Need some computer help!

[Grinner]

So the school got an anonymous donation of new computers and were getting rid of the old ones. I picked up a pair so that the kids would ahve their own comptuers. They were supposed to be running Windows ME/2000, and most of them were.

However, I "lucked" out and got the two that are running Ubuntu. :rolleyes:

Now none of my kids' software will run on them, and I even though I have discs with Windows 98 and Windows XP I can't get them to install. Can anyone help me out here?

[hail_eris]

Egads - Ubuntu? I'd love to know who that anonymous donor was. Okay, you're going to embark on the wildly exciting task of formatting your C: drive.

First thing you need to do is to create a boot disk from one of the computers that *does* run a Microsoft OS. This'll be easy if (fingers crossed) all the PCs in question have A: drives. Simply find an old school 3.5 inch floppy and format it on one of those functional computers. You'll see "Create Boot Disk" or some such in the format menu.

Next, you'll need to enter the BIOS setup menu on the Ubuntu PCs. This is usually done by holding down one of the function keys before the machine loads the OS (it might also be Esc or Delete, depending on the whims of the motherboard manufacturer - it should tell you what to push). You're going to change the boot sequence to stick the A: (or floppy) drive first. That way, the machine will go straight to your MS boot disk. Once it loads the basic system commands from the boot disk, you'll have an old fashioned command line. This is where you get to type "format C:". Everything that's on that drive will be gone, so if something happened to make its way on there, get it off before this step.

Okay, so now the Ubuntu OS is history (along with everything else on C:). The boot disk should have loaded CD drivers, which means that you should now be able to type in the name of your CD/DVD drive (probably D:, unless these PCs came with extra hard drives). So your next step is <D:\setup>. That should launch the Windows installer from whichever CD you're using (98 or XP) and you'll be good to go.

[Grinner]

Y'know, you were the first person I though of when I was going, "I need some help." :laugh:

And the anonymous donor gave the school the new Macs. I'm wondering which teacher actually had this running in their classroom :laugh:

Thanks, and I'll let you know how it goes :grin: