Problems uninstalling Win2000 pro and reverting to Win95

[Dougpeplow]

I have made a pig's ear of trying to uninstall win2000 and revert to Win95 on a DELL laptop. Following advice from a link from TEK-TIPs, I booted the laptop from my win95 boot disk and copied the system to the laptop with the command - SYS C: I then tried to find and delete the BOOT.INI and similar files, but couldn't locate them. After a lot of time searching, with command line instructions, I found the autoexec.bat file echoed the info that my original CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files were in a sub-directory. I renamed and copied the CONFIG.SYS file to C:, but the same procedure wouldn't work for the AUTOEXEC.BAT - the message "0 Files copied - Access denied" appeared. I now have a laptop with the following CONFIG.SYS file:-

REM [Header]
FILES=20
BUFFERS=20
DOS=HIGH,UMB
REM [SCSI Controllers]

REM DEVICE=SCSI.SYS

REM [CD-ROM Drive]

REM DEVICE=CDROM.SYS /D:OEMCD001

REM [Display]

REM DEVICE=DISPLAY.SYS

REM [Sound, MIDI, or Video Capture Card]

REM [Mouse]

REM DEVICE=MOUSE.SYS

REM ------------------

REM [Miscellaneous]

REM DEVICE=SMARTDRV.EXE

DEVICE=C:\DELL\UTIL\TAISATAP.SYS /D:MSCD000 /A
device=c:\windows\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1)
Country=044,850,c:\windows\COMMAND\country.sys
device=c:\windows\cwbinit.exe /W

I have tried removing some of the REM statements to try and get the CD-ROM recognised, but with no success - I can't locate the drivers (which I think are referred to in the switches)anywhere on the system
The Hard Drive is partitioned into two drives.
Can anyone offer advice as to how I proceed pls
Rgds

 

[compdrmt]

The line you are interested in here is this one

REM DEVICE=CDROM.SYS /D:OEMCD001

Remove the rem from this line. this is part one of the requiredtwo parts to make a cd drive work

the seconfd part is in the autoexec file so that must get copied

I would assume that the reason you are getting the access enied is because the autoexec.bat already exists on the drive check it out

at c:\ prompt type attrib -s -h -r autoexec.bat {enter}
then dir aut*.*

you should see it there.

Rename it to somthing like autoexec.old or some such or delete it if you are sure you will not need it.

copy the autoexec .bat from the same source you got the config.sys from and you should have better luck. Open this file to make sure the correct line is presentand not Rem'ed.

When you boot from these file the last line you willl see will tell you the drive letter of you CD (should be E if all is right in the world)

good luck

 

[Guest_imported]

If you have a win98 boot disk or know somone with win98 you can make one and use it. Just pick the option boot with CdRom support and you dont need to edit Config or Autoexec.

 

[wolluf]

Or you can get a win95 boot disk with CDROM support from

http://www.bootdisk.com

 

[Dougpeplow]

gents/ladies - thanks very much - I have now got part way through the repair - I had to use abootdisk from Bootdisk.com. I now have a system that will bootand run windows from the CD-ROm, but have lost all my preset drivers - the screen only works using 16 colors and 640x480 resolution.
I'm scratching around.
The C:directory contains 2 window folders, the original one and a new one installed by re-installing today from the win95 CD.
I think I'll try the Dell website for help, but any suggestions would be most welcome.
All my files seem to be intact, but....
Rgds and thank you for guidance
DougPeplow

 

[wolluf]

If you just want to do a clean install of windows 95 on the first partition (ie, removing everything that's there), just boot from your bootdisk.com floppy with CD support( and 95 install CD in drive). Format the C: drive (format c: /q will do it quickly) to remove existing stuff, then change to CD drive, type setup and follow the instructions.

(if I've misunderstood your intentions, sorry).

 

[Dougpeplow]

Wolluf - thanks but I'm hopeful I can retain the data on the hard-drives, including the registration of the applications (like MS-Office etc.).
I think I have a problem with the display, because one of the 'alternative' config.sys files I tried had a command along the lines of:
Cols 80 Rows 40 or similar. I seem to remember this as a way of defining the screen resolution, but I'm not sure whether it 'stays resident' and may be the reason I can't change the screen. Thanks for help so far, any suggestions still welcome
rgds
doug

 

[wolluf]

Doug,

There's no way you can retain registration of apps that were on the 2k installation by the method you're using. That would only be possible if you originally upgraded win95 to win2k and chose option to save win95 settings (so you can uninstall win2k) and left filestore as Fat/Fat32. If you did all that there would be an entry in add/remove programs to uninstall win2k. Running that should return to win95 as it was when you upgraded.

If this is not possible, then you are going to have to reinstall win95 (I think from previous posts you've just copied installation files to disk - you haven't actually installed it). To retain your data, if partition is fat or fat32, you can just install without formatting (is there a \winnt and a \windows folders on drive currently or just one of?). I'd remove files from root of C: and \winnt and \windows (whichever is present) - copying any data you wish to save out of either to your second partition (you can do this from boot floppy). Then install 95 by booting with CD support and running setup from the CD.

 

[Dougpeplow]

Wolluf - thank you - I didn't want to hear that I couldn't keep the apps!! (but I expected it nonetheless). I have saved all data to second partition and booted and loaded Win'95. The only problem I now have is the screen resolution, it remains steadfastly at 640x480. I am currently trying to decide which of the monitor/screen drivers on the DELL website I should be using and presumably, once I find the right one I will be able to re-install and be 'up and running'
Thank you again
DougPeplow