How do you downgrade from Windows XP to Windows 98?
- Thread starter hkgant
- Start date
Yes. Fdisk is just used to format your hard drives.
Here is a good bit of information on older hard disk limitations. Generally speaking, yes, you can use physical drives larger than 128GB with Win98, however, you must break that drive into 128GB (137GB max) partitions. There are drivers out there where you can expand the capabilities of Win98 beyond it's defaults. But, again, depending on the age of the computer, there may be a limiting factor within your BIOS.
How to downgrade? Format your drive and install Windows 98. However be forewarned that you might have a hard time getting all the correct drivers for 98 if your system is compatible with XP/Vista only.
If you have the original version of XP no SP applied to it then the limit is 137gb or so.
If you have the original version of XP no SP applied to it then the limit is 137gb or so.
Wait. Windows 98 First Edition without the fdisk upgrade can only read disks of up to 64GB I thought? And what about Windows XP, can't it read hard disks over 137GB ? What sort of third-party software is out there which lets you bypass this limit? Do you have to format your hard disk to install Windows 98 even if your hard drive is in FAT32? Thanks.
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For further reading, I would also recommend this and also this.
Regarding third party software to bypass that limit, it has been a while, but I remember some manufacturers of larger external drives used to supply a driver to use these drives with Windows 98.
Windows 98 will install to an existing Fat32 partition. It would not be a bad idea to format it before hand.
Regarding third party software to bypass that limit, it has been a while, but I remember some manufacturers of larger external drives used to supply a driver to use these drives with Windows 98.
Windows 98 will install to an existing Fat32 partition. It would not be a bad idea to format it before hand.
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tlarkin
VIP Member
Why even bother downgrading, when you can run a virtual machine of Win 98 with in XP. That way if you have any legacy apps that need to run you just do it via the virtual machine. In fact Microsoft's Virtual PC is a free download. I don't know why you would even bother, I mean the boot time alone of Windows 98 would make me punch the computer. In a VM it would boot probably instantly.
Eureka! Can I run a virtual machine of XP in Win2k? That's why I came here--to ask if there's a way to minimize the pain of upgrading to a new OS.
I've considered upgrading from Win2k to XP, but what deters me is the prospect of installing not only the OS and drivers and major apps like Office but probably 50 or more smaller apps. This could easily be a two-day project, with complications along the way, and I'd rather not let myself in for that. Is there a shortcut (other than a VM? Would a VM work)?
Developers are starting to drop support for Win2k (e.g., Norton Internet Security 2009 only works for XP and Vista, which I didn't realize until after buying it ...), so I may have to switch eventually. But then I'd have to do it again a few more years down the line.
If some enterprising geek could come up with a portable registry that could be moved from one machine to another, that would be a big help. Then we could just drag/drop the apps from Program Files, install the registry, and be on our way.
The alternative is Linux. I don't really want to learn a whole new OS. But at least their upgrades are backward-compatible.
Yes, technically you could run XP on a virtual machine. The upgrade process from Win2k to XP is quite simple, however, and should be painless. Windows 2000 is just an evolutionary precursor to XP. They both have NT bones. If you still have doubts about the process, take a look over here.
The shortcut would really be to pop an XP install disk in and upgrade.
Not just developers, MS themselves has discontinued support (even for XP). It's worth upgrading now especially if you already own XP.
Porting the registry over from say one XP drive to another XP drive is a possible though involved process. I am not sure how feasible this would be from Win2k to XP other than just upgrading the OS as I mentioned above (which is very simple). There are some programs out there that can help facilitate this, but they are far from perfect and still require hand holding from the user.
Honestly, this is one fuction of Windows that has been a pain in neck for me. I hate having to re-install all my applications when re-installing windows. This situation in OS X has never been a problem. It's as simple as backing up a few folders (namely your documents and applications) and files/settings and then retoring them to the fresh install. Viola! Everything works. Transporting the Registry could be much simpler...but it was never designed to be simple.
Maybe. I take it you have never dealt with broken dependancies in Linux before?
tlarkin
VIP Member
Only if your hardware can handle it. You will need lots of RAM for one for it to be good and virtual machines suck at DX and video support, so as long as you aren't 3D rendering or playing video games it should technically work.
XP is a good OS compared to 2k. Lots of advantages worth taking.
This is common practice across the board in every application and in every OS platform. Eventually support will be dropped.
This just sounds disgusting. The registry is already bloated enough, I can't imaging copying it from machine to machine, especially if you have different hardware and software configurations on each machine.
There is also, Unix and OS X as alternatives.
I could not agree more! Well put.Don't even trying to transfer a registry from one computer to one with a different configuration. You're better of spending several days re-installing your applications and re-setting your preferences instead.
There are several things the end user should not mess with. Even folks that know what they are doing typically avoid modifying the registry directly if possible. An oops can so many wonderful problems...
An upgrade! Eureka! Thanks, Zatharus--you just saved me two days' work and reinstalling all my apps. The answer was so obvious, I couldn't see it. You can tell how long it's been since I installed an OS--I've been using Win2k happily since the early part of the decade, and I forgot all about upgrades! You made my day!
After I upgrade, can I image the HD to the drive on a new machine and have it work?
Regarding Linux, no, I've never dealt with broken dependencies ... fortunately. And I'm not looking as far afield as Unix or OS X.
Do you reinstall Windows often? I don't think I've ever done it, or maybe once.
tlarkin, thanks for the comments on VM. I had thought it would slow down performance, since it's running through an extra layer of s/w, but I was trying to think of a way to avoid a full install of XP.
Transferring the registry was just an offhand idea, not really serious.
Thanks again, guys! Much appreciated.