Win98 to Win2K Woes

[Dean Thomas]

Greetings and thanks in advance for thoughts and
suggestions:

Upgraded my semi-stable Win98SE Pentium II to Win2K.
Install went smoothly (amazing in itself). Logo screen
functions well. Logon screen functions well. After entry
of password, desktop icons may or may not come up and
there is an unnumbered error message: "explorer.exe has
generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will
need to restart the program. An error log is being
created." Add an "ok" button and you have the whole dialog
box. No error number or other indicators.

This happens whether running in safe mode or regular. The
only additional info that I can glean is that when I boot
in safe mode, it tells me that I am running Windows 2000
build 2195 free. I don't remember for sure, but I think
that this disk included SP1. I know that it will have to
be upgraded once I can get stable and to the Internet.

FWIW, when I upgraded from Win98, it suggested that I
convert files to NTFS. I did that.

First, is there an easy fix that I am missing?

Second, if not, what would happen if I were to install
a "new" C:\ drive with a clean install of Win2K and
recable/redesignate my current C:\ drive as a D:\ drive?
Would that allow me enough time to remove the system
software from the old drive and then just keep it as a
data only drive? Would that still give me access to all of
my files?

That seems like a pretty easy and quick band-aid approach
if I can't find a simpler solution through the recovery
console or elsewhere.

What do you think about any or all of the above?

Thanks for your help and your advice.

Dean Thomas

 

[Dave Patrick]

Save yourself some time and trouble, given that you'll more than likely end
up with an unstable OS with all the remnants/ corruption left behind from
the upgrade. Best to blow it all away and go for the clean install.

To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 CD-Rom or setup disks.
The set of four install disks can be created from your Win2k CD-rom; change
to the \bootdisk directory on the cd-rom and execute makeboot.exe (from dos)
or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the prompts.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

During Windows 2000 setup, at some point, will want to confirm the previous
operating system for the upgrade; at that point you'll simply insert the
qualified product install CD for it to verify. Then the install will
proceed.

Check the pc, mb or hardware manufacturer's web site for the latest bios and
or Windows 2000 drivers for your devices.


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Greetings and thanks in advance for thoughts and
| suggestions:
|
| Upgraded my semi-stable Win98SE Pentium II to Win2K.
| Install went smoothly (amazing in itself). Logo screen
| functions well. Logon screen functions well. After entry
| of password, desktop icons may or may not come up and
| there is an unnumbered error message: "explorer.exe has
| generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will
| need to restart the program. An error log is being
| created." Add an "ok" button and you have the whole dialog
| box. No error number or other indicators.
|
| This happens whether running in safe mode or regular. The
| only additional info that I can glean is that when I boot
| in safe mode, it tells me that I am running Windows 2000
| build 2195 free. I don't remember for sure, but I think
| that this disk included SP1. I know that it will have to
| be upgraded once I can get stable and to the Internet.
|
| FWIW, when I upgraded from Win98, it suggested that I
| convert files to NTFS. I did that.
|
| First, is there an easy fix that I am missing?
|
| Second, if not, what would happen if I were to install
| a "new" C:\ drive with a clean install of Win2K and
| recable/redesignate my current C:\ drive as a D:\ drive?
| Would that allow me enough time to remove the system
| software from the old drive and then just keep it as a
| data only drive? Would that still give me access to all of
| my files?
|
| That seems like a pretty easy and quick band-aid approach
| if I can't find a simpler solution through the recovery
| console or elsewhere.
|
| What do you think about any or all of the above?
|
| Thanks for your help and your advice.
|
| Dean Thomas