In that case a different question: what is the IDE controller type,
which version of Windwoes are you hoping to get installed? Was it
installed previously?

win98 BTW cannot detect AGAIK SATA disks.
Confirm if you have a SATA IDE.
If yes then you need support to install.
OTOH winxp SP2 must install like a cake. If that does not, then you can use one of the following:-


1. With the CD you are having pres F6 when it asks for installation of 3rd party
drivers and put your driver CD (which came with the HDD or the mother board)
and then continue loading

OR

2. Use XP SP2 disk which detects SATA properly.

If I recall correctly, Windows does not recognize a drive that is already partitioned and formatted with something like ext2 or 3 (the typical Linux file system.) This only one of MANY ways in which Windows is an inferior OS to Linux, but that is maybe not what you wanted to hear....;)

I think all you have to do is delete all the partitions. You can do this with any number of utilities, including ones found on "Live CD" versions of Linux. If your Linux is a live CD, just boot up from the CD, open a terminal, and use fdisk or cfdisk to delete all partitions. In the menus, you might also find GParted.

If it still won't recognize the disk, then you can wipe out the whole front end of the drive using:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=63
instead of sda, you might need to use hda. fdisk will verify which is correct.


More generally, there are a bazillion utility CDs out there that will do this.

I think you meant complexity------"complicity" would give this thread a whole new meaning......;)

You might also want to consider giving Linux another chance. For many reasons--including the problem you are having--Linux is actually faster and easier to install than is Windows.

Running and administering Linux can certainly be a challenge, but we really cannot hold a candle to such works of genius as the Windows Registry---not to mention an online update punctuated by---what, maybe 10?---reboots.

Also, another paradox: I believe there now actually may be more SW available for Linux than for Windows--at least in certain categories.