How do I UNINSTALL XP professional?

[vamparella]

Because I cannot run a particular software properly using WIN XP Professiona (SP2) I deceided to go back to Win 2000.

Now I started with Win 98, upgraded to Win 2000 then upgraded to XP.

I searched Microsofts site and saw this note:

"To remove Windows XP, you must have upgraded from Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition.

Note If you upgraded from Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Windows 2000, or Windows NT 4.0, you cannot remove Windows XP."

They cant really be serious ..can they? Can somebody help me get this buggy crap off my system? Persoanlly I prefer if I didn't have to remove the other programs on my system but if thats what I have to do then I'm prepared to do it.

In addition ..with Win 2000 does this make my system more vulnerable to viruses when I go online?

[bassman]

Not that anyone here would have a problem with you un-installing a Windows product :D and it appears as though it can't be done without a full re-install, maybe we can help you get past the problem with the desired software and XP without the drastic measure of full re-install.
A little more background info would help. What is the program? What problems are you having? Did this start after SP2? Anything else you can think of would help ;)

[vamparella]

I bought a new machine to run an animation software (ToonBoom) and to make a long story short ... after looking at my video card settings, my system bios, e-mailing disparate vendors ...I have decided to get back to Win 2000. The software has combatibility features with WIN 98, Win 2000 ...but not XP. In addition my new machine is an Athlon64 CPU and shows the very same symptoms shown when I ran the software on an old Pentium 3. The common denominator is XP.



To be honest ...I doubt you can help me because while you may know the hardware and Windows etc.. ... its very difficult to trouble shoot when this software variable is introduced.

Just tell me how to uninstall XP. I tried using the safe mode route and it wouldn't allow me to uninstall it.

[bassman]

Since I am not familar with the necessary un-install, I would have to refer to the info you already found through Microsoft. You will need to delete the existing install and reinstall 2000. This can be done by inserting your 2000 disk and following the on-screen instructions to do a full install. I do not know if the 2000 full install will preserve your existing settings, programs, and documents like XP will, so hang on for a bit for more recommendations from some of the others ;) There are several others here who are very experienced with this.

Good luck
Frank

[vamparella]

No luck there either ...I tried using my Win2000 and Win 98 disks and each time I get a prompt that an older version of Windows exists and my olny option is to remove the diskette!


When I have either the money or time ..I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL RID MYSELF OF MICROSOFT!!!

[pop pop]

Zero fill the drive or just delete the partition, reformat, install W2K.

[Erik]

If you want to just reinstall everything then you can just put the Windows 2000 CD into the CD drive, ignore the message that comes up and reboot the machine. Make sure that your BIOS is configured to boot from the CD before the HD. Then when prompted choose to boot from the CD. This will allow you to format the HD and install Windows 2000 cleanly.

Have you tried running the software that is giving you problems in Windows 2000 compatibility mode? That might take care of whatever problem you are having without needing to do a complete Windows installation.

[videobruce]

Better off with 2k.
No product activation,
No FP interface to get rid of,
Less bloat.
This time after you load the O/S and your drivers, ake a image of the install so if there is a problem you can restore it to something that works.
FWIW, make a image of the system as it is now if for nothing else; 'kicks & giggles'.

[ErnieK]

vamparella
If your main reason for getting rid of XP is because you cannot get a certain program to work have you tried the campatabilty mode. This allows Xp to run some programs as though XP were 98/2k etc. It does not work for all programs but might be worth a shot.

After installing hte program go to the stsrt/All programs and RIGHT click the desired prog and chose PROPERTIES then (if available) select COMPATABILLITY and pick the desired OS to run as.

[Paleo Pete]

Another thread concerning this machine and overall problem is Here (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=36860) so everyone can get a better idea what's going on.

Referring back to that thread, I'm really surprised cutting back the XP graphics made the situation worse...slow or jerky video performance usually gets better at graphics settings that hog less system resources and video RAM. I'm wondering if a different video card would be a better option. Some of the earllier cards, especially Matrox I think it is, are more oriented toward 2D while newer cards are leaning heavily on 3D usage. ATi and nVidia have been trying to outdo each other the past 2-3 years in the gaming area, which means lots of attention to 3D. Your animation software is 2D oriented, which I Think is the big difference.

That said, I would be all for removing XP, but if your animation software has worked on a machine with lots less "horsepower", it should work on this one too without resorting to the extreme of switching to a diferent OS. To remove XP I think you'll have to completely format and reinstall, Windows doesn't like to let you install an earlier version of itself...been that way ever since win95...I would just reboot with the win2000 CD in the drive, it should allow you to format the existing partition and carry on with the installation. If not you'll have to repartition using the drive manufacturer's software or one of the third party partition managers.

But as much as I'd like to see XP in the garbage can, it's always best to try and resolve the issue and make reinstalling a last resort.

One other thing you might try is swapping to the video card from the older machine, if it worked well with your animation software and XP on that machine, if nothing else it will tell you if it's a video card issue, which I think is a good possibility. Make sure you completely remove the existing card before shutting down to physically swap cards...That and trying an earlier driver for your existing card both would be worth a try as far as I can tell.