Re: Uninstall of W2k? Not simple for me!

From: R. C. White (rc_at_corridor.net)
Date: 02/10/05 

Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 21:44:14 -0600

Hi, Michael.

Well, your narrative meanders a bit and I might have missed some of it, but
I think I got the important parts...

> Yes, Andre has most points covered?

Who's Andre? You've started a new thread and not bothered to copy any prior
messages, so your post is just "bare" with no context to guide us. :>( But
I'll try.

The WinNT4/2K/XP dual boot system is really pretty simple. It's kind of
like the letter "Y". The base of the Y is the System Partition; the
branches (and there can be more than two, of course) are the Boot Folders
for each installation of Windows (mix'n'match the NT-based versions - and
ignore Win9x/ME for now). And remember the counter-intuitive terminology:
We BOOT from the SYSTEM partition and keep the operating SYSTEM files in the
BOOT folder. The point is that there is only ONE System Partition, even
though there may be multiple boot folders. There is only one set of the
system files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini), and they must be in the
Root of the System Partition (typically, C:\).

Although Microsoft (and nearly every Windows guru) strongly advises that
only one copy of Windows be installed in a single volume, it is possible to
install multiple copies in a volume. The default name of the boot volume is
\Windows, except in WinNT and Win2K, in which the default name is \WinNT.
If Win2K is installed into volumes C: and D:, the default names will be
C:\WinNT and D:\WinNT. But if Win2K is installed twice into C:, the name of
the second must be a variation, such as C:\WinNT-2.

What happened in your case? Are both your copies of Win2K in Drive C:?

Win2K will not obey an order to delete its own boot folder, because that's
like obeying an order to commit suicide. But it will happily delete another
installation's boot folder, because if you are booted to D:\WinNT, then
folder C:\WinNT is "just another folder". So, if all you want to do is get
rid of your "bad" Win2K, just boot into the good one and delete the boot
folder for the bad one, then edit C:\boot.ini to remove the line that offers
to boot it.

One casualty of the deletion of the boot folder will be the Registry for
that copy of Win2K. The Registry in Win2K is a set of special files, all in
the \WinNT\system32\config folder; when you delete \Win2K, that entire
Registry gets deleted, too. The computer will forget about all the
applications that had been installed in that copy. You will need to install
those apps again, unless they had been installed already in the remaining
copy of Win2K, even if the apps files remain on the HD, so that entries can
be made in the good Win2K's Registry.

If you wanted to preserve your original Registry, you could do an in-place
upgrade (also known as a repair reinstallation). But if you want to wipe
out your original Win2K and start over, you could just delete C:\WinNT, but
don't reformat C:, then clean install Win2K again into C:. You would need
to reinstall your apps, but your data files would remain intact.

If you have questions, please post back.

RC 

-- 
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
"Slip Kid" <G-2@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message 
news:ifyOd.182273$w62.176245@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> This should be easy? Well, there are numerous solutions to my general 
> question – either they don’t completely address it or they don’t agree.
>
>
> I haven’t found ant=y of several articles that agree with the best ‘plan’.
>
> Yes, Andre has most points covered? If he addressed my ‘problem’, I missed 
> it.
>
> I have two installs of W2k.  Different partitions with the boot files in a 
> small Fat primary partition.
>
> One install is completely corrupt  - It crashed after an upgrade/migration 
> to a new drive  -that went ok - My problem was when I had to re-install 
> SP4 and it blinked out - -never to return to it’s normal state..  I’ve 
> tried everything and the profiles as well as the configuration are 
> whacked.  No matter what fixes I’ve tried it reverts back to it’s corrupt 
> state.  Anyway, it’s the original install and is full of junk.  It has to 
> go.
>
> So?  I find articles on:
>
> How to uninstall a W2k stand alone   - simple? Wipe it all out from the 
> boot CD – Or if there is nothing of import on the partition?  Reformat.
>
> Or
>
> If it’s a dual boot with a non boot (NT based) loader scenario  – pretty 
> much the same thing  -except I’d still lose my boot files (on a primary 
> partition that serves both install of W2k.)  Yeah, I can ‘repair’ the 
> other W2k?  I’ve had mostly luck with repair  - I’d rather avoid doing 
> anything more than removing the reference to the other install from the 
> boot.ini.
>
> So, I have yet to see how to:
>
> 1. Remove W2k when it shares a partition with other apps I can’t give up 
> in a reformat.
> 2. Remove W2k and ‘not’ destroy the references to the other install of the 
> other W2k in the boot partition.
>
> I know I can wipe out the various folders associated with the W2k install? 
> And remove its reference from boot.ini? Yeah, that will free up a load of 
> space.
>
> Something tells me that enough stuff is going to be left in the registry 
> that I may have problems if I install another OS in that partition.  (My 
> plan)
>
> So, if I simply do the file delete?  Knowing much of the install will not 
> ‘go’ with the folder? I could use a registry cleaner and hope I get all of 
> the W2k references out and don’t remove the application references that 
> are used by the other install.
>
> Am I missing something?
>
> Is there a solution to remove a W2k install where there is another W2k in 
> the system (different partition) along with preserving the other files in 
> the same partition as the W2k that has to go (no, I don’t want to reformat 
> the partition).
>
> No, I’m not worried about the ‘Program Files  -Documents and Settings. 
> They’ll go and I’ve kept my installs to a minimum (directly to Program 
> Files).  I am concerned about the shared/common folders?  But that’s a 
> risk I’ll have to take.  They’ll go and I’ll see how much I lose in the 
> functionality of the apps.
>
> Is deleting the W3k files, cleaning the registry and removing the boot.ini 
> reference my only solution given what I have to work with?
>
> BTW?  Is there a simpler way to combine a repair of W2k that combines SP4 
> in one single move?  Silly question.  I was doing fine until I had to 
> ‘update’ the migrated install to be SP4 compliant...
>
> Trust me?  I don’t believe it is worth saving this install  - it is going 
> to leave.
>
> Michael

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