removing windows xp ilvpegasus 7/11/2007 2:24:03 AM I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on the activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall it. I am going to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know what command to type in to do it. I do not want to have to format as I don't have the drivers to put back in. Any Suggestions on how I can do this?

Re: removing windows xp Bruce Chambers <bchambers[ at ]cable0ne.n3t> 7/11/2007 2:40:04 AM ilvpegasus wrote: [Quoted Text] > I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on the > activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall it. I am going > to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know what command to type in to > do it. I do not want to have to format as I don't have the drivers to put > back in. Any Suggestions on how I can do this? The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to format the hard drive and install a new OS of your choice. Only if you performed an upgrade from Win98/Me, elected to backup the old system files, and didn't convert the partition to NTFS, can you then boot into Safe Mode and click Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. All of these conditions must be met for the uninstall option to be available. -- Bruce Chambers Help us help you: http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

Re: removing windows xp ilvpegasus 7/11/2007 3:00:02 AM Thanks for the help. Unfortunetly none of the conditions you mentioned apply to mine situation. "Bruce Chambers" wrote: [Quoted Text] > ilvpegasus wrote: > > I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on the > > activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall it. I am going > > to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know what command to type in to > > do it. I do not want to have to format as I don't have the drivers to put > > back in. Any Suggestions on how I can do this? > > > The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to format > the hard drive and install a new OS of your choice. > > Only if you performed an upgrade from Win98/Me, elected to backup > the old system files, and didn't convert the partition to NTFS, can > you then boot into Safe Mode and click Start > Control Panel > > Add/Remove Programs. All of these conditions must be met for the > uninstall option to be available. > > > -- > > Bruce Chambers > > Help us help you: > http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html > > They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary > safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin > > Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell >

Re: removing windows xp "Shenan Stanley" <newshelper[ at ]gmail.com> 7/11/2007 3:46:57 AM ilvpegasus wrote: [Quoted Text] > I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on > the activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall > it. I am going to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know > what command to type in to do it. I do not want to have to > format as I don't have the drivers to put back in. Any > Suggestions on how I can do this? Bruce Chambers wrote: > The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to > format the hard drive and install a new OS of your choice. > > Only if you performed an upgrade from Win98/Me, elected to > backup the old system files, and didn't convert the partition to NTFS, can > you then boot into Safe Mode and click Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. All of these conditions must be met for > the uninstall option to be available. ilvpegasus wrote: > Thanks for the help. Unfortunetly none of the conditions you > mentioned apply to mine situation. Actually - the FIRST one applies to everyone... 'The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to format the hard drive and install a new OS of your choice.' This sentence makes no sense from your original posting, "I do not want to have to format as I don't have the drivers to put back in."... What does that mean...? You are needing to get rid of Windows XP because the copy you installed/product key you utilized is not legitimate and you cannot activate. You mentioned no other OS - no other Windows XP license you have, etc... So at this point - the only way we can tell you to get rid of the illegitimate XP (uninstall it) is to format it. If you do not have another OS to do that - then I guess you will havew to purchase one or do without. ;-) -- Shenan Stanley MS-MVP -- How To Ask Questions The Smart Way http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Re: removing windows xp "Harry Ohrn" <harry---[ at ]webtree.ca> 7/11/2007 4:05:39 AM You can not do it. -- Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User] www.webtree.ca/windowsxp "ilvpegasus" <ilvpegasus[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:7203598B-9B54-40D9-A9F1-E2D763244225[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] >I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on the > activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall it. I am > going > to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know what command to type in > to > do it. I do not want to have to format as I don't have the drivers to put > back in. Any Suggestions on how I can do this?

Re: removing windows xp ilvpegasus 7/11/2007 4:16:00 AM I have Windows 98 to put back in. I purchased the computer refurbished and was not given any dicks containing the drivers. I was sure that you could go into DOS and remove the Windows directory then just install a new one, but no one seems to know the proper command to type in. Is this actually possible? "Shenan Stanley" wrote: [Quoted Text] > ilvpegasus wrote: > > I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on > > the activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall > > it. I am going to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know > > what command to type in to do it. I do not want to have to > > format as I don't have the drivers to put back in. Any > > Suggestions on how I can do this? > > Bruce Chambers wrote: > > The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to > > format the hard drive and install a new OS of your choice. > > > > Only if you performed an upgrade from Win98/Me, elected to > > backup the old system files, and didn't convert the partition to NTFS, can > > you then boot into Safe Mode and click Start > Control Panel > > Add/Remove Programs. All of these conditions must be met for > > the uninstall option to be available. > > ilvpegasus wrote: > > Thanks for the help. Unfortunetly none of the conditions you > > mentioned apply to mine situation. > > Actually - the FIRST one applies to everyone... > 'The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to format the hard > drive and install a new OS of your choice.' > > This sentence makes no sense from your original posting, "I do not want to > have to format as I don't have the drivers to put back in."... > > What does that mean...? You are needing to get rid of Windows XP because the > copy you installed/product key you utilized is not legitimate and you cannot > activate. You mentioned no other OS - no other Windows XP license you have, > etc... So at this point - the only way we can tell you to get rid of the > illegitimate XP (uninstall it) is to format it. If you do not have another > OS to do that - then I guess you will havew to purchase one or do without. > ;-) > > -- > Shenan Stanley > MS-MVP > -- > How To Ask Questions The Smart Way > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html > > >

Re: removing windows xp "Shenan Stanley" <newshelper[ at ]gmail.com> 7/11/2007 5:43:10 AM ilvpegasus wrote: [Quoted Text] > I have Windows 98 to put back in. I purchased the computer > refurbished and was not given any dicks containing the drivers. I > was sure that you could go into DOS and remove the Windows > directory then just install a new one, but no one seems to know the > proper command to type in. Is this actually possible? "Shenan No. There is no true DOS in Windows XP. You can boot from a DOS/Windows 98 DOS boot diskette (you'll have to to reinstall Windows 98 anyway) and FDKISK to erase the partitions and create new ones. As for the drivers - you can download individual drivers from the web support pages for the hardware in your machine. -- Shenan Stanley MS-MVP -- How To Ask Questions The Smart Way http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Re: removing windows xp "Harry Ohrn" <harry---[ at ]webtree.ca> 7/11/2007 5:51:55 AM Sorry but I hit the send button too soon. What I meant to say was you can not do this the way you are asking "from DOS" non destructively. -- Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User] www.webtree.ca/windowsxp "ilvpegasus" <ilvpegasus[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:7203598B-9B54-40D9-A9F1-E2D763244225[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] >I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on the > activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall it. I am > going > to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know what command to type in > to > do it. I do not want to have to format as I don't have the drivers to put > back in. Any Suggestions on how I can do this?

Re: removing windows xp |-| oo K <red_spider_net[ at ]yahoo.co.in> 7/11/2007 11:23:39 PM On Jul 11, 7:24 am, ilvpegasus <ilvpega...[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: [Quoted Text] > I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on the > activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall it. I am going > to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know what command to type in to > do it. I do not want to have to format as I don't have the drivers to put > back in. Any Suggestions on how I can do this? ___________________________________________________________________ hi, if u r having two or more than one drive... then u can install xp in another drive........ example.... c: and d: are two drive c: OS already install with driver install xp in d: during the process of installation allmost allthe drivers ( graphics, sound...) will be AUTOMATICALLY detected and accepted from c: to d: next time you put the xp cd and boot....... and format c: difference IS THAT : a new OS with DRIVER in D: _____________________________________________________________________ DOS COMMAND TO FORMAT DRIVE : A:\>format C: WILL FORMAT C:.... BUT IT WILL FARMAT ALONG WITH DRIVER.

Re: removing windows xp "Harry Ohrn" <harry---[ at ]webtree.ca> 7/12/2007 5:38:38 AM Provided the XP setup was to a FAT32 formatted partition then yes you can boot a Windows 98 Startup Disk and use the Deltree command to delete the existing Windows Directory. But that won't solve your problem of not having drivers because by deleting the Windows Directory you delete the registry and all references to any currently installed drivers. Even if you could retain the drivers they would be specific to Windows XP or perhaps Windows 2000 and might not be accepted by Windows 98 anyway. Anyway for what it is worth the DOS Command would be this DELTREE C:\WINDOWS -- Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User] www.webtree.ca/windowsxp "ilvpegasus" <ilvpegasus[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A87CCBC2-39D4-44C9-80C3-423126699DE0[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] > > I have Windows 98 to put back in. I purchased the computer refurbished > and > was not given any dicks containing the drivers. I was sure that you could > go > into DOS and remove the Windows directory then just install a new one, but > no > one seems to know the proper command to type in. Is this actually > possible? > "Shenan Stanley" wrote: > >> ilvpegasus wrote: >> > I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on >> > the activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall >> > it. I am going to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know >> > what command to type in to do it. I do not want to have to >> > format as I don't have the drivers to put back in. Any >> > Suggestions on how I can do this? >> >> Bruce Chambers wrote: >> > The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to >> > format the hard drive and install a new OS of your choice. >> > >> > Only if you performed an upgrade from Win98/Me, elected to >> > backup the old system files, and didn't convert the partition to NTFS, >> > can >> > you then boot into Safe Mode and click Start > Control Panel >> > Add/Remove Programs. All of these conditions must be met for >> > the uninstall option to be available. >> >> ilvpegasus wrote: >> > Thanks for the help. Unfortunetly none of the conditions you >> > mentioned apply to mine situation. >> >> Actually - the FIRST one applies to everyone... >> 'The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to format the hard >> drive and install a new OS of your choice.' >> >> This sentence makes no sense from your original posting, "I do not want >> to >> have to format as I don't have the drivers to put back in."... >> >> What does that mean...? You are needing to get rid of Windows XP because >> the >> copy you installed/product key you utilized is not legitimate and you >> cannot >> activate. You mentioned no other OS - no other Windows XP license you >> have, >> etc... So at this point - the only way we can tell you to get rid of the >> illegitimate XP (uninstall it) is to format it. If you do not have >> another >> OS to do that - then I guess you will havew to purchase one or do >> without. >> ;-) >> >> -- >> Shenan Stanley >> MS-MVP >> -- >> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way >> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html >> >> >>