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Windows NT configuration..

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by john_bosko

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I had Windows NT working pretty fine, But today somebody had run a demo executable from a CD which installed a copy of Windows NT workstation
and I cannot get back to the old Windows NT..

Can somebody help..to get my previous Windows NT back..

11 replies

by avachon

Hi, okay since the new nt demo is the last run (and its a second copy of workstation? or server? if workstation you'd see at startup>
Windows Nt workstation version 4.00
Windows Nt workstaiton version 4.00 [vga mode]
windows nt workstation version 4.00
windows nt workstation version 4.00 [vga mode]
The second series would be your installation. When starting up, click on the second instance of nt workstation version 4.00. When logged on, go to explorer, view|options and uncheck hide file extensions for known file types. Under C:\ drive you should see boot.ini Right click and unmark hidden, read and then open file. Remove the first two lines of the new install (below default, save and close. Restart to check that the demo version is notshowing. You'l then boot only to your installation. Hope this helps

by wayne.maples

we are guessing here. you need to add more information.

"I cannot get back to the old Windows NT"

do you see two sets of NT options at boot?
or can you simply not login now.

in any case, you may have a long term problem. The NT installed was almost certainly a demo version which will expire.
It dwiddled with your registry.

I would contact the tech support for the product installed to see if they have specifics on what the demo does to a PC and how to undo it.

I don't know your situation, but from a reliability perspective, I would blow the partitions away and start over.

-Wayne

by jacky chin

From the NT boot up menu, the last installation for this Windows NT Workstation will come first in the NT boot up menu. So, in your case, you need to select the second set of NT boot up from the list.
If you are running on FAT file system, you can try to edit the boot.ini file in the root directory and delete all the unnecessary. Good luck.

by rmmcp

The only way to truly restore the sytem to what you had before is from a tape backup. Because even an NT demo (usually for training) actually installs a complete copy of NT. This most certainly has overwritten system files in the Winnt directory. Now what you can do if there is no backup is to first unintall any of the demo programs. Then rerun the installation of your NT. Then, once that is complete, the very next thing you do is install the Service Pack version you were running. Don't start any programs, don't run any setup utilities, and, most certainly, don't mess with the Network Properties until that Service Pack is installed. Then reinstall any updates, other than the SP, that you had installed. This will at least put your system files back to what they were. Good luck.

by obi_duru

When installing NT on an exsisting NT machine it nornmally gives you the option to make a new installation or to overwrite the existing one. If it was overwritten, and you don't have a backup, then you are in bad shape (i can't help there). But if it wasn't overwritten, then you will have the option of which nt to boot from. Just toggle between the two (the one on top i think).
Good luck

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