# How do I uninstall Windows XP? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2003, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965 "2003-01-21T12:56:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chekmate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@Chekmate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chekmate)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/1 "2003-01-21T12:56:48Z")
Ok, so I want to uninstall Windows XP, and re-install Windows 98 SE. I can’t just put the disk in and run setup, because it says it can’t install an older version over XP or something. So I need to format my c: drive (that’s OK with me), and then install 98SE. Problem is, I can’t figure out a way to boot to dos in order to format my C: drive. Maybe it was just late last night, but I spent about an hour and a half trying this, to no avail. How do I do this? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/2 "2003-01-21T13:13:14Z")
Do you have a floppy drive? If so then put a blank disk in, format it as a boot disk under XP and then reboot. You might have to change the Bios settings so the Floopy drive is the primary boot disk, but aside from that you should have no problems. Before you do this though make sure that the W98 CD is bootable in its own right. XP boot disks don’t normally contain CD drivers so the CDRom will be inaccesible except as a boot drive. ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/3 "2003-01-21T13:41:42Z")
If you’ve got the CD for 98SE use that to boot, select start computer with CD-ROM support. When you get to your DOS prompt type: extract x:\win98\base4.cab fdisk.exe /a /l c:\ c:\fdisk.exe answer yes if quereied about large disk support select #3 delete non-dos partition delete your partition you may need to reboot, if so, restart fdisk. select 1, create primary DOS parition. You’ll definitely need to reboot this time. Let setup run from the CD, it will format your disk as part of the install. I may have missed a step, but I don’t think I did. Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/4 "2003-01-21T17:04:01Z")
Doesn’t XP install as NTFS? If so, attempting to run FDisk won’t work. It’s my understanding you can’t run FDisk on an NTFS system to install a FAT system. Simple and dirty way: You can use delpart, a great utility to get rid of those partitions. [http://www.lss.ksu.edu/download/MSSTUFF/](http://www.lss.ksu.edu/download/MSSTUFF/) The best way I have done this is to download delpart, copy the file onto a win98 boot disk (it will fit). Boot the PC with the Win98 disk, use delpart from the floppy, remove the partitions, reboot, FDisk with large disk support, create the partition, reboot, format c:, run setup from Win98 cd. ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/5 "2003-01-21T17:14:02Z")
Ooooh you’re right **Duckster**. 98 won’t even let you access an NTFS partition. Good call. Some fricking MCSE I am. Um, Chekmate, replace extract x:\win98\base4.cab fdisk.exe /a /l c:\ with extract x:\win98\base4.cab fdisk.exe /a /l **a** :\ Make sure there’s a floppy in the drive, and take it out when you reboot. ---
**Author:** ![bcullman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bcullman/32/8207_2.png) [@bcullman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bcullman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/6 "2003-01-21T17:40:31Z")
FOr the record, winXp has an emulation-like mode that can run apps as if they were running in a win98se envronment. So, if your doing this just becuase your favorite app doesn’t work, i’d suggest trying that first. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/7 "2003-01-21T19:11:42Z")
The various compatibility modes haven’t done squat for me yet. Tried them on about a dozen misbehaving programs, ranging from games to electronic design packages, and if the program didn’t work on XP, it didn’t work on XP with the various compatibility modes either. You would have thought that all of the different combinations of things you can do would have at least made one lousy program work, but it didn’t. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/8 "2003-01-21T19:41:57Z")
When you install XP onto a FAT32 drive, it gives you the opportunity to repartition as NTFS or not. If Chekmate didn’t do that, then it’s not an issue. 98 should reinstall fine. Then again, I don’t think XP likes FAT32, cause it worked poorly for me, so I switched to NTFS. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/9 "2003-01-21T19:57:33Z")
I really am surprised people have so many compatibility problems with XP. I have yet to find a program that doesn’t work on XP. All of my old programs work…all of them. And all of the new ones too. I’m sure there are some problems, but I wonder if something else with the system might be wrong, rather than XP. Jman ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-uninstall-windows-xp/149965/10 "2003-01-22T17:16:05Z")
Chekmate, you can also just buy a new HD & keep the old one for backup. HD’s are pretty cheap these days.