How to Manually Remove Windows 2000 and Restore Windows 95/98

ID: Q250456

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

SUMMARY

This article describes an overview of available options for removing a Windows 2000 upgrade and restoring Microsoft Windows 95/98.

NOTE: The procedures described in this article are not a method of recovering a Windows 95/98 installation. This procedure requires you to reinstall Windows 95 or Windows 98 and all your programs.

List of Topics under the More Information section.

  • Is the file system FAT/FAT32 or NTFS? If NTFS see the Removing NTFS section.


  • Do you want to save files? See the Renaming Folders section.


  • Are you installed to the Windows folder? See the Renaming Folders section.


  • You have all your files backed up. See the Removing Windows 2000 Files section.


  • Do you need to free up space to install Windows 95 or Windows 98? See the Freeing Up Disk Space section.



MORE INFORMATION

If you backed up all your data before you installed Windows 2000 or you do not have any data that needs to be kept, you can reformat the hard disks in the computer and reinstall Windows 95 or Windows 98. To reformat the hard disk, see the Removing NTFS section in this article.

IMPORTANT: Formatting the disk deletes all files and data. You should only format a disk if all the files you want to keep are backed up.

The first issue is to identify what file system you are using. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Double-click My Computer.


  2. Right-click the disk you want, and then click Properties.


  3. Look for the File System entry.


NOTE: If the disk is using NTFS, then the options for returning to Windows 95 or Windows 98 are limited. Windows 95/98 does not read or recognize NTFS, and you cannot convert the disk to use the FAT or FAT32 file system using Windows 2000. The bootable disk you use and the drive where you want to install Windows 95/98 cannot be NTFS.

Microsoft does not support any third-party solutions for converting NTFS to a FAT or FAT32 file system.

If the drive is using the FAT file system, you can install any operating system. If the drive is using the FAT32 file system, you can install Windows 95 OSR2 or later.

Next, you need to check how much disk space is available. Check your Windows 95 or Windows 98 documentation to determine the amount of disk space that you need.

Create or find a Windows Startup disk that contains your CD-ROM drivers so you can gain access to your CD-ROM drive.

NOTE: If you cannot gain access to your CD-ROM drive, you may need to copy your Windows 95 or Windows 98 installation files to your local hard disk. This would require additional disk space.

Start your computer using the Windows 98 or Windows 95 Startup disk. Verify that you can read the CD-ROM drive, and then run the SYS C: command from an MS-DOS prompt.

NOTE: This command transfers the boot files to the C: drive and copies the boot sector. After you run this command, you can no longer start Windows 2000.

Renaming Folders

If you install Windows 95 or Windows 98 to the same drive where Windows 2000 is installed, you need to rename the following folders to prevent possible conflicts in Windows 95/98.

NOTE: If you reformat the hard disk, you do not need to rename any folders.
  • Program Files
    For example, type the following command at the MS-DOS prompt:
    ren c:\progra~1 c:\files.old
  • Windows
    For example, type the following command at the MS-DOS prompt:
    ren c:\windows c:\windows.200

Removing NTFS Drives

To remove an NTFS file system, reformat the hard disk to use the FAT or FAT32 file system.

You can do this using the Recovery Console on the Windows 2000 CD-ROM if your computer supports a bootable CD-ROM or by using the four Windows 2000 startup disks. Reformatting or repartitioning a disk deletes all the data on it, so make sure you back up your data.

To use the Recovery Console, follow these steps:
  1. Start the computer using the Windows 2000 CD-ROM or Startup disks.


  2. When you see the Setup Notification screen, press ENTER.


  3. On the screen that asks if you want to install or repair, press the F10 key.


  4. In the Recovery Console, log on using your Administrator password.


  5. Click Run, and then type map.


  6. Note the drive you want to reformat.


  7. Click Run, and then type format c: /fs:fat32, where c is the letter of the drive you want to format and FAT32 is the file system you want to use.


NOTE: The drive letters may be different in Recovery Console than in Windows 2000.

Freeing Up Disk Space

If you are running low on disk space, you can delete the following files and empty the following folders:
  • Empty all Windows 2000 Recycle Bins.
  • In Internet Explorer, delete all Temporary Internet files and clear the History files.
  • Delete the Pagefile.sys and the Hyberfil.sys files.

Removing Windows 2000 Files

The following files are in the root of the drive that is used to start the computer and are marked hidden. Most of the time this is the C: drive, which is the first drive letter available for hard disks. To remove the Windows 2000 system files, follow these steps:
  1. Open Windows Explorer.


  2. On the View menu, click Folder Options.


  3. On the View tab, click Show all files, and then click OK.


  4. In the root of the C: drive or boot drive, delete the following files:


    • Boot.ini
    • Ntbootdd.sys
    • Ntdetect.com
    • NTLDR
  5. On the drive where Windows 2000 is installed, delete the following files if they exist:


    • Hiberfil.sys
    • Pagefile.sys
  6. Delete the following folders if they exist:


    • Windows
    • Program Files
    • Documents and Settings

Running Windows 98 or Windows 95 Setup

To run Windows Setup, boot your computer to the Windows 98 Startup disk or a bootable disk that contains your CD-ROM drivers. After you gain access to your CD-ROM drive type the following f:\setup.exe where f is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive.

There should be a Setup.txt file on the Windows 95 or Windows 98 CD-ROM that explains how to run setup. There are additional instructions for setup in the Getting Started guide book that ships with Windows 95 or Windows 98. For additional information about installing Windows, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q221829 How to Install Windows 98 on a Computer with No Operating System
Q193902 How to Install Windows 98 Into a New Folder
Q187632 How to Create a Windows 98 Startup Disk that Supports FAT32
Q232681 Windows 98 Second Edition Updates Setup.txt File
For a link to the Windows 98 Second Edition Readme.txt files on line, see the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/readme/Win98se/w98sereadme.asp

For a link to the Windows 98 Readme.txt files on line, see the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/readme/98/Windows_98.asp

Additional query words: Win9x uninstall remove 98SE

Keywords : kbsetup
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto


Last Reviewed: January 25, 2000
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