Removing Windows 95 From Your PC (From the WUGNET Forum on CompuServe) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WUGNET's Notes: We've added some notes to the Windows 95 Removal Process from the Windows 95 Resource Kit - Build 345 Help file. You'll know them since they are all italicized and prefaced with ``WUGNET's Notes''. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: The MS-DOS 6.x disk #1 is bootable, but the retail MS-DOS 5.0 disk #1 is not, and OEM versions may vary. To remove Windows 95 when the computer is started with the previous operating system: * 1. Start the computer and press the F8 key when you see the Starting Windows message, and choose the option named Previous Version of MS-DOS. * 2. To make it easier to delete files and directories, copy the Windows 95 version of DELTREE.EXE to the boot drive. At the command-line prompt, type the following: copy \windows\command\deltree.exe c:\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WUGNET's Notes: As to Items 3, 4 and 5 below, we chose not to use ScanDisk at all, since we didn't want it to destroy my long file names. We wanted to keep the files that I had created with LFNs for use in a later Windows 95 reinstall. You may want to skip these or not depending on whether you have created files with LFNs that you want to keep. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 3. Copy the Windows 95 version of ScanDisk files from the Windows COMMAND directory to the root directory, using the following commands: copy \windows\command\scandisk.* c:\ * 4. Edit SCANDISK.INI to change the entries controlling whether ScanDisk looks for invalid characters in filenames and volume labels: Set labelcheck=on to specify whether ScanDisk should check volume labels for invalid characters. Set spacecheck=on to specify whether ScanDisk should check for invalid spaces in filenames. * 5. To remove all entries that your earlier version of MS-DOS may see as invalid, at the command prompt, type scandisk followed by the letter identifying the drive containing the Windows 95 installation. For example: scandisk c: If you receive error messages during the ScanDisk process, refer to the online Help for information to help you resolve the error. * 6. To delete the Windows 95 directory, type the following from the root directory of the drive containing the Windows 95 installation, where windows is the name of the directory containing the Windows 95 files: deltree windows Caution: all subdirectories of the Windows 95 directory will be deleted by this command. Before performing this step, make sure that the Windows 95 directory tree does not contain any critical data that has not been backed up. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greg's Notes Also use Deltree to delete all of the directories, subdirectories and files for the directory c:\Progra~1 and c:\Recycled. This is where the WordPad, MSN and other accessory files are located, as well as the contents of the Recycle bin. Depending on whether you've used Exchange only with Win 95, you also may want to Deltree the Wgpo0000 directory used as the Post Office. Be sure if you have any messages stored there that you want to keep, that you save them somewhere. Enter the following: deltree progra~1 deltree recycled Optionally, deltree wgpo0000 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 7. Delete the Windows 95 real-mode operating system file named WINBOOT.SYS, which was renamed from IO.SYS when you started the computer with your previous operating system. Type the following command from the boot drive (or from the root directory of the host drive, if the boot drive is compressed): deltree winboot.* --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WUGNET's Notes: With current Builds such as M8 - 347 or 426, these MS removal instructions haven't quite kept up with all the files currently installed, so you need to also use Deltree to delete these files on the root of your hard drive (i.e. c:\) as follows: deltree suhdlog.dat deltree system.1st --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 8. Delete the Windows 95 files MSDOS.W40, COMMAND.W40, CONFIG.W40, and AUTOEXEC.W40. (The renaming of these operating system files occurred when you used F8 to start the previous operating system.) To do this, type this command at the command prompt (if the boot drive is not compressed): deltree *.w40 If the boot drive is compressed, you must delete MSDOS.W40 from the root directory of the host drive and COMMAND.W40 from the root directories of both the host drive and the boot drive. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WUGNET's Notes In Item 9 below, it says to use the Attrib command to change the file attributes from System, Read-Only and Hidden. You don't need to do this, since Deltree works on these files regardless of their attributes. Just follow the Deltree instructions. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 9. At the command line, use attrib -h -s -r to change the file attributes for SETUPLOG.*, BOOTLOG.*, DETLOG.*, IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, D??SPACE.BIN, and COMMAND.COM. Then delete the Setup, Boot, and Detection log files by typing the following from the root directory of the boot drive: deltree setuplog.* deltree bootlog.* deltree detlog.* * 10. To delete the Windows 95 compression drivers (DBLSPACE.BIN and DRVSPACE.BIN), if present, type the following from the root directory of the boot drive (or from the root directory of the host drive, if the boot drive is compressed): deltree d??space.bin If you are using Stacker version 3.1, either skip this step or back up the STAC DBLSPACE.BIN file before completing this step. * 11. Put a bootable floppy disk with your earlier version of MS-DOS into drive A, and then restart the computer. After the computer starts from the floppy disk, put your earlier version of MS-DOS back on the boot drive (or the host drive, if the C drive is compressed) by typing sys followed by the letter identifying the drive and a colon. For example: sys c: * 12. If you have MS-DOS version 6.0 and are using compression, copy DBLSPACE.BIN to the root directory of the boot drive. Also, for all versions of MS-DOS, if you have a shell= statement referencing COMMAND.COM from a different directory, copy COMMAND.COM to the root directory. Then remove the floppy disk, and restart the computer from the hard disk. If you removed Windows 95 from a dual-boot installation, Windows 95 will be completely removed, and the computer will start the same way it did before installing Windows 95. If you removed Windows 95 from an upgraded Windows 3.x installation, you may need to reinstall your previous version of MS-DOS, if needed files were removed by Windows 95 Setup. Drivers which were located in the Windows directory (such as HIMEM.SYS, IFSLHLP.SYS, and EMM386.EXE) will be missing until you reinstall Windows 3.x into the Windows directory. After you have reinstalled Windows 3.x, the computer will start the same way it did before Windows 95 was installed. To remove Windows 95 from a computer with Windows NT installed: 1. Follow the preceding steps for removing Windows 95. 2. Use the Windows NT Setup Disk #1 to restart your computer. 3. Choose Repair. 4. When prompted, insert the Windows NT Emergency Repair Disk and choose the option to repair the boot files. 5. Restore your original MS-DOS and Windows 3.x configuration.