I want to go back to Win 98SE from XP and I researched on the web how to do that. Research instructed me to find out which file system I have. I did. It is NTFS. Research instructed me I have to revert back to FAT32 to get WIN 98SE back on. I am to use XP CD and reboot, press F10; and go through a process where I type Format c:/fs:fat32............. When I reboot with XP CD Rom; press F10..../.... I never get to a prompt where I can type the "Format".. 2 Questions: 1.Can I reboot to a Floppy Drive using Win 98 start up disc and then type Format c:/fs:fat32? I know how to change BIOs to let it boot from floppy. 2. If this is acceptable will I Need to use the Fdisc? or Will that be taken care of when I put win 98 back on? sw723@cox.net

If I recall correctly the 98 boot will format the hd. Not sure about reformatting from xp to fat32. but you can do the with a disk from bootdisk.com.

To start make sure every things backed up. The Format command will erase your harddrive and all your data will be gone. If you have a bootable windows 98 CD you can use that to reformat, or use a 98 boot floppy disc, then run Fdisk to delete the partion and then create a new partion. Then format with fat32. Also, Windows XP is a much better OS then 98, why are you switching back?

Fdisk sometimes has a problem deleting non-dos partitions. You can download and run DelPart if you run into that problem. DelPart will remove all partitioning on the drive. Then you can use fdisk to repartition.

Fdisk will not delete Extended partition areas that are ntfs; will only delete Primary ntfs areas. DR-Dos version of Fdisk will allegedly delete both areas. Delpart.exe will delete just about any partition regardless. In your situation, if there is only a Primary partition on this drive that is ntfs (Extended partition present or not and if present fat32/fat15) then Fdisk (from a dos/'98 bootdisk) will allow you to delete the ntfs Primary partition (and the Extended too if present - and not ntfs). Afterwhich you reconfigure the drive for '98, and then isntall it... So set bios (boot-sequence) to floppy first and then boot with a '98 bootdisk; run Fdisk routine as per links below and then install - as per Bob Bales's site. Fdisk tutorial (in-depth M$ KB): http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q255/8/67.ASP Bob Bale's site with how to install '9x etc. and a cut down Fdisk tutorial: http://www.btinternet.com/~robert.bale1/formatinstall.htm