getting xp back

I did a clean install and now have a Windows and Windows.old folder in my C: directory. I have a Dell PC and I put the XP installation DVD in my DVD drive, however when the install screen comes up for XP the option "Install Windows XP" is in gray and I can't click on it. Also when I boot my PC, I get this screen that asks me to load Microsoft Windows or Previous Version of Windows, so I tried clicking previous version thinking XP would load but the screen goes black and nothing happens. Now my PC is stuck on Vista with barely anything compatible. I heard from a friend that if I had a Windows 98 boot disk I could access DOS and move the directories from Windows.old into my C: directory and then XP would be back. Is that true, and if so then how do I go about getting a Windows 98 boot disk? Thanks for your help.

Do not follow your friends advice concerning the windows.old folder. You need to wipe out Vista and install XP properly. Just moving the files is not going to guarantee that you get the registry properly restored. Some of the hives are dynamic.
What you are seeing on boot up is the boot option screen installed by Vista. The 'previous version' entry suggests that you still have XP available, but if you installed Vista in the same partition as XP in an upgrade scenario that boot entry will not be helpful.
What happens if you boot with the XP cd in the drive? During start up if you see a message that says "Press any key to boot from cd..." by all means do so and quickly. It times out in about five seconds and then goes to the hard drive. Booting from the cd is what you want to in order to reinstall XP. That message will appear again further in the installation process, but do not press a key then. Just when you are first starting the installation.
"Nick Alzapiedi" <Nick Alzapiedi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

I did a clean install and now have a Windows and Windows.old folder in my C: directory. I have a Dell PC and I put the XP installation DVD in my DVD drive, however when the install screen comes up for XP the option "Install Windows XP" is in gray and I can't click on it. Also when I boot my PC, I get this screen that asks me to load Microsoft Windows or Previous Version of Windows, so I tried clicking previous version thinking XP would load but the screen goes black and nothing happens. Now my PC is stuck on Vista with barely anything compatible. I heard from a friend that if I had a Windows 98 boot disk I could access DOS and move the directories from Windows.old into my C: directory and then XP would be back. Is that true, and if so then how do I go about getting a Windows 98 boot disk? Thanks for your help.

Well I've never had that prob, but I do know about the Windows.old folder. I tried deleting it in vista and it wouldn't let me. I had set it up with a partition for xp and vista. So that I could switch back and forth. But you need the harddrive space to do this. one thing you can try is right click on my computer and go to manage. Then click on disk management. You should be able to make a new partishion and then Install xp on it. Once you get xp up and running then go back to disk management and delete the partion with vista. Then try to reinstall it in the new empty partition. this way xp is the primary and vista is the secondary. You will be able to switch between them.
Now I don't know if this will work but it's worth a shot. Let me know how it goes.
"Nick Alzapiedi" wrote:

I did a clean install and now have a Windows and Windows.old folder in my C: directory. I have a Dell PC and I put the XP installation DVD in my DVD drive, however when the install screen comes up for XP the option "Install Windows XP" is in gray and I can't click on it. Also when I boot my PC, I get this screen that asks me to load Microsoft Windows or Previous Version of Windows, so I tried clicking previous version thinking XP would load but the screen goes black and nothing happens. Now my PC is stuck on Vista with barely anything compatible. I heard from a friend that if I had a Windows 98 boot disk I could access DOS and move the directories from Windows.old into my C: directory and then XP would be back. Is that true, and if so then how do I go about getting a Windows 98 boot disk? Thanks for your help.

http://www.bootdisk.cc/
-- Jay Reische
"Nick Alzapiedi" <Nick Alzapiedi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

I did a clean install and now have a Windows and Windows.old folder in my C: directory. I have a Dell PC and I put the XP installation DVD in my DVD drive, however when the install screen comes up for XP the option "Install Windows XP" is in gray and I can't click on it. Also when I boot my PC, I get this screen that asks me to load Microsoft Windows or Previous Version of Windows, so I tried clicking previous version thinking XP would load but the screen goes black and nothing happens. Now my PC is stuck on Vista with barely anything compatible. I heard from a friend that if I had a Windows 98 boot disk I could access DOS and move the directories from Windows.old into my C: directory and then XP would be back. Is that true, and if so then how do I go about getting a Windows 98 boot disk? Thanks for your help.

Well I've never had that prob, but I do know about the Windows.old folder. I tried deleting it in vista and it wouldn't let me. I had set it up with a partition for xp and vista. So that I could switch back and forth. But you need the harddrive space to do this. one thing you can try is right click on my computer and go to manage. Then click on disk management. You should be able to make a new partishion and then Install xp on it. Once you get xp up and running then go back to disk management and delete the partion with vista. Then try to reinstall it in the new empty partition. this way xp is the primary and vista is the secondary. You will be able to switch between them.
Now I don't know if this will work but it's worth a shot. Let me know how it goes.
"Nick Alzapiedi" wrote:

I did a clean install and now have a Windows and Windows.old folder in my C: directory. I have a Dell PC and I put the XP installation DVD in my DVD drive, however when the install screen comes up for XP the option "Install Windows XP" is in gray and I can't click on it. Also when I boot my PC, I get this screen that asks me to load Microsoft Windows or Previous Version of Windows, so I tried clicking previous version thinking XP would load but the screen goes black and nothing happens. Now my PC is stuck on Vista with barely anything compatible. I heard from a friend that if I had a Windows 98 boot disk I could access DOS and move the directories from Windows.old into my C: directory and then XP would be back. Is that true, and if so then how do I go about getting a Windows 98 boot disk? Thanks for your help.

He cannot use computer management to partition the active (system) drive. Hopefully he has a second drive.
"Toast" wrote in message

Well I've never had that prob, but I do know about the Windows.old folder. I tried deleting it in vista and it wouldn't let me. I had set it up with a partition for xp and vista. So that I could switch back and forth. But you need the harddrive space to do this. one thing you can try is right click on my computer and go to manage. Then click on disk management. You should be able to make a new partishion and then Install xp on it. Once you get xp up and running then go back to disk management and delete the partion with vista. Then try to reinstall it in the new empty partition. this way xp is the primary and vista is the secondary. You will be able to switch between them.
Now I don't know if this will work but it's worth a shot. Let me know how it goes.
"Nick Alzapiedi" wrote:
I did a clean install and now have a Windows and Windows.old folder in my C: directory. I have a Dell PC and I put the XP installation DVD in my DVD drive, however when the install screen comes up for XP the option "Install Windows XP" is in gray and I can't click on it. Also when I boot my PC, I get this screen that asks me to load Microsoft Windows or Previous Version of Windows, so I tried clicking previous version thinking XP would load but the screen goes black and nothing happens. Now my PC is stuck on Vista with barely anything compatible. I heard from a friend that if I had a Windows 98 boot disk I could access DOS and move the directories from Windows.old into my C: directory and then XP would be back. Is that true, and if so then how do I go about getting a Windows 98 boot disk? Thanks for your help.

There will be issues (resovable perhaps) if he tries to install XP with Vista already set up. The rule is to install the older OS first to avoid problems.
"Toast" wrote in message

Well I've never had that prob, but I do know about the Windows.old folder. I tried deleting it in vista and it wouldn't let me. I had set it up with a partition for xp and vista. So that I could switch back and forth. But you need the harddrive space to do this. one thing you can try is right click on my computer and go to manage. Then click on disk management. You should be able to make a new partishion and then Install xp on it. Once you get xp up and running then go back to disk management and delete the partion with vista. Then try to reinstall it in the new empty partition. this way xp is the primary and vista is the secondary. You will be able to switch between them.
Now I don't know if this will work but it's worth a shot. Let me know how it goes.
"Nick Alzapiedi" wrote:
I did a clean install and now have a Windows and Windows.old folder in my C: directory. I have a Dell PC and I put the XP installation DVD in my DVD drive, however when the install screen comes up for XP the option "Install Windows XP" is in gray and I can't click on it. Also when I boot my PC, I get this screen that asks me to load Microsoft Windows or Previous Version of Windows, so I tried clicking previous version thinking XP would load but the screen goes black and nothing happens. Now my PC is stuck on Vista with barely anything compatible. I heard from a friend that if I had a Windows 98 boot disk I could access DOS and move the directories from Windows.old into my C: directory and then XP would be back. Is that true, and if so then how do I go about getting a Windows 98 boot disk? Thanks for your help.

At PROnetworks, we are working on perfecting recovering from this situation, but it is a very tricky one due to the file permissions set on the windows.old folder. You won't be able to do this with a 98 cd as 98 doesn't have NTFS drivers. You will need at least the XP install CD to access the recovery console. I do not know the exact sequence about doing this, but the basic procedure is that you boot into the recovery console, rename the directories that are conflicting with directories in the windows.old folder (likely docs, progs, windir) then move the directories out of the windows.old folder to the root of the drive, then fix the bootloader/MBR. I'll see if I can get more refined directions for you :) ---------- Mark Dietz PROnetworks <http://www.pro-networks.org>
Nick Alzapiedi wrote:

I did a clean install and now have a Windows and Windows.old folder in my C: directory. I have a Dell PC and I put the XP installation DVD in my DVD drive, however when the install screen comes up for XP the option "Install Windows XP" is in gray and I can't click on it. Also when I boot my PC, I get this screen that asks me to load Microsoft Windows or Previous Version of Windows, so I tried clicking previous version thinking XP would load but the screen goes black and nothing happens. Now my PC is stuck on Vista with barely anything compatible. I heard from a friend that if I had a Windows 98 boot disk I could access DOS and move the directories from Windows.old into my C: directory and then XP would be back. Is that true, and if so then how do I go about getting a Windows 98 boot disk? Thanks for your help.