How do I remove XP Pro setup at boot?

[Reggie D.]

I made a bad attempt to install XP Pro on a W98 desktop . It only got to
setup stage and when I boot I now get the 15secs choice of W98 or XP Pro. I
want to stay with W98 on this machine.

I cannot remove the XP Pro setup from my 'remove prog's' .

Is ther any way of reverting to clean W98 boot?

Reggie D.

 

[John John (MVP)]

I made a bad attempt to install XP Pro on a W98 desktop . It only got to
setup stage and when I boot I now get the 15secs choice of W98 or XP Pro. I
want to stay with W98 on this machine.

I cannot remove the XP Pro setup from my 'remove prog's' .

Is ther any way of reverting to clean W98 boot?

From the boot menu does the machine boot properly to Windows 98?

John

 

[Reggie D.]

From the boot menu does the machine boot properly to Windows 98?

John
John,

Yes.

Reggie D.

 

[John John (MVP)]

:




Yes.

You say that you "made an attempt" to install XP and that it only got to
the setup stage, so I take it that XP is not installed and that only XP
setup files present at this point (along with the W98 installation). I
also don't know how your disk(s) and partitions are laid out so you will
have to provide more information if you need more help.

Basically what you have to do is revert the boot sector to the Windows
98 IO.sys and then remove the XP setup files. To revert the boot
process to IO.sys boot with your Windows 98 Startup diskette and issue
the following commands:

FDISK /MBR
SYS C:

Reboot the computer, it should now boot directly into Windows 98. Once
booted to Windows 98 you can remove the XP setup and boot files:

Boot.ini
ntldr
NTDETECT.COM
bootsect.dos

Also remove the following directories and file from the root folder:

$LDR (file)
SETUPLDR.bin (file)
TXTSETUP.sif (file)
$WIN_NT$.~BT (directory)

As mentioned earlier it is assumed that XP is not yet installed, that
only the first stage of the installation routine has be completed.

John

 

[Reggie D.]

John,
Thx your advice.
I booted from the 'A' dive but when I typed in the FDISK command at the 'A'
prompt ( exactly as you typed it) it said' Parameter format not correct -
SYS.'

Any ideas?

Rgds
Reggie D.

 

[John John (MVP)]

Are the fdisk and sys utilities on the Windows 98 floppy diskette?
Where did you get your startup floppy?


John

PS: To change the boot to from XP's ntldr to IO.sys you only need to
run sys c: I added the Fdisk as an extra step to make doubly sure that
the MBR is W9x/io.sys compatible, if the computer boots to Windows 98
properly after running sys c: then you need not bother with the Fdisk
command.

John

 

[Reggie D.]

John,

I made the boot disk ages ago, and the FDISK.EXE and I think the sys
utilities are also there.

Problem is now: I booted from this disk before I got your last message and
from the A prompt I typed
FDISK /MBR ( enter) , then
SYS C: and got the message 'invalid function'

so i switched off and rebooted. It started to boot until:
verfying pool date
Starting Windows 98
and stopped at the A> prompt and said ' type name of command interepreter.'

At this stage I was in the dark so I switched off in the hope that I not
done too much damage!

Windows will not now open with or without the floppy.

Fortunately this is my old backup PC so I am able to communicate wqith you
via this desktop. Hope this is sufficient info. for you to get me back to
W98SE.

Kind regards
Reggie D.

 

[John John (MVP)]

Go to http://www.bootdisk.com/ and download a Windows 98 boot disk (You
will have to execute the file that you download to create the diskette)
and try running the sys command again.

John

 

[Reggie D.]

OK John,
I've downloaded W09SE OEM Mirror and unpacked it to a floppy.

I can see FDISK.EXE but not a sys command file.
I'm only a 75 year old imtermediate PC user so could you give me the idiots
guide please as to where I go from here?

So sorry to be such a pain.

Rgds
Reggie D.

 

[John John (MVP)]

Did you try booting with the the new floppy and running the sys c:
command again?

John

 

[Reggie D.]

John,
I've done nothing yet being fearful of messing up.

Do I boot from the new floppy then:
FDISK /MBR
SYS C:
all over again?

Or do I execute one of the files on the floppy?

In not quite sure of the batting order.

Rgds Reggie.

 

[John John (MVP)]

Just do sys c: If the command runs successfully you will get a message
saying something to the effect that system files have been transfered to
the disk.

John

 

[Reggie D.]

John,
I'm not having much luck.
When I start with the floppy I get 3 options and choose Option 1 ' Start
computer with CD ROM support. If this is the correct choice ( I guessed)
At the A:\> prompt I type, SYS C: but get the old response of 'invalid
function'.

If I boot without the floppy eventually it says: 'starting windows 98 ' then
'Type name of command prompt.'

Is this enough info. for you?

Kind regards
Reggie D.

 

[John John (MVP)]

The Sys.com command should be in the Ebd.cab file on the diskette, see
if you can extract it from the cab file and place it along with the
other files in the root of the diskette then try again. Or, when booted
with the floppy, you could try this to copy the file from the Windows 98
'Windows' folder to the diskette:

Copy C:\Windows\Command\Sys.com A:\

then try to run the sys c: command again from the A:\> prompt.

John

 

[Reggie D.]

John,
No luck I'm afraid.
I managed to extract the sys.com file from the edb.cab onto my other desktop
then copied it across to the boot floppy. Felt I'd acheived something!
However at the A prompt after booting I got the same answer ' invalid
function'.
The sys.com is there on the diskette and I presume also in the edb.cab file.

Is there an altenatve way such as using the W95SE installation CD? Or try to
reinstall XP Por. which started the wole problem in the first palce.

Thank you for you perseverance.
As I said earlier I'm no expert and am now on the threshold of my PC
literacy.

 

[John John (MVP)]

Ok, we are getting nowhere so let's try returning the boot functions
back to XP's ntldr. Boot your computer with your Windows XP cd and
start the Recovery Console, to start the Recovery Console select the
repair or recover option by pressing R. Then issue the following
commands, pressing <Enter> after each:

fixboot c:
fixmbr

When you try to run fixmbr you may get a warning message, just ignore
the mesage and run the command.

After you run the commands reboot the computer and see if you get a boot
menu.

John