Removing Windows NT from a Windows 95/98 Dual-Boot Installation (171444)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
  • Microsoft Windows 95
  • Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.1
  • Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.5
  • Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0

This article was previously published under Q171444
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            NOTE: Use this information at your own risk.

   This article contains information about configuring or using 
   Windows 95 in a manner that has not been tested and is not 
   supported by Microsoft Technical Support.

   We suggest you back up your data before performing these steps. 
   If the steps described in this article do not function properly, 
   you may need to reinstall Windows 95 in order to restore your 
   system to its previous state.

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SUMMARY

This article describes how to remove the Windows NT Boot Loader to remove Windows NT from a dual-boot installation with Windows 95/98 and leave Windows 95/98 as the bootable operating system.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: Following these steps may lead to data loss if your computer currently has a virus or you have disk-management software installed on your hard disk (such as OnTrack Disk Manager or Micro House EZDrive) to allow you to access a larger hard disk than your computer's BIOS supports.

NOTE: The following steps apply only to computers in which the boot drive (drive C) uses the FAT file system and Windows 95/98 is installed on the boot drive.
  1. Back up the critical data on your hard disk, and verify that the computer is not infected with a virus.
  2. Boot the computer with your Windows 95 Startup disk. If you do not have a Startup disk, you can create one. In Windows 95, double-click Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, click the Startup Disk tab, and then click Create.
  3. At the "A:" prompt, type sys c:, and then press ENTER. You should see a "System transferred" message.
  4. Remove the Startup disk from the floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer. Windows 95 should start.
  5. If you have completed the above steps successfully, you can remove the folder containing Windows NT (typically C:\Winnt).
  6. You can delete the following files from the root folder:
          Ntldr
          Ntdetect.com
          Boot.ini
          Pagefile.sys (if present)
          Bootsect.dos
    						
    All of these files except Ntldr are hidden. To view them, start My Computer, click Options on the View menu, and then click Show All Files. To view file name extensions, click the "Hide MS-DOS extensions for file types that are registered" check box to clear it. Click OK.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:12/16/2004
Keywords:kbenv kbhowto KB171444