Downgrading from XP Pro to Win 98SE

[Guest]

It's way past time for me to get a faster computer than my P2 running 98SE.
So, I got this ASUS P4 machine from a friend but it has a bogus copy of XP on
it and I'm unwilling to do that. For my purposes, 98SE is just fine so I'd
like to retire my P2 machine and put legal copy of 98SE on the P4 and then
reload my Office 97. Can I do that? How would it go?

What I have is a full copy of Win 95 and an upgrade CD to Win 98. Do I have
to reformat the hard drive and start all over or can I upgrade directly from
XP Pro to Win 98 and then download the SE upgrade from microsoft?

Now I know someone out there is going to suggest I'm not too bright doing
this downgrade but right now, I just don't have the bread to purchase both a
new OS and Office too. So, hold your nose and give me some good advice.

 

[Bob I]

Sorry, but you have a "flush and fill" situation there.

 

[Gordon]

Now I know someone out there is going to suggest I'm not too bright doing
this downgrade but right now, I just don't have the bread to purchase both
a
new OS and Office too.

Try Open Office - it will do everything that Office 2002 will do (except
Outlook) and is free.
www.openoffice.org

 

[Anonymous]

It's way past time for me to get a faster computer than my P2 running
98SE.
So, I got this ASUS P4 machine from a friend but it has a bogus copy of XP
on
it and I'm unwilling to do that. For my purposes, 98SE is just fine so I'd
like to retire my P2 machine and put legal copy of 98SE on the P4 and then
reload my Office 97. Can I do that? How would it go?

What I have is a full copy of Win 95 and an upgrade CD to Win 98. Do I
have
to reformat the hard drive and start all over or can I upgrade directly
from
XP Pro to Win 98 and then download the SE upgrade from microsoft?

Now I know someone out there is going to suggest I'm not too bright doing
this downgrade but right now, I just don't have the bread to purchase both
a
new OS and Office too. So, hold your nose and give me some good advice.

"Now I know someone out there is going to suggest I'm not too bright doing
this downgrade but right now"....

Ya' think? <g>


OK, why not try this.... Fix all the system's/OS's, and
substitute http://www.openoffice.org/ for office 97.

How will that work for 'ya? Not only do you get/keep
your OS up to speed, you get a current level office suite.

It's a win/win.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

Yes, you need to delete the partition XP is on, recreate it, format it as
FAT32 and clean install 98 (you start the 98 install and when asked for
verification of your Upgrade eligibility, show it the Win95 installation
disk, either floppy disk 1 or the CD if that's what 95 came on.)

For more info, you should post to Windows 98 General Discussion group.
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion

 

[Guest]

you might consider
taking your harddrive from
the old pc and install it as the
master in the new one and making
a slave out of the winxp disk.

wouldn't hurt to try..
--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[Patrick Keenan]

It's way past time for me to get a faster computer than my P2 running
98SE.
So, I got this ASUS P4 machine from a friend but it has a bogus copy of XP
on
it and I'm unwilling to do that. For my purposes, 98SE is just fine so I'd
like to retire my P2 machine and put legal copy of 98SE on the P4 and then
reload my Office 97. Can I do that? How would it go?

What I have is a full copy of Win 95 and an upgrade CD to Win 98. Do I
have
to reformat the hard drive and start all over or can I upgrade directly
from
XP Pro to Win 98 and then download the SE upgrade from microsoft?

Now I know someone out there is going to suggest I'm not too bright doing
this downgrade but right now, I just don't have the bread to purchase both
a
new OS and Office too. So, hold your nose and give me some good advice.

Yes, you need to wipe the drive first. There is no other way to do this.
Get a boot diskette with fdisk and format.com on it, delete and recreate the
partition. Then install Win98, insterting the W95 CD when asked.

You might consider, however, that you can also get a legitimate "upgrade"
copy of XP Home for around US$100. Boot from that CD and wipe the drive,
then when you are asked for the qualifying CD use your 98SE CD. Do *not*
install Win98 first.

And as suggested, you can use OpenOffice, which works very well and is free.
Office 97 also works quite well on XP.

Finally, if you just need Office type apps and internet - consider Linux.
The Ubuntu 7.04 install is very easy to set up, the learning curve is much
shallower than many Linux distributions; it's stable, reliable, runs
quickly, and is free. And the install takes probably less time than XP
or 98. You do need to create a DVD to install, though the image that you
will download will create a bootable DVD.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

HTH
-pk

 

[Bob Knowlden]

I'm pretty sure that you can't "upgrade" XP to 98. Also, in most XP
installations, the HD would be formatted in NTFS, so you'd have to reformat
(to FAT32) to install 98.

Can you download a 98 gold to SE upgrade from Microsoft? The last I knew, it
was not a free upgrade. (The lowest price that I see for the 98-98SE upgrade
on Pricegrabber is about $40.) I guess that you'd want SE, as it's likelier
than 98Gold to have drivers for newer hardware.

Office 97 is supposed to run just fine on XP. (I've read that many times,
but I haven't used anything older than Office 2000 on XP myself.)

My own preference would be to get the cheapest legal form of XP and use
that. (Computer shows are good places for that, but watch out for pirated
copies.) You'll probably have to do a clean installation, if the illegal
copy is XP Pro. (It can't be downgraded to Home.)

The last XP license I bought was for a retail Home Upgrade version, for
$60US. (I prefer that to the OEM version, as Microsoft permits the retail
version to be moved to a new machine.) I don't know whether Vista has led to
higher or lower XP prices.

It would be sad if you ended up spending more on a Win98 installation than
you would have on XP.

Return address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

 

[Guest]

What is meant by "wipe the drive"?
--
Jim H.

Yes, you need to wipe the drive first. There is no other way to do this.
Get a boot diskette with fdisk and format.com on it, delete and recreate the
partition. Then install Win98, insterting the W95 CD when asked.

You might consider, however, that you can also get a legitimate "upgrade"
copy of XP Home for around US$100. Boot from that CD and wipe the drive,
then when you are asked for the qualifying CD use your 98SE CD. Do *not*
install Win98 first.

And as suggested, you can use OpenOffice, which works very well and is free.
Office 97 also works quite well on XP.

Finally, if you just need Office type apps and internet - consider Linux.
The Ubuntu 7.04 install is very easy to set up, the learning curve is much
shallower than many Linux distributions; it's stable, reliable, runs
quickly, and is free. And the install takes probably less time than XP
or 98. You do need to create a DVD to install, though the image that you
will download will create a bootable DVD.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

HTH
-pk

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

As I suggested... To "wipe the drive" is to delete the partition, create a
new one and format it FAT32.

Again, you really need to repost to a Windows 98 group for specific
assistance.

 

[Phisherman]

It's way past time for me to get a faster computer than my P2 running 98SE.
So, I got this ASUS P4 machine from a friend but it has a bogus copy of XP on
it and I'm unwilling to do that. For my purposes, 98SE is just fine so I'd
like to retire my P2 machine and put legal copy of 98SE on the P4 and then
reload my Office 97. Can I do that? How would it go?

What I have is a full copy of Win 95 and an upgrade CD to Win 98. Do I have
to reformat the hard drive and start all over or can I upgrade directly from
XP Pro to Win 98 and then download the SE upgrade from microsoft?

Now I know someone out there is going to suggest I'm not too bright doing
this downgrade but right now, I just don't have the bread to purchase both a
new OS and Office too. So, hold your nose and give me some good advice.

Downgrade to Windows 2000 Pro, more stable than Win98SE.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm pretty sure that you can't "upgrade" XP to 98.

That's correct. It's a downgrade, and no downgrades are supported.

Also, in most XP
installations, the HD would be formatted in NTFS, so you'd have to reformat
(to FAT32) to install 98.

Can you download a 98 gold to SE upgrade from Microsoft?

No.


The last I knew, it
was not a free upgrade.

Correct again.

(The lowest price that I see for the 98-98SE upgrade
on Pricegrabber is about $40.) I guess that you'd want SE, as it's likelier
than 98Gold to have drivers for newer hardware.

Office 97 is supposed to run just fine on XP. (I've read that many times,
but I haven't used anything older than Office 2000 on XP myself.)

Yes, not only does Office 97 work, but Office 95 does too.