Uninstall / reinstall?

[idgrac]

I've recently acquired an IBM laptop that runs NT. I'd like to know exactly what's involved in "erasing" NT from the computer and replacing it with a different OS. Having never done anything like this, I haven't the first idea of where to start. Anyone have any suggestions for me?

TIA

[JoeP517]

If you are going to install XP you'll get the chance to reformat during the install process.

Joe

[SMBP]

The nice thing is that you are generally a lot better off doing a clean install than an upgrade. A lot of people refuse to upgrade when it comes to an OS.

SMBP

[jkipk]

If you don't want or need anything on the laptop, then it's pretty easy to reformat the hard drive (wiping everything clean) and install a new OS. You should find out if there are partitions on the hd, as you will have to deal with each partition separately if you want to really clean off the entire hd.

Now on to upgrade vs upgrade (?!) Upgrade, as SMBP is using the term, means to "refresh" the existing OS with parts of a new one, leaving your settings, documents, etc, intact. This generally works better in theory than in practice, and SMBP is right that many shy away from this method. However, one can do a "clean install" with an upgrade version of XP, and save about a hundred bucks in the process. XP only requires that you prove that you are in posession of a previous OS (by sticking an original CD of Win 98 etc in the tray when it asks during the installation process). No part of the earlier OS is installed, resulting in a clean XP installation. Now here's the thing that I don't quite know the answer to. I have read, and believe, that you can use a copy of Win 95 as "proof", even though you cannot do an upgrade install of XP over 95. I just checked over at MS, and the table showing upgrades says that you cannot upgrade NT with XP Home (you can with Pro). I'm guessing that you CAN use NT as proof for XP Home if you don't do the upgrade.

Now that I just typed all this, I realized there's a good chance that the original NT CD didn't come with the laptop. You would of course need it to gain the savings.
Hope I did something more than just confuse the issue.......

kip

[idgrac]

Kip - You've cleared up several of my questions, thank you. You're right in guessing that I don't have the original NT disk (assuming you mean boot disk here). Best I can come up with is a WinMe system restore disk - think that would work as proof? Also, and bear with me, I'm very new to this, how would I be able to determine if the HD is partitioned? I don't really need anything that's currently on the laptop, I'm just curious about what a full reformat would involve if the HD is indeed partitioned.

Thanks again!
K

[SMBP]

Kip makes an awfully good important point that is not known enough, or widely used enough-- or believed by some--and a distinction I should have. It is the best stable way to go I believe if you have a previous edition.

SMBP

[viking33]

Check out the MSKB article Fdisk/Partioning
It gives a good insight into partitioning & formatting HD's.

BTW, I don't think the WinME restore disk will be proof of prior Windows ownership. <img src=/S/hmmn.gif border=0 alt=hmmn width=15 height=15>

Bob

[SMBP]

If this is an OEM Win ME restore disk, they're not going to accept it as proof:

Microsoft Activation

SMBP

[jkipk]

In answer to the partition question, if you have more than one drive letter assigned to your hard drive (ie: c:, d:, e:.....) then it has been partitioned. You can delete partitions as part of the format, or you can just format each partition and re-use them.

kip