes up
| during the installation was whether I wanted to Upgrade
| the previous OS or do a clean install. I chose Clean
| Install and it's working fine. But because whenever I
| start the computer I get a boot screen asking me to choose
| which OS I want to boot from I get the impression that the
| previous OS is still available. Certainly the main Win 98
| Windows directory is still on the system, and taking up
| 266MB.
|
| Is there a way of simply uninstalling the previous OS, so
| I no longer get the choice when I start the machine?
 
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