proper way to uninstall NT4 from a dual boot with WIN98 ?

[rh71]

please let me know.. thanks.

[LM-S]

Boot up with a '98 boot-disk in your A: drive...

at the A:>\ prompt, type < sys c: > (not the <> ) and press ENTER.

This rewrites the Boot-loader to the (DOS) '98 version.

Remove any floppies etc, and reboot; PC will now boot to '98...

If your NT is installed in its own partition (the usual scenario...), and if it is NTFS...

1. insert disk 1 of the NT setup disks; restart PC
2. when prompted insert disk 2;
3. press ENTER at the ‘welcome to setup’ screen;
4. press Enter to automatically detect your HD's;
5. insert disk 3 when prompted;
6. press Enter when you have specified all necessary drivers
7. page down the Licensing prompted to the bottom and press F8;
8. change your PC settings as necessary and press Enter;
9. select the NTFS partition, in the partition screen, you wish to delete, and press D;
10. press L to confirm selections
11. This partition will now show up as free space in the partitions list.
12. press F3 twice to exit NT setup;
13. press Enter to restart your PC.
14. then Fdisk etc to reconfigure your HD ((former NT) partition as you wish it to be.

(In essence you go through the installation sequence and at the point where you are given the choice of creating/deleting partitions - #9 above… proceed as outlined above…)

If your NT is FAT16…

1. boot from the '98 boot-disk, (having already run the < sys c: > command) as outline at start...

and at the A:>\prompt type < x: > (not the <> ) and press Enter (where x = the partition letter for the location of your NT); this will change you to 'DOS' prompt in that partition...

2. then, if the '98 boot-disk has the < deltree > utility included, type each of the following commands and press Enter/Return each time;

3. deltree winnt
4. cd progra~1
5. deltree window~1
6. cd \ (this returns you to the C: system partition where the NT start-up files are located...)
7. del ntldr.
8. del ntdetect.com
9. del boot.ini
10. del pagefile.sys (this file may not be on the active partition depending on your configuration)
11. del bootsect.dos
12. then re-boot; and proceed with the installation of 98…

If you do not have the < deltree > utility on the '98 disk, you will have/should have… the < del > utility… and you are into the longer approach which is bit like digging it all out…

This being so… you have to delete the above files and directories using the < del > and < rd > commands… (using the appropriate wild cards makes it a little easier…); or you can just reformat that partition..., which will wipe everything off that area… If you go this latter (reformat) route, be aware that ‘everything’ goes, so save elsewhere anything you want to keep… And be sure to reformat (address) only with the NT partition!

Again if your NT is FAT16, you can delete it from its partition all from within '98; and also the start-up files (as listed above) from off the C: system partition. This may well be the easier option if the NT installation is FAT16, rather than using the < del > command etc...

Another and maybe 'quicker' route is to use a utility from NT3.51 < delpart.exe >; it was omitted form NT4 RK. It is available from:
http://hercules.lss.ksu.edu/download/MSSTUFF/index.htm

and is run from DOS boot-level. It will remove NTFS partitions and just about any other type as well..., and can be quicker???

Be warned that Delpart is 'viscious...' It will remove any partition, so be sure you are dealing with/addresing the one you want, and save anything that you want to keep, elsewhere...

If you have DOS boot disk you can use it instead of the '98 boot-disk to remove NT (FAT16), which is my preferred choice... And a DOS (6.22) boot-disk (with CDROM support) can be downloaded from:
http://www.bootdisk.com

It is wise to have DOS (ideally 6.22) boot-disk with CRDROM suport) around at all times...

Good luck,

LM-S

[This message has been edited by LM-S (edited 05-29-2000).]

[rh71]

As always, LM-S, much appreciated!