Re: Uninstalling Windows XP Home

On Sat, 9 Feb 2008 22:35:00 -0800, Ugly Trick
<UglyTrick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I want to uninstall Windows XP Home from a computer that I have. I can not
get it to uninstall or format the drive. It does not show up in Add/Remove
Programs in Control Panel. Help!



As a general rule, you can't uninstall an operating system. You have
to reformat the drive and install another operating system cleanly.

There's an exception to that, however. If you did an upgrade from
Windows 98 or Me, and took the option to save the previous operating
system and also did not convert your drive to NTFS, then you can find
an entry in Add/Remove Programs. Clicking on that will uninstall
Windows XP and revert to the previous operating system.

If there's no entry in Add/Remove Programs, then one or more of those
conditions wasn't met, and your only choice is to reformat and install
whatever operating system you want cleanly.

You can't format the Windows drive from within Windows, since that
would leave Windows without a leg to stand on.

Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if
necessary to accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean
installation (delete the existing partition by pressing "D" when
prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_install_windows_xp.htm

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Control Panel Add/Remove Programs shuts down pc
    ... When I click on Add/Remove, I can view that screen for about 45 seconds, then ... If you Export the Uninstall key, you can open the .reg file and peruse it ... All that does is remove Installer remnants from the ... don't have it installed under Windows XP ... ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsupdate)
  • Re: Control Panel Add/Remove Programs shuts down pc
    ... the Uninstall key has nothing to do with it. ... Clicking Add/Remove crashed the system again. ... All that does is remove Installer remnants from the ... don't have it installed under Windows XP ... ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsupdate)
  • Re: Add/Remove Programs Does Not Show All Programs Installed?
    ... 2004 Windows MVP "Winny" Award ... >> In xp pro when I open add/remove Programs there is only 5 entries, ... >> and the 'Uninstall' does not exist. ... >>>> either losing major program installs you know you have made since, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Uninstalling Windows XP
    ... Karen check here to learn what an operating system is ... The only way you can uninstall Windows XP and retain your currently ... If you do an Upgrade there will indeed be an Uninstall ... what is called a "clean install" (otherwise called new install or fresh ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: How To Successfully _Uninstall_ Windows Defender from Vista 64-bit?
    ... There's no way to force an uninstall, brute or otherwise, of Windows ... Defender as it's integrated into the operating system. ... I can't give you any guarantee though; I'm not on Vista, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)