I am a volunteer at a AARP TaxAide site where we assist
elderly and low income folks prepare and e-file their
taxes.

I have been put in charge of some 40 computers put
together in small networks. Most use the Windows 2000 Pro
OS. However, I have one computer that was delivered with
the XP OS. I want to clean install Windows 2000 Pro so
all that OS is the same on all the computers.

I tried the clean install from the disk but get a message
and it will not let me perform the clean install because
the XP is a newer OS.

I do remember seeing instructions somewhere on the
Microsoft web page the steps to install Windows 2000 over
XP but can't find it now that I need it.

Can someone familiar with this web page?

Thanks, Nick

NickO wrote:
> I am a volunteer at a AARP TaxAide site where we assist
> elderly and low income folks prepare and e-file their
> taxes.
>
> I have been put in charge of some 40 computers put
> together in small networks. Most use the Windows 2000 Pro
> OS. However, I have one computer that was delivered with
> the XP OS. I want to clean install Windows 2000 Pro so
> all that OS is the same on all the computers.
>
> I tried the clean install from the disk but get a message
> and it will not let me perform the clean install because
> the XP is a newer OS.
>
> I do remember seeing instructions somewhere on the
> Microsoft web page the steps to install Windows 2000 over
> XP but can't find it now that I need it.
>
> Can someone familiar with this web page?
>
> Thanks, Nick

A little contradiction here...A clean install implies
installing on to a clean hard drive. Wipe the hard drive
and boot the computer from the Windows 2000 cdrom and
run setup from it. Just be sure that this [newer model]
computer has all of the Windows 2000 driver files for
the hardware that came with it. Otherwise, leave Windows
XP intact. Not much significant difference between
Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

In addition to Mistoffolees comments:

Here's how to change WinXP's look and feel. Many users that have upgraded from
previous Windows versions, prefer the classic mode.

http://www.amherst.edu/it/software/xp/classic.html

--
Hope this helps..Reply in newsgroup only.
Eric McGillicudy

"NickO" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e7d501c3f05c$b82a6730$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am a volunteer at a AARP TaxAide site where we assist
> elderly and low income folks prepare and e-file their
> taxes.
>
> I have been put in charge of some 40 computers put
> together in small networks. Most use the Windows 2000 Pro
> OS. However, I have one computer that was delivered with
> the XP OS. I want to clean install Windows 2000 Pro so
> all that OS is the same on all the computers.
>
> I tried the clean install from the disk but get a message
> and it will not let me perform the clean install because
> the XP is a newer OS.
>
> I do remember seeing instructions somewhere on the
> Microsoft web page the steps to install Windows 2000 over
> XP but can't find it now that I need it.
>
> Can someone familiar with this web page?
>
> Thanks, Nick

>-----Original Message-----
>
>NickO wrote:
>> I am a volunteer at a AARP TaxAide site where we assist
>> elderly and low income folks prepare and e-file their
>> taxes.
>>
>> I have been put in charge of some 40 computers put
>> together in small networks. Most use the Windows 2000
Pro
>> OS. However, I have one computer that was delivered
with
>> the XP OS. I want to clean install Windows 2000 Pro so
>> all that OS is the same on all the computers.
>>
>> I tried the clean install from the disk but get a
message
>> and it will not let me perform the clean install
because
>> the XP is a newer OS.
>>
>> I do remember seeing instructions somewhere on the
>> Microsoft web page the steps to install Windows 2000
over
>> XP but can't find it now that I need it.
>>
>> Can someone familiar with this web page?
>>
>> Thanks, Nick
>
>A little contradiction here...A clean install implies
>installing on to a clean hard drive. Wipe the hard drive
>and boot the computer from the Windows 2000 cdrom and
>run setup from it. Just be sure that this [newer model]
>computer has all of the Windows 2000 driver files for
>the hardware that came with it. Otherwise, leave Windows
>XP intact. Not much significant difference between
>Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
>
>.
>Obviously I don't know what I'm talking about. Thanks for
your comments. Is what I tried was a "clean install" from
the Windows 2000 Pro CD. It attempted to format the HD but
then would not do that because the XP OS was already their.

So, it sounds like if I want a clean install, I must first
format the drive, then install from the CD.

There are two reasons I was going to clean install the W2K.

The first reason is that whomever had this computer before
me apparently messed up the sytem to the extent that we
have not been able to get it to network. I am hoping I
will be able to get rid of whatever is causing the
networking difficulty -- by doing the clean install??

Maybe there is a better way to fix this problem and leave
all the programs (that do work) and the XP on the computer
but I just don't know what is messed up now. I would like
to get it on the network so it can share the printer and
some of the files from one of the other computers (there
are 3 and the "server" has windows 2000 already on it.

If you have any more advise, I will be most grateful.

Thank you, Nick

>>Obviously I don't know what I'm talking about. Thanks for
>your comments. Is what I tried was a "clean install" from
>the Windows 2000 Pro CD. It attempted to format the HD but
>then would not do that because the XP OS was already their.
>
>So, it sounds like if I want a clean install, I must first
>format the drive, then install from the CD.

You MIGHT be able to use FDISK from the Win2k CD to "remove"
the hard drive, then "reinsert" by setting it to the active
partition... and then finally do a format for a clean install

If the CD does not have FDISK (or won't let you remove the
existing drive partition) you will need to use a boot disk

John Thomas Smith
http://www.direct2usales.com
http://www.pacifier.com/~jtsmith