Member Avatar for MiketheBook

I'm wanting to do a full system restore of my wife's computer which has Windows 2000 Professional but when I run the first system restore disk, it says I must first delete non-dos partitions. I don't really understand what this means and how to do it and I have no other start-up disks. Can someone guide a not very technical guy?

  • 4 Contributors
  • 14 Replies
  • 215 Views
  • 3 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

Generated

Brief explanation: the message "delete non-dos partitions" means the factory restore utility found partitions that are not standard DOS/Windows filesystems (FAT16/FAT32/NTFS) or an unexpected partition layout. Common causes are leftover Linux/ext or swap partitions, special OEM partition type IDs, or Windows "dynamic" volumes — any of which the old recovery program may refuse to overwrite. Recovery media written to expect a simple MBR-style primary DOS partition will stop if the table has been altered.

Practical, safe approach (high level): first, back up any personal files before touching the disk. If no boot/startup media exists, the drive can be removed and attached to another machine with a USB adapter/enclosure to copy files. Next, inspect the disk with a bootable partition tool (small live CDs/USBs such as GParted Live are commonly used) to see partition types and flags. If the restore expects a single Windows primary partition, delete only the non-Windows partitions after confirming a backup; either create a primary NTFS partition or leave the disk unallocated if the recovery routine will create/format it itself. Re-run the recovery only after confirming the layout matches what the restore expects.

Why this matches the thread: ’s point about hidden OEM recovery partitions is important — some restores rely on a hidden partition and will fail if it was deleted. and were right to flag data loss risk: backing up first is essential. ’s later success suggests the layout issue was resolved.

Longer-term note: both Windows 2000 and Windows XP are now out of Microsoft support; for any machine that will be connected to the internet, a supported OS (or a lightweight modern Linux) is safer. Retail install media and a valid license should be used for upgrades rather than another make’s recovery discs.

Recommended Answers

All 14 Replies

Member Avatar for Kraai

As far as I know, windows 2000 does not have a system restore. Do you mean that you want to do a clean re- install of windows 2000?

Member Avatar for MiketheBook

Sorry, I used the wrong term. I meant yes a clean re-install of Windows 2000 using the system recovery CDs.

Member Avatar for Kraai

Remember, when you do a re-install, you will loose all existing data on the computer. You want to back up first important stuff you do not want to loose.

See this handy how to:

Follow those steps, and let us know how it went.

Member Avatar for MiketheBook

Thanks for the information but the link you provided did not relate to using the system recovery disks and that is where I'm currently stuck since the message "delete non-dos partitions" comes up and I don't know how to do it. I just have the system recovery disks, no Windows 2000 Professional disk and not boot or start up disks. the system recovery disks should work and restore the computer to its factory state once I know how to delete these non-dos partitions.

Member Avatar for Kraai

It seems that Microsoft does not support this anymore. But I found some sort of hope here.

I myself am not sure how all of that work, as I never used 2000 myself, but see if above link and debug script makes sense to you, and let us know.

Member Avatar for BillBrown

Depending on the computer's manufacturer, the computer may have a "hidden" partition that may be necessary for a system restore to occur.

If fdisk doesn't tell you what the partition is, you could try booting off of a Linux install disk and accessing its partition management tool. You should at least be able to identify the hidden partition from there, if not delete it outright.

Bill

Member Avatar for caperjack

what it boils do to is ,the recovery should not be asking you to delete non -dos partitons ,unless some made changes to the partitions since the last time iwin2000 was installed .like deleting the partition that most recoveries use to perform a recovery

Member Avatar for MiketheBook

Would there be any problem in me trying to use system recovery disks from my own computer, a different make and with XP Home on. Could that work on a different make of computer? I would be quite happy to have XP Home installed on my wife's computer instead of 2000 professional.

Member Avatar for caperjack

Would there be any problem in me trying to use system recovery disks from my own computer, a different make and with XP Home on. Could that work on a different make of computer? I would be quite happy to have XP Home installed on my wife's computer instead of 2000 professional.

nope ,not a chance ,you need to go buy xp home for it

Member Avatar for MiketheBook

Okay understood. Given I went out and bought XP Home, how easy is it to install over the 2000 that is presently on the drive and given that I have this error message saying "delete non-dos partitions?" This may seem like silly question but I'm a beginner at this sort of stuff.

Member Avatar for Kraai

When you use the xp home installation cd to boot from, you will be asked to install xp on an existing partition. Don't use that option, but follow the route to delete all partitions, and then re-create a partition for a clean xp install. The wizard will guide you.

Member Avatar for caperjack

Kraai ,is correct ,this link has it page by page ,just click for next screen ,and if you need to start over the link in the last one in the list on the left.

Member Avatar for MiketheBook

Thanks for everyone's help. Finally I got the system recovery disks to work and now have Windows 2000 re-installed properly. Would there be any great advantage in upgrading to XP Home I wonder, assuming of course that I can still download updates for 2000 Professional. Having got the computer back to its original state it is probably better to leave alone and not attempt to out on XSP Home . . . unless of course it is very straightforward.

Member Avatar for caperjack

i would leave it at win2000 if i were you

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.