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Downgrade WinME to Win98SE - possible?

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6 replies

by wizardj

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I HATE Windows ME - I have had it on my Dell P3-900 for over a year now, and I can't take it anymore!!!!!! How difficult will it be to "upgrade" to Windows 98 SE, and will it leave all sorts of ME crap all over the place if I just run the upgrade. Or should I just bite the bullet and do the old "fdisk,format,clean install" bit?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated - I also have a couple of customers that want to do the same thing. Please hurry ...

6 replies

by dmiles

First of all Windows ME is the upgrade to Windows 98SE and not the other way around
I would go with a backup of critical files and apply the fdisk to do a clean install
The other option would be to check to see if the Uninstall files are in Add/Remove Programs and then use it to remove which will aloow you to reinstall the previous operating system before windows me.
The clean install would be the best option,time consuming yet will not minimize the conflicts and files that may cause problems that you have installed from sites and programs

by wizardj

yes, I know ME is the upgrade - that's why I used the term "downgrade". Although your answer didn't really help my problem ( I was hoping for an answer from someone who has done this), I appreciate you taking the time to come up with ideas.

by thechas

If the PC was originally W98, and upgraded to Me, and you choose to save the original configuration, then, it should be as simple as going to add/remove programs, and uninstalling Me.

If Me was the original OS, or the files have been deleted, then you are best to follow soulriders advice.

Another option, would be to temporarily install the boot drive as a slave in another PC.
Delete all of the Windows files in the Windows and System folders, and the files in the root.
The more you clearout, the better the new install will go.
This gets rid of the registry, and Windows Me.
You can leave things like favorites, desktop, and start menu in place.
I would also download the latest W98 drivers for the hardware, and create a folder to extract the zips into.
That way, when W98 searches for drivers, you can start with the new.

Then, place the drive back into the original PC, and install 98.

Even though you left the files on the drive, you will still need to re-install most aplications.
With no registry, Windows won't know how to run the program. Also, some programs load dll files into the Windows folders.

As always, back up all critical data before starting the task.

By the way, if you hate Me because of the user interface, forget about XP, you'll like it even less.

by wizardj

And again, not sure that this really helps, since it doesn't sound like you have done this before, but hey, thanks for answering, and here's your points.

by wizardj

The computer came with ME installed ... so no option to back off to 98.

Also, the reason I hate ME so much is the self-corrupting qualities, not the interface. The longer it gets left on, which is "always on", the worse things get, modem won't dial, some programs won't load, printer won't print (all of these are erratic) -- so it's a shut down, wait 5 minutes, power up and everything is ok (for a while) POC!

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