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FAT32 is no obstacle in going back in history

Created: 21 Apr 2007 ::: Last updated: 01 Aug 2007
Applies to: X Win95 X Win98 X WinMe X Win 2000/NT X WinXP _ WinVista _ MacOS

By Andy Walker

Continued from Hate Windows XP? Wipe it out!

Since you have FAT32 as a file allocation system on your hard drive, you can install Windows 98 or Windows Me (or Windows 95 OSR2 - a rare version of Windows 95) so here's what you need to do next.

First remove your Windows XP files.

Here's how...

Start Windows Explorer.

Do this by clicking START, and then All Programs>Accessories>Windows Explorer.

On the "Tools" menu of Windows Explorer (across the top of window), click "Folder Options". On the "View" tab, look at the settings in the Advanced Settings box and click "Show hidden all files and folders" so it has a dot next to it. Also look for "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" and uncheck the box next to it. Now click "Ok".

Next, look for the root folder of the C drive (that's the very top of the file system where all your folders are (in the old days, this would have been called C:).

Next, delete the following files:

Boot.ini
Ntbootdd.sys
Ntdetect.com
NTLDR

Note that these files may appear without the three letters after the dot, so boot.ini may appear as simply "boot".

Also delete the following files if they exist:

Hiberfil.sys
Pagefile.sys

Next delete the following folders if they exist:

Windows
Program Files
Documents and Settings

Ok, now you've machine gunned Windows XP from your system. Doesn't it feel great? Now's time to reinstall an older version of Windows.

To run Windows Setup, start your computer by using the Windows 98 (or Me or 95) startup disk or a bootable disk that contains your CD-ROM drivers. After you gain access to the CD-ROM drive, type the following lines, hit ENTER after each line

sys c:
x:setup.exe

where X is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. Let the Windows installation run until it reboots. Now you're are golden. For more help with other Windows reinstall and reformat issues, please see our .