Uninstalling Windows 2000

I have installed Windows XP on a computer that had Windows 2000 on it. Both OS are now on my computer. How do I uninstall 2000? I don't see the program listed on the "remove programs" section on the control panel.
RK

 

Hello Torcano,

How do I uninstall 2000? I don't see the program listed on the "remove programs" section on the control panel.
It wouldn't be, not that simple

Boot into XP, right click on My Computer > Manage > under Storage > Disk Management. What partitions do you see?

For reference, take a look at this thread http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=49176 - the poster wants to get rid of Media Center. The technique would be the same for you.

Before proceeding, post back.

Regards - Charles

 

uninstall windows 2000

Charles,thanks for your response. Under the heading Volume it reads C: and under the heading "layout" it reads Partition. Under the heading "type" it reads basic and the file system is FAT32.
Bob

 

Hi Bob,

Is there a dual boot menu - a choice of which OS to start - on bootup?

If not, what's the indicator that you still have WK2 on the system?

Your not seeing more than one partition has me puzzled.

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Bob,

I've asked for opinions on questions to ask:

If you can answer those, we'll know more on how to proceed.

Regards - Charles

 

Thanks again. I installed a full version of Windows XP from the Microsoft CD onto my pc which was running Windows 2000. I installed the CD while Windows 2000 was running. I did not format the disc before installing XP, but I would like to do that and erase the Windows 2000 OS. There is definitely a dual boot menu which asks me to select which OS I want to choose. It will default to XP if I do not do anything. If I select 2000, the Windows 2000 OS will open. My preference to to reformat the hard drive and re-load XP from the CD that was in the Windows XP box that I purchased. Can I do that?
Bob

 

Sorry to butt in Christer, but it sounds like he parallel installed XP into the same partition as 2k. If that’s the case then formatting during the XP install is all that’s required to get rid on the ntloader boot menu. Even if he does have two separate partitions these can both be deleted from the XP setup and a new one created, which will also remove the old ntloader files.

 

That’s interesting Christer, when I read what you said I considered how it could happen and I did think that the only way possible was as you described, but as I had never seen this myself I decided it was unlikely. (I’ve installed XP many dozens of times on all configurations of drives and partitions)

I can confirm that it has nothing to do with the MBR. The only change WinNT makes to the MBR is the addition of the NT Disk Signature Number. I’ve played a lot with this and can’t say it has any impact during installing 2K/XP.

I’m just setting up a clean hard drive to see this for myself and I’ll read that link and all the stuff it leads to as I have great respect for Dan Goodell.


Edit:-
It does not matter what file system the partitions are Christer, the MBR is separate and is the same if you have FAT, NTFS, or even Linux file systems. The fdisk/mbr command from the floppy will still work and write the standard Microsoft MBR. It will however delete the NT Disk Signature Number.

Sorry, didn’t read your posts correctly. You can use the 98 startup floppy to delete the NTFS partition and then create a new one and format it

 

uninstalling 2000

Thanks for all your comments. I was hoping I could just reformat using the Windows XP disc because I had a problem downloading the 98 start up disc. When I went to the link, I saved the .exe program to my desktop. I then copied it onto a floppy disc. When I tried to open the icon from the floppy disc, it began self extracting but did not complete the process. Should I have opened the program while it was still on the desktop? I tried to boot the computer with the floppy drive and the unopened icon on it, but all I got was message about a non system disc error. Any idea why the program would not open? Any other suggetions where I can get a Windows 98 start up disc.
Bob

 

Torcano…..If your XP CD had Service Pack2 included then I would go ahead and just delete the current partition during the XP setup and then recreate it and format it. This is a good walk-through of the process http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdoldhdd/index.htm

If you don’t have Service Pack 2 then once you have deleted the current partition, reboot the computer and then carry on and create the new partition and format, then install.

Christer….Just installed XP Home original version, then deleted it from the XP Pro setup and installed Pro (with SP2 included) and I did not get the double entry in the boot.ini. I’m guessing the problem has been fixed with one of the service packs. I know the problem with XP assigning a drive letter to a Zip drive was fixed with one of the service packs, can’t remember now which one. I have Zip drives in both my machines.

I’ll run it again tomorrow but this time I’ll use the original release of XP Pro.

 

Hi Christer….I can’t get the dual boot option to appear.
I took an old 20gig hard drive and deleted all the partitions only (not the MBR) then set it as the sole master hard drive and installed XP Home (no Service Packs) to the full size of the drive. Then used the XP Pro SP2 CD to delete the partition and install Pro to the whole drive again. No dual boot option and no double entry in the boot.ini file.

Next I reinstalled XP Home by again deleting the Pro partition from the XP setup then recreated it and installed to the whole hard drive. Still nothing. Next I installed the original release of Pro in the same method but this time to just a 10gig partition from the start of the drive. Still nothing. In all occasions I never touched the MBR.

I then installed a second copy of Pro to a second 10gig partition. I did not hide the first partition but left the XP install there fully visible. I did however alter what I believe to be the deciding factor on what determines if the ntloader sets up its dual boot configuration. The second install came out clean as the C: drive with no dual boot screen and no second entry in the boot.ini. The first install was in My Computer as the D: drive. Both installs are totally independent of each other with no crossed ntloader files.

So it’s not an issue with pre service pack cds, and not as Dan surmised the PE environment remembering the OS even after the partition has been deleted. Reading his post it does sound like he is only speculating on the probable cause. It’s a reasonable assumption and as I said the only one I could think of as an explanation as I knew it had nothing to do with the MBR.

The multiboot machines I set up are too complex for the MS ntloader so I had to find the way to ensure it never configured its own bootloader. It’s been a long time since I installed XP on a simple partition setup as in those tests, so I could not be sure the PE environment idea was not true.

The deciding factor for 2K/XP setting up its bootloader is if the partition you are installing to is not the Active partition on the drive, but there is another partition that is set as the Active one. If the setup finds another partition that is the Active one and has a Windows operating system on there (or even if it is just a FAT or NTFS data partition) it will set up the ntloader to run from that Active partition and configure the bootloader. If that Active partition is not FAT or NTFS it will change the Active partition to being the one currently being installed to and in some cases add an entry in the boot.ini pointing to that previous Active partition.

To install XP to that second 10gig partition all I did was create the partition with an other partitioning tool and set it as the Active one before I began the XP install, then pointed the install to it. The first install was then ignored.

There are obviously other situations that can create a second entry in the boot.ini file, like a failed repair install. I don’t know Christer what has caused it with you, perhaps an unrecognised recovery partition, but in my experience it’s not the PE environment idea or the MBR.

Sorry Torcano for taking over your thread.

 

Cheers Christer,
I’d love to get to the bottom of this as well and I’d certainly enjoy a chat with Dan, but unfortunately I’ve got to stop playing with computers for a while and get on with some proper work. I’ll take this up again when I have more time and I’ll certainly let you know if I find anything conclusive.