[lilias]

Hi Can you tell me how to uninstall windows 98, as I am trying to upgrade to windows 98 SE but when I load it on to p.c without unistalling windows98 I can't connect to internet , when I try to connect it keeps coming up this program has caused an illeegal operation and will be shut down. So thought mabye its because I didn't unistall windows 98 first , when I go into add and remove programs I don't have anything saying windows 98 so I don't know where to find it to uninstall thanks for any help

[rugbug100]

Try,
Start
Search
Enter windows 98
See if it comes up and if it does. Delete it.

[psi42]

You can't uninstall windows 98 from within widows 98. You can try to delete everything and I don't know how far you will get but you'll never get it uninstalled properly. You'll probably just end up with an unbootable OS. You must uninstall while windows 98 is not running.

Before you do anything, make a full backup. This is especially important if you don't have a factory restore disk or the windows 98 first edition cd. Try using the free utility "Partition Saving" (http://perso.club-internet.fr/guiboure/en/) to do this, or a commercial utility like norton ghost.

Now, you have several options:

Try creating a boot disk with windows 98 utilities (start-->settings-->control panel-->add/remove programs-->startup disk. Look at the floppy and see if there is an uninstall.exe program. If there is (I know there is on windows 95), reboot with the floppy and run it. I haven't used this method, so I don't know exactly what will happen. If it doesn't delete everything it might only delete windows98 leaving data intact. Be sure to be careful...

OR, you could just boot into dos with a floppy (like the one created above, and format the partition that has win98. This will delete everything, so be careful. To do this you would type format C: (assuming that is your windows partition) at the A:\> prompt.

OR, you could go to the extreme and run fdisk and repartition the entire hard drive...

Note that there might still be remnants in the Master Boot Record, but this should not cause problems in you windows installation.


Be warned that if you have a really weird computer configuration this can cause very negative effects. So remember, I did warn you :) ;D

Good luck,
~psi42

[ScottGem]

IF you upgraded from Win 95 and chose the option to allow for uninstalling, then Win 98 should appear in the Add/Remove list. If it does not appear there or if you did not upgrade, then there is no way to uninstall without reformatting your drive.

The first step is to make sure you have installation disks for all your software including Windows and drivers disks for all your hardware. The next step is to make sure you have the Windows Startup floppy or a bootable floppy that will read your CD drive. You can make the floppy under Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs. You also need FDISK and FORMAT on that floppy.

Once you are prepared you boot from the floppy and run FDISK and run SETUP from the CD. You may need to Format the drive first. In which case you run FORMAT C: /S from the floppy.