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I have only tried this on XP, and I am not sure what will be the result in other operating systems.
So if you don't have XP, it's better not to try this.
Recently I wanted to install Longhorn. But i didn't have any extra drives. I had C: with Win98 installed & D: with WinXP installed. And I had free space only in my D:. I first thought of something like Partition Magic. Then I changed my mind.
Why don't I just install it on top of Windows XP. When i went into the Setup it showed that only New Installation was possible. I thought 'OK. Let me just try it!'. I installed it. (If you get any error like any drive problem,boot from the CD & install).
Before it the setup showed that Documents & Settings, Windows folders etc. will be changed to a .000 folder.
After installation I was quite disappointed with Longhorn & I didn't have my old programs in XP. First i thought i won't get my XP back. Then I explorered more to find that the windows folders were renamed to <foldername>.000. Okay, then why don't I rename it back.
I went to my Windows 98 ( you can also use a dos boot disk for this). I renamed Windows, Documents & Settings, & Program files directories with a .LH at the end. And renamed the other folders with .000 to their original name! That was it!! I got back my XP in the same partition.
Now if I want to use longhorn, i just switch into Win98 and rename the folders back to .000 and remove the .LH from the folders.
If you want to unistall Longhorn, just delete off the Longhorn folders (ie. Windows, Program Files, Documents and Settings) from any other OS ( or from a dos boot disk ), and rename back the XP folders by removing the .000 from the end.
If you have a multiple Boot like I have - Windows 98 & XP. Just select Longhorn, and your XP will start (NOTE: You may also have an option Windows XP - you will have the same result if you take this or longhorn)
If you don't like the little Longhorn name when you start the computer, Do this:
Right click ur 'My computer', select Properties, goto Advanced, click the 'Settings' Button under 'Start Up and Recovery' click Edit.
This is how it appears on my computer:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Longhorn" /FASTDETECT
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /FASTDETECT
c:\="Microsoft Windows 98"
And you can just delete off the ' multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Longhorn" /FASTDETECT ' line. Then to the other line just change it to "Microsoft Windows XP Professional/Longhorn", so will have this:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional/Longhorn" /FASTDETECT
Donot make any changes to the other lines!
And don't forget SAVE THE FILE
Ok thats only for now. Hope you enjoyed this.
Actually you can't always apply this, because renaming folders each & every moment is not so convenient. But this can be used in just testing Longhorn & uninstalling it without any 'Partition Magic' or anything like that.
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