Uninstalling XP ?

Greetings --

The normal way to "uninstall" _any_ operating system is to format
the hard drive and install a new OS of your choice.

However, if you performed an upgrade from Win98/Me, elected to
backup the old system files, and didn't convert the partition to NTFS,
then all you need do is boot into Safe Mode and Start > Control Panel
> Add/Remove Programs. All of these conditions _must_ be met for the
uninstall option to be available.

Otherwise:

How to Manually Remove Win XP and Restore Win9x
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q314052


Bruce Chambers


You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH


"James Plante" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in message
news:1658e01c41732$c5ea8060$ XXXX@XXXXX.COM ...
>I just installed Windows XP Professional on my system that
> previouosly had Windows ME. My Norton anti-virus software
> is not working and I cannot get it to uninstall.
>
> Norton told me to uninstall XP, then remove norton before
> re-installing XP. That should allow me to re-install
> Norton (which tells me now that it cannot install because
> of one reason or another...)
>
> Anyways, Windows XP is not listed as a program that I can
> remove in my Start->Control Panel->Add Remove Programs
> listings. According to everything i have, it should be "un-
> installable".
>
> How can I un-install XP so that I can re-install it ?
>
> Please respond to my email address too

James Plante wrote:




It only appears on Add/Remove (as 'Uninstall Windows') *if* you did the
install as a upgrade, run from the ME; accepted the suggestion of saving
system files, and have not later converted a drive to NTFS. If any of
those is not the case you have to format the disk and start all over
again. In which case, presuming your ME CD is a retail one and not an
OEM 'restore one' without a Win9x folder of cab files, you might just as
well install XP clean rather than restoring the ME first.

Back up data, be sure you have the means to reinstall programs. Boot
the XP CD direct. Enter Setup, and after the license agreement take New
Install. When it asks you to confirm where, hit ESC; select and delete
the current partition and make a new RAW one to be formatted at the next
stage

The important point is the delete. Without that it will just go ahead
and make a new install over the top of the old one

If you do only have the ME restore CD you will have to use that to
reinstall ME before upgrading it again - first Boot the ME startup
floppy and use its FDISK command to delete the present partition on the
hard disk (a non-DOS one if it is NTFS) and make a new Primary DOS one.
Reboot and FORMAT then follow the instructions to reinstall the ME


--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. XXXX@XXXXX.COM (remove the D8 bit)