unilstall second win2000

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Guest

I inadvertently installed 2 copies of win 2000 on my C drive - one as a
"repair and upgrade" of the previous winME and the second as a "clean"copy.
How do I remove the clean copy?
Also how do I get into "safe mode" if the F8 button does'nt do anything?
andy
 
andytj said:
I inadvertently installed 2 copies of win 2000 on my C drive - one as a
"repair and upgrade" of the previous winME and the second as a "clean"copy.
How do I remove the clean copy?
Also how do I get into "safe mode" if the F8 button does'nt do anything?
andy
Click to expand...

Upgrades from Windows ME to Win2000 are ***not*** supported,
mainly because Windows ME was released ***after*** Win2000.
If you do it regardless then you can expect some interesting problems.
You should do a clean installation of Win2000.

Here is how you can safely remove an unwanted copy of Windows:
1. Boot into your normal copy of Win2000.
2. Rename the unwanted Windows folder to "Windows.bad".
3. Wait a week.
4. Delete Windows.bad.
5. Empy your Recycle Bin.

The reason for F8 not working is probably because you have a
modern keyboard that has the function keys disabled. Read the
manual that came with it - there is a dedicated button on the
keyboard that will enable the function keys.
 
Thanks Pegasus,
I notice that the clean copy I have installed has no access to any of my
software or files!
If I delete the old "upgrade" version instead ,will it then access
everything or do I have to re-install everything from scratch?

all this has come about because I got some viruses in and after cleaning
them out I lost contact with Outlook Express - error mess msimn.exe causing
problems ......
The upgrade ver of win 2000 still has this problem , but the clean copy does
not! I have upgraded IE5.5 to 6.0 with no benefit and re-installed win 2000
again - no joy.
andy
 
You're mixing two things that are unrelated: Installations and
permissions. If you are unable to access some files or folders
then you have to seize ownership of these folders. Click Start/
Help, then search for "ownership" under the Search tab.
 
Thanks again for your input. I can now see My Docs and the whole file
structure in Windows Explorer in the clean copy of win 2000.
However, apart from embedded programs like IE, no programs work (eg Office
2000)
If I go to control panel/add remove programs it says "there are no programs
installed on this computer". I have changed ownership of all of \program
files\ but no joy.
I cannot open a Word doc etc and if I try to run say Excel from \Microsoft
Office\Office\Excel I get error mess "This application must be installed to
run. Please run Setup from the location where you originally installed the
application".
It is on my PC because it works fine through the other 'upgrade' version of
Win 2000 on my PC.
Any further help will be appreciated.
andy
 
I suspect that you're trying to run these applications on your
"clean" copy of Win2000 without actually having installed them
under Win2000. This will not work. If you wish to use MS Office
while in Win2000 then you must install it while in Win2000.
 
Thanks for that, but all my software is running OK on the other copy of Win
2000 ( the corrupt one). I will however re-install as you recommend.

I do seem now to have 6 different identities in C:\application
data\documents and settings - only the one called All Users has all the
folders referring to programs in it , which in the old copy fire up the
applications but in the new copy give either error(0) or tell me that the
program needs to be installed.

Going back to the"uninstall a second copy of Win 2000", you say 'Rename the
unwanted Windows folder to "Windows.bad".'. where do I find this folder, what
is is called, and will removing just one folder remove the whole of the copy
of Win 2000?
When I boot up I get the choice of which copy to run in what seems like a
DOS screen prior to Windows opening - both copies just have the name
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional on 2 lines.


What am I not understanding?
Thanks again
andy
 
See below.

andytj said:
Thanks for that, but all my software is running OK on the other copy of Win
2000 ( the corrupt one). I will however re-install as you recommend.

I do seem now to have 6 different identities in C:\application
data\documents and settings - only the one called All Users has all the
folders referring to programs in it , which in the old copy fire up the
applications but in the new copy give either error(0) or tell me that the
program needs to be installed.
Click to expand...

These are not "Identities"; they are "Profile folders". Windows maintains
one profile folder for each user, plus a template folder called "Default
User", plus a shared folder called "All Users".
Going back to the"uninstall a second copy of Win 2000", you say 'Rename the
unwanted Windows folder to "Windows.bad".'. where do I find this folder, what
is is called, and will removing just one folder remove the whole of the copy
of Win 2000?
Click to expand...

I am in no position to tell you where you installed your second copy
of Windows since I cannot see your machine. You're the best person
to answer this question! Suffice it to say that it is usually called "WinNT"
and that Windows won't let you rename the current Windows system
folder.

Renaming and subsequently deleting this folder should remove the
unwanted copy of Windows, unless you also have an unwanted
copy of perhaps "D:\Program Files". Again you can rename it, then
delete it one week later.
When I boot up I get the choice of which copy to run in what seems like a
DOS screen prior to Windows opening - both copies just have the name
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional on 2 lines.
Click to expand...

DOS is an operating system, same as Linux. There is no DOS on
your machine, only Windows. What you see is the Windows
startup screen. Click Start / Run / notepad c:\boot.ini, then tag the
bits inside the double quotes with some flag, e.g. "Windows Prof 1",
Windows Prof 2". Now reboot your machine in order to find you
which one is the bad one. When you know then you can run notepad
once more and delete the offending line.
 
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