Revert back to W98

Yavvy

I am selling my PC soon and I currently have XP Pro installed.

However I am not selling the Licience along with it. Im selling my old copy of W98.

How do I revert back W98 and is there a good way totally wipe all personal information for my hard drive ? stuff like PST, Temp files and old porn

raphaelS

Get a win98 boot disk, then run a Fdisk to delete the XP NTFS partition, create a new partition (one or more if you want).
Then format the new partition(s) in FAT32...

Raphael

Tivoli

fdisk will describe ntfs partitions as "non-dos"

Yavvy

what does that mean ?

Tivoli

fdisk will describe ntfs partitions as "non-dos"

i was just saying fdisk will report it as a non-dos partition


anyway here goes...

get a win98 floppy drive

http://www.24by7.ca/files/boot98se.exe

remove and unplug any unecessary hardware, this will speed install and stop windows marking them as unknowen devices



boot pc from floppy(this might need to be enabled in bios)

at dos prompt, type "e:\" , this will prove you cd is working

type
d:\
fdisk

using FDISK
press y for large disk support and y for ntfs file systems (if prompted)
press 3 to delete partitions
press 4 to delete non-dos partition
confirm delete
esc back to fdisk options
press 4 to make sure there are no other partitions
esc back again
press 1 to create partition
press 1 again to create primary partition
use entire free space

make a sandwich

when finished reboot pc with floppy still in

type
d:\
format c:

eat sandwich


when finished type
e:\
setup.exe


make a cup of tea and get a few vicounts (2 should do)

best of luck with getting your drivers setup

sci0x

But to be absolutely sure that no personal or confidential data is on the HD delete all the files and then wipe the free space and then rewipe it so nothing is recoverable. To do this get Jetico's BCWipe 3

Capt'n Midnight

Just a reminder to others:

1 / You can't use an OEM copy of Windows on any machine other than the one it came with.

2 / If you use an upgrade copy of windows - the original copy can't be used on ANY machine again.

3 / If none the above apply and you have a old Brand name PC chances are the company has already had to pay M$ a license for Windows whether they installed Windows on the PC or not. (eg: has anyone either ordered a Dell Dimension without windows or got a windows refund on it ??)

If you can't nuke the drive with fdisk there is a routine you can use with debug that kills off the partition table
support.microsoft.com/support/ kb/articles/q106/4/19.asp

   Table 1:  Debug Script to Erase Hard-Disk Partition Table
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
      Debug        Enter Debug       Comments
      Prompts      Commands
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
      -            A 100             Assemble from CS:0100.

      nnnn:0100    INT 13            Call interrupt 13.

      nnnn:0102    press the         (nnnn in the segment address).
                   ENTER key

      -            RAX               Replace AX register.

      AX 0000

      :            0301              Write on sector.

      -            RBX               Replace BX register.

      BX 0000

      :            0200              Start from ES:200.

      -            F 200 L 200 0     We want to write zeros.

      -            RCX               Replace CX register.

      CX 0000

      :            0001              Cylinder, 0, sector 1.

      -            RDX               Replace DX register.

      DX 0000

      :            0080              First physical hard disk, head
                                     0. (Substitute 0081 for this
                                     entry if you are clearing the
                                     table on the second physical
                                     hard disk, 0082 if you are
                                     clearing the third physical
                                     hard disk, and so forth).

      -            P                 Proceed (Debug will display
                                     several lines of information).

      -            Q                 Quit Debug.
   ----------------------------------------------------------------

Now all you need to do is stick it in a word macro...

sceptre

Originally posted by Capt'n Midnight

   Table 1:  Debug Script to Erase Hard-Disk Partition Table
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
      Debug        Enter Debug       Comments
      Prompts      Commands
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
      -            A 100             Assemble from CS:0100.

      nnnn:0100    INT 13            Call interrupt 13.

      nnnn:0102    press the         (nnnn in the segment address).
                   ENTER key

      -            RAX               Replace AX register.

      AX 0000

      :            0301              Write on sector.

      -            RBX               Replace BX register.

      BX 0000

      :            0200              Start from ES:200.

      -            F 200 L 200 0     We want to write zeros.

      -            RCX               Replace CX register.

      CX 0000

      :            0001              Cylinder, 0, sector 1.

      -            RDX               Replace DX register.

      DX 0000

      :            0080              First physical hard disk, head
                                     0. (Substitute 0081 for this
                                     entry if you are clearing the
                                     table on the second physical
                                     hard disk, 0082 if you are
                                     clearing the third physical
                                     hard disk, and so forth).

      -            P                 Proceed (Debug will display
                                     several lines of information).

      -            Q                 Quit Debug.
   ----------------------------------------------------------------

Heh, sleeping at the back of comp org class finally comes in useful in the real world - I understood that:D