How can I get rid of Windows Nt?

[5]

My uncle runs a large business, and he recently told me that he will give me a computer. It is a P2400 w/256 megs of Ram for FREE!!! Then he told me it already had Nt on it. Is there any way I can get rid of NT and install Windows 98?? All help is appreciated.

[greggx101]

Format the drive.

[verbalabuse]

Reformatting is a good idea but you should also run Fdisk to remove the Partitions setup by NT. If the drive was setup with NTFS (a propriatry NT filesystem), there maybe more problems. The only way I was able to reliably delete an NTFS partition was to use an Linux boot system and use its version of FDISK. The Windows 95 Fdisk could do nothing with NTFS. I'm not sure about Win98. If anyone else has a reliable way to remove NTFS partitions, please let us know.

[Sean]

Go to Maxtor.com and download the MAXLLF Low Level Format Utility - then copy it to a floppy disk and boot to the A: ( with a boot disk of course!) - run the MAXLLF program and have it low level the HD - all partitions will be wiped and then you can FDISK with Win95/98 and then format.

[BBA]

OK... its easier than yall are making it out to be!

All you have to use is MSDOS 622 or higher, including any version of WIN9x boot disk with the fdisk command file on it.
Type fdisk from the dos prompt after booting. Select 4 which shows partition information, if it has ntfs on it, it will show as "HPFS" on the Win95'a' fdisk or it will show ntfs on the Win95'b' or later fdisk.

If it has NTFS , select to remove the 'non-dos' partition, otherwise, delete the partitions as they are reported. Then you can reboot and run fdisk again, then set up the partitions any way you want to. Then format the drives and load windows.

[gruven]

BBA is right as always...but what i wanna know is why take it off???????
Man...give it to me!

gruven

[jinukim]

It's so easy if nt with fat16 to delete..but if u have with ntfs..u have to have tough time. easiest way to delete is to get utility like delpart.exe which u have to browse to get,wow it's just one time removal tool for nt. second is reinstall windows nt and u will see the point of chance to delete during the installation
third try to get ez driver utility from any hard disk drive manufacturers.

[ANTONIO E GUERRA]

If you have an Ntfs partition, go to Nt and delete that partition with Disk Administrator . After that you have to commit to change and create a partition in a fat format.
If you have the three setup disks (NT) then you could start the computer with 1, 2, 3 disk and should format the Ntfs partition as fat.
Then, get a copy of fdisk.exe and format the hard drive either to windows or dos. Sorry if it looks confusing, blame nt security file.

[kwai]

yeah its normally easy...unless there is a ntfs logical drive on the extended partition. in that case, plain vanilla fdisk won't do it.

i've found the easiest way it to use delpart, like jinukim said. if anyone wants it and cant find it, i'm willing to send it to them via email attachment (anyone else can verify the correct size, date, etc).

[CMonster]

low-level formating can be the last thing you do to your drive -- before getting an RMA from the mfgr

[BBA]

OK, let me say it again!

All you need to do is run fdisk from a boot disk! Any Fdisk!

Select remove the non-dos partition or logical drive and viola 'all gone'!

Even a complete stand alone 100% NTFS drive!

Whats the fuss?

BBA

[kwai]

oh yeah?! have you personally tried to remove a NTFS logical drive from a extended partition? fdisk won't even touch it.

if you can, then what the hell have the rest of us been wasting our time with using the delpart util, etc. we will worship your feet.

[BBA]

I do it almost a dozen times every day!!!

IT"S MY JOB!!!

You havent had much experiance have you?

BBA

[BBA]

As a matter of fact, I am using fdisk from Dos 622 right now as I type to remove a NTFS partition on a pc right next to me!!

You cant argue with the truth!

I dont know why every one buys utilities to do what you can do without them. Any ms fdisk prior to Win98 will report the NTFS drive as 'HPFS' or 'non dos', but that doesnt keep them from doing the job.

BBA

[kwai]

well, i guess this isn't going across well, since i've only said this twice, but have your used fdisk to remove a NTFS LOGICAL DRIVE FROM AN EXTENDED PARTITION.

(almost) anyone can use fdisk to take off a primary partition.

as for experience, lets not even go there.

[This message has been edited by kwai (edited 04-07-99).]

[Jav]

Kwai is correct, DOS ,Win95, Win98 Fdisk utilities cannot reliably delete an NTFS extended partition with a logical drive. Just doesn't quite work. In fact, when you select delete of that HPFS or Non-Dos partition, you end up only deleting the logical drive. Refer to Technet Article Q104205 on how to remove an Extended NTFS partition (search support.microsoft.com for Q104205).

Later,
Jav, MCSE (MCSE ID 928077)

[ANTONIO E GUERRA]

Ntfs can't be deleted so easily.Please, don't forget that this partition was created to guarantee file security. To really delete from the Ntserver, you need to be an administrator and use the disk administrator tool or the setup disks to reformat the partition. I am very sorry but i must agree with the previous comments: Ntfs partition can't be deleted with dos or windows. The fdisk.exe will delete the logical volume but won't get rid of the NTFS partition. In fact, Fat 16 can't see an NTFS partition. Are we going to use all our "certifications" to validate our responses? Let's keep them hanging in the wall, please! It is not too late to learn new tricks.


[This message has been edited by ANTONIO E GUERRA (edited 04-07-99).]

[This message has been edited by ANTONIO E GUERRA (edited 04-07-99).]

[BBA]

OK...

EXCUSE THE HELL OUT OF ME FOR ACTUALLY DOING THIS IN THE COURSE OF MY JOB AND HOBBY EVERY @#$%^&* DAY!

YES It will delete an extended NTFS partition!

YES It will delete a complete NTFS partition.

NO... NTFS permissions do not prevent deletion.

Any more questions?

BillyBadAss

[ANTONIO E GUERRA]

i am so glad that i don't work in your office. i guess you will make evrybody's life miserable. Please, read carefully and don't get upset. It is not good for you and your coworkers.

[BBA]

I happen to work in what has to be one of the nicest and well equiped companies I have ever seen. We have 2500 NT pc's, some even exotic quad Xeon workstations, a bunch of Proliant servers and more!

I dont have a hard time with any one I work with, we all listen to each other and we dont lie about things we know or dont.

We really do know what we are talking about, If you cant figure out how to delete any combination of drive partitioning and formatting with fdisk, then you very well should be using a 3rd party utility.

BBA

[This message has been edited by BBA (edited 04-07-99).]

[kwai]

to each his own i guess. but i definitely know that some people with some setups (myself included) have had probs with the standard fdisk. that's why microsoft published that tech article and released the delpart util.

don't be so quick to make blanket statements that something will work 100% for everyone. maybe there's some other factor we're overlooking here...

[Nathan]

Well put Kwai!!

[Bleeding Edge]

What in the world is going on here??!

[ANTONIO E GUERRA]

Kwai, thanks!I appreciate also the info about the Microsoft utility. No offense intended to anybody.