Can I just delete C:\WINDOWS ??!!

[Joanna]

Hi,

I just installed Windows 2000 Professional 2 days ago so I'm in a sort of
post Win98 traumatic shock. I'm having quite a few teething problems, not
to mention the MSBlast Virus (now resolved ... I think), so expect a quite
a few posts from me this week! Anyway, one thing at a time:

I use a humble Compaq presario with 6GB hard disk space and 64MB RAM. The
PC came preinstalled with Win98SE and other software. When I first
installed Win2k I did it over the top of my Win 98 installation, but the
result was constant error messages and crashes, so I went for a clean
install instead. The error messages stopped and everything seemed fine, and
I set up Win2k with no apparent problems.
However, I notice that there's still a huge C:\WINDOWS folder, with
everything still in it, alongside of course C:\WINNT. It appears to be a
useless 98 OS just hogging up space on my hard drive. As I'm unfamiliar
with Win 2000 I'm not sure as to what the directories should look like.
Since I have no intention of going back to Win 98 (although with the amount
of 'memory dump' error messages I'm getting it's tempting...) can I just
delete this huge folder? What I'm asking is really, is there any purpose
for this folder on Win 2K?

Hope someone can help,

Joanna

 

[127.0.0.1]

Joanna wrote

: I use a humble Compaq presario with 6GB hard disk space and 64MB RAM. The
: PC came preinstalled with Win98SE and other software. When I first
: installed Win2k I did it over the top of my Win 98 installation, but the
: result was constant error messages and crashes, so I went for a clean
: install instead. The error messages stopped and everything seemed fine,
and
: I set up Win2k with no apparent problems.
: However, I notice that there's still a huge C:\WINDOWS folder, with
: everything still in it, alongside of course C:\WINNT. It appears to be a
: useless 98 OS just hogging up space on my hard drive. As I'm unfamiliar
: with Win 2000 I'm not sure as to what the directories should look like.
: Since I have no intention of going back to Win 98 (although with the
amount
: of 'memory dump' error messages I'm getting it's tempting...) can I just
: delete this huge folder? What I'm asking is really, is there any purpose
: for this folder on Win 2K?

An expert could probably tell you if a WINDOWS folder is ever required in
W2K, but for what it's worth I've never seen one, ever.

Much more likely is that you chose to leave the partition intact when you
installed W2K, which now shares the platter with lots of junk from your 98
days. And unless you converted the partition to NTFS, your system will be
FAT32 as well. My advice, FWIW, is install again, but this time format the
partition with NTFS. That will result in a cleaner drive and a better OS.
However, if that feels a bit too drastic, simply delete C:\WINDOWS. You know
you want to

John

 

[Joanna]

Hi John,

I did convert the system to NTFS during the 'clean installation'. This is
why I'm so puzzled - I thought that by doing a clean install every last file
from Win 98 would be erased (at least that's what the Win2K installation
disk 'warned' me of.
What's more, I installed Win2k over an almost fresh Win98 install: as I
mentioned, I tried installing Win2K over the top of my Win98 so I could hang
on to my programs and documents (I have only a floppy drive for portable
storage!). But I realised (too late) that 3 or 4 of my drivers were
incompatible with 2K ... including my modem driver ... so there was no way I
could even dial up to the internet to download new ones! And so (get this) -
I had to spend another hour or so *reinstalling* a fresh install of Win 98,
*just* so I could dial to the internet and download 4 new drivers for
Win2K(and hoped they worked) and then another hour clean-installing Win2k.
So my point is, my 98 days were already erased long before I installed 2K.
I thought maybe the Windows folder had been retained for some drivers but i
checked every hardware compnent in Device Manager and the driver locations
are all in C:\WINNT - so I'm getting really close to just right-clicking on
the windows folder for a massive delete (you're right ... it's making me
drool a little ... ha ha!)

 

[Dan Seur]

Joanna - there appears to be some confusion. A "clean install" is an
install to a freshly formatted (completely empty) partition.

An "update" is an install "on top of" an existing eligible system, that
attempts to preserve application and other settings.

Updates are very risky. While the update strategy appears intuitively to
be a laborsaver, it very often results in a frustratingly imperfect W2k
causing a great deal of labor - and often, ultimately, winds up with a
clean install to put an end to the frustration.

The advice most often seen here is "bite the bullet." Do a clean
install; it's a real laborsaver and W2k will run as reliably as it should.

You can do a clean install with a W2k Update CD; start the install, and
when the process asks to see the CD for the eligible prior system (in
your case W98), stick it in the CD drive. The install will proceed.

The W2k install process will also allow you to format the old W98 partition.