ilvpegasus said:
I recently installed a "borrowed" copy of XP. I am now stuck on
the activation screen and can not activate. I need to uninstall
it. I am going to have to do it from DOS I think. I don't know
what command to type in to do it. I do not want to have to
format as I don't have the drivers to put back in. Any
Suggestions on how I can do this?
Bruce said:
The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to
format the hard drive and install a new OS of your choice.
Only if you performed an upgrade from Win98/Me, elected to
backup the old system files, and didn't convert the partition to NTFS, can
you then boot into Safe Mode and click Start > Control Panel
Add/Remove Programs. All of these conditions must be met for
the uninstall option to be available.
Thanks for the help. Unfortunetly none of the conditions you
mentioned apply to mine situation.
Actually - the FIRST one applies to everyone...
'The normal way to "uninstall" any operating system is to format the hard
drive and install a new OS of your choice.'
This sentence makes no sense from your original posting, "I do not want to
have to format as I don't have the drivers to put back in."...
What does that mean...? You are needing to get rid of Windows XP because the
copy you installed/product key you utilized is not legitimate and you cannot
activate. You mentioned no other OS - no other Windows XP license you have,
etc... So at this point - the only way we can tell you to get rid of the
illegitimate XP (uninstall it) is to format it. If you do not have another
OS to do that - then I guess you will havew to purchase one or do without.
;-)