OEM Win 2K

joezak

Quick Q folks - What is the best way to uninstall W2K ?????

BioHazRd

Formatting your drive is a good way - after you have backed up all your apps etc.

You don't say if you are dual booting - this is important because it does not need to involve formatting.

dahamsta

Like BioHazRd suggests, it depends on what you want to do in future. You don't really "uninstall" operating systems, you either delete them (format the drive), install over them, or install something else on the drive.

adam

ando

ditto, you can not uninstall Win2k, only upgrade or reinstall.

Why would you ever want to uninstall Windows 2000 ??? Seriously, I think its better than any OS out there, including XP

* me gets backhander from microsoft just like mary o rurke did with Eircom *

joezak

OK guys - what I really want to be is uninstall/remove a W2K installation in order to run RIS as part of MS exam 70-216. It is not a dual boot system just a fresh install. I have a home lab set up with 3 pcs shared over a kvm switch and a fast eternet switch

ando

i remember doing that, never had to do it in the real world though !!

You could use a boot disk, fdisk/format you drive and you'll be ok. If you don't have a boot disk, you could put the hd into the other win2k machine as a secondary and format it through computer management. I think you'l need a boot disk for RIS, unless you can boot from the Lan, i remeber i had to use a network bootable floppy for Ris

SantaHoe

Well you could boot from a floopy, delete the hidden root files from c:\ like boot.ini, ntloader etc... then do an 'fdisk /mbr'.
then 'sys c:' and install your OS as normal.
Anyone tried this?

ando

Originally posted by SantaHoe
Anyone tried this?

nope funny, i've never heard of doing it that way, but if it works, what the hell

zAbbo

If you want to completely format the drive i recommend using nortans GDISK (download available on the web somewhere) similar to fdisk and format joined together but completely wipes the drive(similar to low level formatting).

I`m not sure if you just wanna format the drive or keep the files on the drive and get rid of win2k. Post back and i`m sure i can help.

Seeing as i don`t know what RIS is sorta leaves my help with a big hole in it.

SantaHoe

Originally posted by ando
nope funny, i've never heard of doing it that way, but if it works, what the hell

It should work anyway, I'm not guarenteeing anything here
So backup your data before you get into something you can't get out of if things get messy.

joezak

"I`m not sure if you just wanna format the drive or keep the files on the drive and get rid of win2k. " - ando
I want to wipe everything - no need for a backup!

ando

right, well there's 2 ways I can think off straight off....

1)Get yourself a copy of a win95/98 boot disk with Fdisk and format.com on it. Boot from it, fdisk..... Delete all partitions, Create 1 single Dos partition.. format c:\

Restart and boot off the Lan (Computers with Built in NIC's usually have a 'Boot On Lan' option in the Bios Setup. You can setup the boot on lan option as the first bootable option. Connect it to the network with the Ris server on, and weyhay !

2)If you can't get yourself a boot disk, boot from a Win2k CD. Configure it so as to install win2k. It will give you the option of formating the hard-drive and formatting it in Fat or NTFS... (Simpler than the boot disk). As soon as the format is finished, unplug your machine. (I know its not the right way, but I've done it so many times with client machines and not got one problem yet )


Oh yeah BTW, some ppl dont know what RIS is:

RIS = Remote Installation Server
(remotely installs windows 2000 over a network)

zAbbo

Won`t trust fdisk or format that much I prefare to use GDISK for mission critical jobs. But for simplicity I`d run with the steps as outlined by andy possibly adding the fdisk /mbr command as well.

GDISK DOWNLOAD:
http://home.no.net/postdead/downloads.html
and select the start.rar

More info on GDISK:
http://service2.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/docid/1998081911285525

Thanks for the pm joezak
Hope this GDISK helps you in any future installs/formats.

joezak

Cheers everybody - that will give me more than to do the job - thanx again