I'm am just sick of Windows XP! XP is for newbies that don't know how to work a pc. I praise Windows 98 as the best OS ever. Now I have a problem here, maybe someone can help me....

I got a HP, which I hate. Now this pc came with Windows XP home edition already installed on it. Now that's not upgraded to XP, thats just from nothing to XP. And this is where my problem arises...

Normally you can restart your pc in safemode and go to add/remove programs and uninstall XP.... but I can't cuz no other versions have ever been on this pc. Now I also, did the following which I got from a site:

1. Restart pc and logon as Admin in Safemode Cmd Prompt.

2. Type the following: cd\ press ENT

3. Type: cd\windows\system32 press ENT

4. Type: osuninst.exe press ENT

After I did this it said the following: "Setup cannot uninstall Windows XP because the necessary registration info. is missing."

Now how do I fix this, so I can continue on to uninstall Windows Xp???

Why not just reformat?

..and when you get done formatting that Harddrive, pop in a Linux install disk.. don't waste your time with Windows 98

Couple of options:

Use a windows bootdisk (you can even download those -> google) and boot into dos, then reformat the harddisk.

Do you have an XP cdrom? If you do you can boot that into rescue mode and reformat.

HC

Make a boot disk and then use fdisk to partition and then format the drive, Yea i liked 98 much better than XP.

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Get a windows bootdisk. I recommend 98SE bootdisks, I find them to be the best from what I remember. That's in case you don't have NTFS. Just do, format c: /q (wow.. that /q seemed so wierd, I'm not used to this anymore :P)q is for quick, otherwise you need to sit there hours on end.

http://www.bootdisk.com/txtfiles/hdd.txt

Explains things.
If you have NTFS use the same disk, go into fdisk, delete the partitions, and make new ones that are fat32. Win98 can't read NTFS anyway, so there's no use in it.

After this, just pop the Win98 CD in and install.
Unless.. that is you want Linux.



**You want Linux**
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Ok, thx for all your help. I still have a couple questions though plz...

1. I figured out the trick with having a boot disc, only problem now is I installed Win ME bcuz I have a Win 98 disc but not the product key. I also, have Win 98 Sec Ed w/ a product key so would I be able to just format my drive again and use that??? I'm thinking that I need Win 98 installed first before the 2nd Edition will work.

2. How much does a Linux disc cost and how long does it take to getting used to? Also, what are some benefits that Linux has over Windows and what are some disadvantages?

Thanks!

If you are wanting to multiboot, here is a nice partition manager you can use to partition your drive in advance of installing either. Install Win 98SE first, then your Linux.

Ranish Partition Manager

There is a fairly steep learning curve for Linux, so here is some homework to ease it for you.

# Partitioning info
Linux Partition HOWTO
Rute - Partitions, File Systems, Formatting, Mounting
Proper Filesystem Layout

# Pre-installation guides
GNU/Linux pre-installation checklist
The Pre-Installation Help File

# Linux filesystem structure
Directory Navigation Help File
Filesystems, Directories, and Devices Help File

# Linux Distribution links:
A Beginner's Guide to Choosing a Linux Distribution
Reasons to Choose or Not Choose Linux
Deciding if Linux is Right for You
LWN distro list
elinux Linux Distributions

I will never understand why people post here to ask Windows questions. They must really want us to recommend Linux

if they would just give linux a try there would be no need for recommendation - it kicks a$$ by a mile.

You can install W98 2nd Ed without the First Ed - uless your 2nd Ed is an upgrade disk.

Search this forum, just read through the posts and you will see why Linux is better than Windows. If you don't want to buy a copy, go to www.linuxiso.org and download something like Mandrake (good start for people new to Linux). Also spend some time reading the documentation - www.tldp.org and http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/rute.html.gz are good start points. There are others though. Also try some searches with www.google.com/linux - we even have our own search engine!

Just remember, there is nothing 'to do' with Linux. It is another Operating System. Once it is installed and you have tweaked it until you are happy with it it is just like Windows - surf the web, send emails, use the Office software, play games, etc etc, but with far fewer crashes (and even those tend to be very minor).

(hopefully) Welcome to Linux.

I guess they figure if we are linux geeks we must know how to run windows with our eyes closed, which I can do.. and I am pretty good with the Mac OS.. Still I am learning Linux, yet I still recommend it to anyone..