Get rid of Win98 partition?

[Dean J. Garrett]

We have a dual-boot PC with W2K Pro and Win98. We'd like to rid ourselves of
the Win98 partition while preserving the W2K Pro partition. Does anyone know
how to do this?

Thanks!

 

[Trevor]

Have you looked at partition magic. Not sure exactly
what your issue is because I had a dual boot setup on the
same partition and simply deleted the win98 directory and
modified my boot.ini, but if you have two partitions and
want to delete the 98 and combine with the W2k i would
use partition magic

 

[David Bullock [MSFT]]

Hi Dean,
Is it really necessary to completely remove this Win98 partition, or can you
just remove the Win98 installation from it to reclaim space? If it's a
viable option, I'd recommend just removing the Win98 installation - delete
the Windows folder, and anything else you can live without from that
partition, *except* for the Windows 2000 boot files, if this is the active /
system partition.

If that's not viable, read on, but keep in mind that I don't know your exact
configuration. In other words, be very careful if you decide to proceed with
the following.

First, find out if the Win98 is your "system partition", i.e.: if your
Windows 2000 boot files live there.

If the files BOOT.INI, NTDETECT.COM, and NTLDR are in the root of that
partition, your Windows 2000 installation is actually booting from it (these
are hidden / system files, so you need to be showing hidden AND system files
to see them).

If these files are not in the root of the Win98 partition, and you *do* see
them in the root of your Windows 2000 partition, you *should* be safe in
deleting the partition.

If these files are present in the root, I'd suggest copying all of the
afore-mentioned files to a floppy disk. This disk can be used to boot into
Windows 2000 in the event that the boot files are lost from the hard disk.
You could then remove the partition, re-create it, and copy the boot files
back onto the root of the partition from the floppy. You'd then need to set
that partition active again, via Disk Management.

Alternately, you could copy the boot files from the Win98 pttn to the Win2K
pttn, and set the Win2K partition active. Make the floppy regardless, just
in case.

- David Bullock (MS)

 

[Dean J. Garrett]

David, thanks for your response. Here's some more info:

The PC in question originally started off as a Win/ME PC, and then W2K Prof
was added to it. I have a dual-boot now. When I boot to Win/ME, I see all
the files you mentioned in the C:\ dir: BOOT.INI, NTDETECT.COM, and NTLDR.
It seems that W2K is booting from there? I'll copy these files to a floppy.

I'd like to eliminate the Win/ME partition and only use W2K. One reason is
space on the PC, getting rid of Win/ME saves me nearly 1.5 G.

What do you mean by "partition"? I see both c:\windows and c:\winnt which
presumably contain the two OSs. Is that what you mean by partition? Given
what I've said, how is best to proceed?

Thanks!

 

[David Bullock [MSFT]]

Hi Dean,
The partition is the volume on the hard disk, represented by the C: drive
letter. Deleting a folder and deleting a partition are two very different
things; deleting a partition completely removes all data from that entire
volume (the entire C: drive, for example).

I'm a little confused now - I had understood that Windows 2000 and Windows
(98? Me?) were on two separate partitions (two different volumes / drive
letters). Based on your latest message, that may not be correct - you said
that you see c:\windows and c:\winnt, so it sounds as if both installations
may have been performed on the same volume (not the best idea, typically).

What I *was* suggesting is that you simply delete the WinME installation, by
deleting the Windows folder associated with that OS. Without having my hands
on the PC, I'll have to take the safe route here and say I'm not sure enough
about your configuration to make a specific recommendation (i.e.: which
folder or folders to delete).

Depending on your comfort level with the procedure, you might want to have
this done in a PC repair shop. Keep in mind that even the simplest procedure
can potentially cause problems, so it's crucial to make sure you have a
backup of critical data before you (or a technician) delete anything.

- David Bullock (MS)

 

[Dean J. Garrett]

Sorry for the confusion in my use of the term partition. You're correct in
your assumption that we have one C: drive partition and both Win/ME and W2K
Prof reside there. I see both a \winnt and \windows directory. The PC is
set-up to have a dual boot. When we boot, there is a prompt asking which OS
to use. I'd like to simply remove the WinME OS leaving only the W2K Prof OS.
Maybe there isn't an easy way?

Thanks!

 

[Dean J. Garrett]

Also, if a program was installed when Win/ME was booted, the Windows
registry is used right? So if we erase Win/ME, then those programs, while
physically onthe disk, won't be installed anymore??