How to Uninstall Windows 95

This article describes how to uninstall, or remove, Windows 95.

Windows 95 has an Uninstall feature you can use to restore the previous version of Windows and MS-DOS on your computer. You can use this feature only if you upgraded an earlier version of Windows to Windows 95, and you chose to back up the system files during the upgrade.

When you choose to back up the system files, the original Windows folder and all its files and folders are saved in a hidden, compressed file. The location of this file is specified in the "UnInstallDir=" line in the Msdos.sys file.

To uninstall Windows 95, follow these steps:

1. In Control Panel, double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.
2. On the Install/Uninstall tab, click Windows 95 in the list of programs, and then click Add/Remove.
3. In the dialog box that appears, click Yes.
4. Click Yes to remove long filename support and check the hard disk.
5. Click OK to shut down Windows 95 and continue.
6. Remove any floppy disks from the floppy disk drives, and then press ENTER to continue.

Uninstall uses the following files: The backup system files Msdos.dos, Io.dos, Command.dos, Config.dos, and Autoexec.dos are also used to restore the original operating system.

Note that there are three other methods you can use to uninstall Windows 95. These methods are:

• Start you computer with a Windows 95 Startup disk and then run Uninstal.exe.
• Start your computer to a command prompt, or to the previous operating system, and then run Uninstal.exe.
• Click the Start button, click Run, and then type "uninstal.exe" in the Open box.

For information about manually removing Windows 95, please see the "Microsoft Windows 95 Resource Kit."