Windows XP roll back to Win NT

[Sead0nkey]

Need some help. My company ordered 20 Sony Vaio's that came with Windows XP installed. Because of security guidelines I have to load Windows NT on all the computers. Is it as easy as formatting over the XP partition and loading NT or is their more to it? Don't most pre-built computers have a hidden partition with crap on them. How do I remove this.

 

[ViRGE]

A partition reformat and NT install will work fine(with or without a recovery partition), although as an aside, NT support has been discontinued, so perhaps it's time to re-examine the company's security policy.

 

[Sead0nkey]

I would love for them to drop NT. But all I can say is the Military is very slow to change!!!!!!!!

 

[biostud]

Some Companies (Compaq) has hidden partitions with all kind of weird stuff, but since you don't acces this by re-installing on the OS- partion there should be no problem. You can also use Administration in WinXP Control Panel and Check Disk Handling to see if there's any hidden partitions. And Also some manufacturers need special drivers for ther system.

 

[Sead0nkey]

Here is the problem I'm running in to. They have no 3.5 disk drive its a 40 gb hard drive. For some reason I think this all might be bad for windows xp set up.

 

[johnjkr1]

Why not just make a bootable cd and use that to destroy then recreate all the partitions?

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Sead0nkey
Here is the problem I'm running in to. They have no 3.5 disk drive its a 40 gb hard drive. For some reason I think this all might be bad for windows xp set up.

 

[8ballcoupe]

Just booting from the NT4 CD (I hope it has SP6a streamlined, or is at least SP4.) will bring up an installation dialog that will let you delete all partitions present on the system disk and create new ones. You'll want to remember the limitations NT4 has in dealing with boot partition sizes above 7.8 gigs, and you might be dealing with even smaller first partitions if you are working with an older service pack level at install time. But I guess you probably already know this stuff if you're already working in an NT4 environment.

I hope the folks that ordered those computers did some homework, otherwise you're likely to run into problems finding drivers for at least some of the system devices. There are no NT4-compatible drivers available for a lot of new hardware that's floating around out there.

And I think it's pretty scary that a security guidline would cause NT4 to be the operating system of choice over WinXP. I have nothing against the OS for its time and place, but the time is past, and the places are dwindling in number.

Good luck with all of that. I would light a candle for you, if I were religious.

Ernie

 

[spyordie007]

And I think it's pretty scary that a security guidline would cause NT4 to be the operating system of choice over WinXP. I have nothing against the OS for its time and place, but the time is past, and the places are dwindling in number.

Agreed, if they are concered about the "extras" in XP than they should go 2K Pro.; NT4 was great for it's time however it is quite aged and it's time has long since passed.

 

[Sead0nkey]

Well its no big secret so I'll tell you. I'm in the navy. This is what I deal with everyday. We all have nice computers with USB ports but no way to use them. By the time they say we can use 2000 we'll have world peace. It's just the way they do things. All I know is when the do change over it will be a rough few months. Can you Imagen how many computers there must be.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Sead0nkey
Well its no big secret so I'll tell you. I'm in the navy. This is what I deal with everyday. We all have nice computers with USB ports but no way to use them. By the time they say we can use 2000 we'll have world peace. It's just the way they do things. All I know is when the do change over it will be a rough few months. Can you Imagen how many computers there must be.

I know that lots of workstations at the Navy run 2000. Of course, there are so many divisions, what one runs may not reflect what another runs.

 

[Sead0nkey]

As far as i know shore command's have 2000 with most of the ship still on NT.

 

[Dogma420]

2 options.....almost all newer notebooks will boot off of a usb floppy, go get a usb floppy and use that and wipe the partitions....make a bootable cd rom to debug and remove all partitions....just make a win98 boot disk and make that bootable on a cd.....but if you boot off of a cd, you should be able to wipe all of the partitions with the setup on NT...if not, boot win98 and debug, just google the phrase---"deleting partions using debug"........

or just boot the nt disc.....sorry about the NT man, it must feel like being in a straight jack to take off xp vs. nt.....no wonder the goverment has a beaurocracy problem.....xp is just nt with advancements....

 

[8ballcoupe]

In retrospect I thought I should provide just a little more information on the first partition size in case you're not really familiar with the pitfalls. Microsoft made particularly useful and critical changes to the ntfs.sys file and other aspects of the OS in SP3 or SP4 or both. I'm sorry I'm a little vague on the precise history. It has been a while, and I didn't use NT4 much.

One of the worst things about using NT4 these days is the size of the applications you may have to use on a pretty skimpy boot partition. Don't make things worse by using an older base version of NT4 for the installation. If you go with at least NT4 SP4 you'll be able to get the maximum possible first partition size (NTFS only, please) with the standard installation procedures (boot from diskette or boot from CD). But that is still going to get you only a 4 gigabyte combination system-boot partition. (If I remember accurately the system partition is the one with NTLDR on it, and the boot partition is the one with the \WINNT directory on it. I've always thought it was best to have them be one and the same, the C: drive.) The partition gets created first as a FAT partition, t hen gets converted to NTFS during reboot. That's really not the optimum way to get this job done. That's true especially if you need lots of space for applications that really, really want to sit on the C: drive. There are ways to surmount many of the problems that come with apps that are set up to install on C:, but some of the solutions are tricky and can backfire. If you need the space on C:, make sure you have it right from the start.

If you partition and format drives for these machines as slaves in other systems, you can maximize the size of the first partition to a top figure of 7.8 gigabytes. You don't have to go right to the edge and hang your toes over it, but it's nice to be standing in a high place when the sea level starts rising.

The 7.8 gigabyte limit is pretty dangerous to exceed, though I've seen people do it without suffering many consequences. But all it takes is some process or another to come around and shuffle some of the boot file locations to render the partition unbootable. I guess a lot of us have heard stories about somebody who installed a new service pack (no more of these after 6a) or ran a defragger and never booted again. Well, if he didn't have an ERD.

I'm sure there are people here who know a lot more about this than I do. Maybe they know slicker ways to deal with all of this, but I wanted to try to help you do as good a job as possible. You and the people who will be using these computers may need all of the advantages you can figure out how to provide.

Good luck!

Ernie