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How Do I Downgrade From Win 2000 to an Earlier OS?

Q: I decided I can't stand Windows 2000. How do I return my PC to the previous operating system without melting my hard drive?

A: Unlike other Windows upgrades, Windows 2000 Professional doesn't provide a rollback feature that lets you return with relative ease to the previously installed OS. The only way to get back to Windows 95 or 98 is to do it manually, and you can't roll back from 2000 to Me. We'll walk you through the complex process in the following steps.

Step 1: Get everything you need. Obtain the installation CDs for the earlier edition of Windows that you want to revert to. If you have only the upgrade version of the installation disc, you'll also need a full installation CD from the version prior to that. For example, if you have Windows 98 Upgrade Edition, you'll also need a CD for the full version of Windows 95.

If your PC doesn't boot from the CD-ROM drive, you'll also need a boot floppy that gets you access to the CD-ROM. You might have created this boot disk earlier; if not, refer to this Microsoft support page for details on how you can build a Windows 98 boot disk now.

Step 2: Prepare the hard drive. Next, you'll need to determine which file system you're using. In Windows Explorer, right-click the icon for the C: drive, select Properties, and read the code next to File System on the General tab. If you see FAT or FAT32 here, go immediately to Step 3. If it says NTFS, you'll need to reformat your drive. Back up your data and make note of such things as program and Internet connection settings, then follow these instructions:

1. Create a floppy disk start-up set; see "How Do I Make a Boot Floppy?" for a how-to.
   
   
2. Put the first disk of the set into the drive and reboot. When you see the Welcome to Setup screen, press F10. The command-line Recovery Console will appear.
   
   
3. Log in using your Administrator password, type map and press Enter.
   
   
4. Type format C: /fs:fat32 (where C: is the letter of the drive being reformatted).
   
   
5. Type y to begin formatting the drive. When complete, type exit to reboot.
   
   
6. Skip to Step 5.
   
   

Step 3: Move your programs aside (temporarily). If the word FAT or FAT32 is next to File System you'll need to rename your Program Files and Windows folders to prevent conflicts once Windows 95 or 98 is reinstalled. Open a Command Prompt window (select Start, Run, then type CMD and press Enter. Type these two lines, pressing Enter at the end of each:

ren c:\progra~1 c:\files.old

ren c:\windows c:\windows.200

You have just renamed your Program Files and Windows folders so they aren't overwritten by the older operating system.

Step 4: Delete Windows 2000-specific files. Start Windows Explorer and select View, Folder Options. On the View tab, click "Show all files" and click OK so you can see all the hidden files that you must manually delete.

In the root folder of the boot drive (probably drive C:), delete the following files: boot.ini, ntbootdd.sys, ntdetect.com, and NTLDR. Remove hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys from the drive on which Windows 2000 is installed (again, probably the C: drive). Finally, after moving any data files you want to keep to another spot on the drive, delete the Documents and Settings folder.

Step 5: Install the replacement OS. Reboot the PC from the Windows 95/98 Setup CD or from a bootable Windows 98 floppy disk with CD-ROM drivers. At the DOS prompt, type sys D: then press Enter, then type D:\setup.exe (assuming D: is the drive letter for your CD-ROM reader) and press Enter. The installer for the older version of Windows will start up. Once you're back up and running with Windows 95 or 98, you'll need to reinstall your applications.

Once you're all set up, and all your applications are loaded and working, you can delete the windows.200 and the files.old folders to free up disk space.

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