XP question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Helen
  • Start date Start date
H

Helen

If one has XP on his computer and wants to
get rid of it and go back to Win98/SE, what
program, if any, can be used to acieve this?
It is my understanding that Win98/SE will
NOT read the NTFS partition. What will?
TIA.
Helen
 
How to manually remove Windows XP and then restore Windows 95, Windows
98, or Windows Millennium Edition

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314052
Click to expand...

"If the disk is formatted in NTFS, your options for returning to Windows
95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition are limited. Those operating
systems do not read or recognize NTFS, and you cannot convert the disk to
use the FAT or FAT32 file systems. The startup disk that you use and the
drive where you want to install Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows
Millennium Edition cannot use NTFS. Microsoft does not support any third-
party solutions for the conversion of NTFS to FAT or to FAT32."
 
Rod said:
"If the disk is formatted in NTFS, your options for returning to Windows
95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition are limited. Those operating
systems do not read or recognize NTFS, and you cannot convert the disk to
use the FAT or FAT32 file systems. The startup disk that you use and the
drive where you want to install Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows
Millennium Edition cannot use NTFS. Microsoft does not support any third-
party solutions for the conversion of NTFS to FAT or to FAT32."
Click to expand...

You didn't scroll down far enough :-)
 
You didn't scroll down far enough :-)
Click to expand...

My bad, I'm a lazy scroller ;)

Removing NTFS
To remove the NTFS file system, reformat the hard disk to use the FAT or
FAT32 file system. To do so, use the Windows XP startup disks. If your
computer supports a bootable CD-ROM, you can also use the Recovery Console
tool on the Windows XP CD-ROM. If you reformat or repartition a disk, you
delete all the data that is on the disk. Therefore, make sure that you back
up your data before you reformat the disk.

To use Recovery Console to reformat a drive, follow these steps:
1. Use the Windows XP CD-ROM or the startup disks to start the computer.
2. When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press F10.
3. In Recovery Console, specify the appropriate installation, and then
use your Administrator credentials to log on.
4. Type map, and then press ENTER.
5. Note the drive that you want to reformat. The drive letters may be
different in Recovery Console from what they are in Windows XP.
6. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:
format x: /fs:fat32
Where x is the letter of the drive that you want to format, and FAT32 is
the file system that you want to use.
7. Type y, and then press ENTER. When the formatting is completed, type
exit. and then press ENTER to restart the computer.
 
How to manually remove Windows XP and then restore Windows 95, Windows
98, or Windows Millennium Edition

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314052

Regards

Wayne D
Click to expand...

If the OP is concerned with NTFS and not losing any critical data, I would
convert the NTFS partition back to FAT32 while XP is still installed.

The only program that I know that does this reliably & accurately is [OT]
Partiton Magic. I have done so for many years with no grief. If there is a
freeware program that will convert safely, I have not seen one listed here.
Perhaps others may provide more details.

ozzy
 
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