How do I uninstall Windows? Intended For Windows XP Windows 2000 Windows Me Windows 98 If you've installed Windows 98, Me, 2000, or XP over an older version of Windows, you may be able to uninstall it using Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. Unfortunately, the uninstall feature typically doesn't work or leaves the computer in an unusable state. Since some new versions of Windows install new file systems, in addition to replacing most, if not all the program and support files, it is recommended that you simply reformat your hard disk in order to completely remove whatever version of Windows you've just installed. Hint: if you're about to install a new version of Windows, it's a great idea to do a full backup of every file on your hard disk before you actually perform the upgrade. Details on backing up can be found in the Annoyances books. This article has been recently supported by and featured on this Internet Webhosting Guide Written by: Annoyances.org Last updated: Tuesday, December 18, 2001 Care to discuss this article with other Windows users? Select your operating system here, and click Continue to post your question. - Choose your OS -Windows 7Windows Server 2008Windows VistaWindows Server 2003Windows XPWindows 2000Windows MeWindows 98Windows 95 Previous discussions about this article: (open a message to see applicable responses, if any) [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows 98?' (peter: Thursday, September 13, 2001) [Windows 2000] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows 2000?' (Brenda: Wednesday, October 31, 2001) [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows 98?' (Lee Lengden: Friday, November 2, 2001) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows 98?' (Jay: Tuesday, November 6, 2001) [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows 98?' 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(WR: Monday, January 21, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windowsxp (robin: Thursday, February 14, 2002) [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I reboot Windows 98?' (Sean: Thursday, April 4, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows XP on dual OS?' (Jean Paul: Thursday, May 23, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (J Celuch: Tuesday, July 9, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (jon: Saturday, August 3, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (terry: Wednesday, August 7, 2002) [Windows XP] 'How do I uninstall a 2nd Windows XP?' (Baze: Wednesday, August 14, 2002) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (dracs: Wednesday, August 28, 2002) [Windows 98] Please help me. (izlude: Tuesday, September 10, 2002) [Windows 95] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows95?' 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(Adonis: Monday, November 22, 2004) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (Ladybug2cute: Saturday, January 1, 2005) [Windows XP] How do I go from XP back to Win 98? (S. Bangert: Monday, January 24, 2005) [Windows 98] i deleted windows 98, by accident, don't have the install anymore, can i retrieve? (doug: Wednesday, February 9, 2005) [Windows 2000] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (chris: Wednesday, February 9, 2005) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows xp?' (tom: Wednesday, February 9, 2005) [Windows 98] Answer to: How do I uninstall Windows (L337 Kr3w: Monday, February 28, 2005) [Windows 2000] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (Di: Thursday, March 24, 2005) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (jack: Monday, May 9, 2005) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (Suadi: Wednesday, August 24, 2005) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' 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(KZ-241: Wednesday, July 5, 2006) [Windows XP] Uninstall Command Prompt Error (Chris: Sunday, July 16, 2006) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (Dave Gibson: Tuesday, September 12, 2006) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (Herbert Johnson: Thursday, October 12, 2006) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (cristina: Monday, January 1, 2007) [Windows Server 2003] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows 2003 standard edition? (fred escala: Sunday, January 7, 2007) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (Joe: Monday, January 22, 2007) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (Paul: Wednesday, August 15, 2007) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (Richard LaBar: Monday, March 3, 2008) [Windows 98] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' (Jim: Wednesday, August 13, 2008) [Windows XP] Question about 'How do I uninstall Windows?' 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