how to uninstall win98 and install win xp from my pc?

Question

iam using win98 and i want to uninstall win 98 and install win xp. iam afraid if my d drive data will get deleted. how to do it.

Answer 1

Jus insert the XP CD and click on upgrdade during installation

Answer 2

To uninstall 98 just delete the Windows folder from a boot disk
with a file manager. Then You can install XP. Some of the installed programs in "program files" will continue to work with XP the rest can be deleted later ( they were not installed under XP so You can delete them savely without unsinstalling).

If You want to create some more conveniance & install XP?

XP needs about 2 Gigabity free space.
If You have several partitions and enough space You can create a dual boot system and not deinstall win98.

win98 stays working on c: xp goes to another partition that has 2 gibayte free space. Else You could also have xp on c: in a folder
that has other name than windows.

Benefit: In case of a system crash infection You have a second spare operational system - e. g. to virus scan the infected.
It can be also used to copy back drive images of the other system. Win98 starts up much faster, for short sessions
where You only retrieve some mail or such things 98 is the
better solution.

Requirement: that both systems use FAT.
Disadvantage You can not use the more secure NT file system.

Answer 3

dont worry about uninstalling win98 go thro a fresh install with the win xp cd - you can do this either by booting of the win xp cd if its bootable - or just stick the xp cd in while windows 98 is running.

if running from within win98 click on new install option .. .. follow the prompts (it copies stuff off the cd to a special temp area).. .. after it reboots into the blue screen and you agree the license etc it asks you where you want to install it at this point you should be able to see both your partitions (they may not be labelled as you expect them, but the c partition will be the first one on there - you can confirm this by looking at the size of the partition (displayed on the right).

At this point you can delete c partition and recreate it so you know it will be a completely fresh build with nothing left over from the win 98 build. As long as you dont select the d partition or any other you may have, it will be left untouched.

Booting and installing of the winxp cd is pretty much the same except the first few starting screens are slightly different.

If you have a cd/dvd writer you should use that to make a backup of really important stuff, or if you have a spare drive you can install xp on the new disk and hook up the hard drive after installing xp that way you'll know your data is untouched.

btw the prev post about xp not reading fat32 is *not* true. when you install xp you can choose fat32 or ntfs - I would recommend ntfs as its more effiicent (has smaller cluster sizes so looses less disk space overall, plus its has a full acl set that fat32 has not got and ntfs can access larger data sets). Win xp will read fat32 just fine (you wont be able to set file permissions etc on it though), it would be worthy however to convert your old d partition to ntfs at some later point though.

Answer 4

Well, Only way you can save the data on your D: drive to where your XP partition will be able to read data on your D: drive, is to install XP on your C: drive by deleting the partition and reformatting it with FAT32, make sure you dont touch the D: drive partition on windows installation.. If you dont use FAT32, your XP partition using NTFS will not know how to read the Win98 file system that was used to write the information on the drive.. When you install XP, transfer all the files over from the D drive onto the C: drive and at that point you can convert your FAT32 partition to a NTFS file system partition. To do this go into command prompt and type convert c: /FS:NTFS

hope this helps a little.

Answer 5

If you uninstall 98 you'll lose a lot of stuff in the Windows directory that your software needs to run, and you might as well wipe the hard drive since you'll have to reinstall everything anyhow. It's a lot easier just to do the upgrade.
On the other hand, deleting everything and doing a fresh copy of XP will clean up a lot of garbage and give you a better computer. You can just save files onto a CD or USB drive before you do it.

Answer 6

Install and Run Windows XP Operating System CD. While installing choose the option Advanced it will automatically Install XP without deleting any files on your disk. But follow the instructions very carefully. The whole process takes an hour or so.

Answer 7

In your current configuration, note the size of both of your drives and the names.(or partitions if it's one drive split up).

Insert the Windows XP installation CD and boot from it.

When it asks you to install, it will allow you to choose which hard disk you want to put files onto. Simply look at the sizes and the logical drive letters. It should still have them labeled C: D:... etc.

And if your still unsure, just compare the names and sizes to double check and reference the drives. Once you pick a drive, Windows Setup will only modify the drive you have chosen. You can choose to format it, and I would, this way it wipes all the Windows 98 information and you'll have a nice clean installation. (Upgrading is possible, but you'd be better off just wiping anyways).

I hope this helps!

P.S. In a NT based OS, ALWAYS FORMAT in NTFS when given the option. More reliable, easier to address, and is more secure.

Answer 8

I recommend you follow the standard MS Windows XP installation procedure. Just check your bios setting to make sure you can boot from the XP installation CDROM, reboot your computer and follow the on-screen instructions. Only the C drive should be affected by the install, but you could disconnect your D drive inside the computer housing to make positively sure before doing the install.

Answer 9

You can perform an upgrade to Windows XP from Windows 98. If Windows 98 is installed to your C drive, then you D drive will be fine, just don't format your D drive.

Answer 10

first run the compatibility software to see what you'll need to install XP print the report and get the updates for everything that's on the report primarily the drivers for the hardware you'll definitely need that or else it will NOT install.
do yourself a favor and back up the files you want to keep and do a full format and install because there's nothing in 98 you want on your computer anyway get rid of it also change file system to NTFS it's more stable and quicker