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I have Windows XP installed in dualboot with Ubuntu, how can i remove the ubuntu installation and go back to only XP
May 01, 2007 Hi, I have downloaded the Oracle Enterprise Linux and want to install it alongside my Windows XP proffessional installation on my PC as a dual boot machine. It is a dual core AMD 64 processor. Does anyone have any idea whether the installation will work successfully as dual boot or will it completely destroy my existing PC setup as well. Title Windows XP root (hd0,1) makeactive chainloader +1 Save the file and reboot. When the GRUB loader launches hit ESC for the boot menu. Windows XP is the last option - select it and XP will load. If you want to make the GRUB menu always available, boot back into Ubuntu and edit the MENU.LST file.
Gabriel SolomonGabriel Solomon78722 gold badges1414 silver badges3535 bronze badges
2 Answers
If you've installed Ubuntu Linux from within Windows using Wubi, you can just remove 'Ubuntu' from Add/Remove Programs.
However, if your linux installation is on a different hard disk partition, you need to 1. use a partitioning software to remove the linux partition(s), and 2. restore the Windows boot loader.
- Windows has Disk Manager somewhere in the Control Panel to remove partitions.
- At least with Windows XP, you can restore the Windows boot loader by running the command
fdisk /mbr
, or from a Rescue CD with the commandsfixboot
andfixmbr
.
Note that the linux boot loader depends on the linux parition, so if you remove the linux partition without touching the boot loader, you won't be able to boot your computer without a rescue CD.
Ilari KajasteIlari Kajaste2,64255 gold badges3131 silver badges4343 bronze badges
- Boot up in Windows xp.
- Start>>control panel>>administrative tools>>computer management
- Go to disk management under “storage”
- Select your hard disk and then the linux partition.
- Delete the linux partition this will delete linux and grub.
- Now reboot your laptop with windows 98 start up disc or floppy and type the command “fixmbr” .
- Above command will repair ur bootloader and rewrite ntldr which will replace corrupted grub.
8.Thats it done now boot your laptop or desktop normally it will be booted by default in windows xp.
admintechadmintech6,75011 gold badge2323 silver badges4242 bronze badges
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Learning has never been so easy!
How to dual-boot Windows XP and Linux. (Now updated for XP SP 3 and Ubuntu 8.04.).
Install Linux Mint Dual Boot Windows Xp
5 Steps total
Step 1: Back up the GRUB boot menu
Regardless of which bootloader you end up using, it's a very good move to first back up the GRUB bootloader. It's easy to lose it and unless you know how to re-write it from scratch then you're generally facing a full reinstallation of Ubuntu.
Firstly, boot into Ubuntu and go to Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal. Then, type in sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst.
This text file contains all the information GRUB uses to configure various boot options. Scroll down and the entries between '## ## End Default Options ##' and '### END DEBIAN AUTOMATIC KERNELS LIST' are the Linux boot options.
Make a backup of the file by going to File, Save As and selecting a different location. Or take a full copy of the contents and place it into a new text file. If you can, create the backup on a removable disk or networked location.
This text file contains all the information GRUB uses to configure various boot options. Scroll down and the entries between '## ## End Default Options ##' and '### END DEBIAN AUTOMATIC KERNELS LIST' are the Linux boot options.
Make a backup of the file by going to File, Save As and selecting a different location. Or take a full copy of the contents and place it into a new text file. If you can, create the backup on a removable disk or networked location.
Step 2: Make space for XP
Now we need to create space on the hard drive for XP, so this will involve resizing the main Ubuntu partition. Restart the system using the Ubuntu Live CD as this gives you access to GNOME Partition Editor. When the CD loads, select 'Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer'.
Login into skype without microsoft account. Once the CD loads, go to System, Administration, Partition Editor.
Right-click on the main data partition which has been formatted with ext3 - it should be /dev/sda1 - and select 'Resize/Move'
Move the slider from the right to shrink the ext3 partition and create free space on the hard drive, which will take the NTFS XP partition. Make sure that the free space is sufficient to hold XP (at least 2GB - preferably 5GB). Then click 'Resize/Move' to confirm the selection, and 'Apply' back in the main screen to carry out the pending change.
Step 3: Install Windows XP
Restart the system with the Windows XP CD and boot into the install program.
Unfortunately XP isn't so adaptive at handling existing partitions during installation. It detects the two Ubuntu partitions and marks then C: and E: accordingly. The remaining unpartitioned space which is available for XP will be marked as F:.
For the operating system and the vast majority of Windows applications which have properly-coded installation scripts, this is not a problem. Some older applications will assume that C: is the system partition and may bring up errors. There are ways of changing the drive letter assignation of the system partition, but in this scenario it's strongly discouraged.
Unfortunately XP isn't so adaptive at handling existing partitions during installation. It detects the two Ubuntu partitions and marks then C: and E: accordingly. The remaining unpartitioned space which is available for XP will be marked as F:.
For the operating system and the vast majority of Windows applications which have properly-coded installation scripts, this is not a problem. Some older applications will assume that C: is the system partition and may bring up errors. There are ways of changing the drive letter assignation of the system partition, but in this scenario it's strongly discouraged.
Step 4: Partition inactive.
To insult to injury, XP detects the Linux partition as an active system partition and won't install unless it marks this partition as inactive.
Step 5: Restore the GRUB boot loader
Once XP has been installed, it will boot happily into XP but there's no sign of Ubuntu. To reinstate GRUB as the system bootloader it needs to be reinstalled into the MBR.
Boot the system from the Ubuntu Live CD and select 'Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer'.
Boot the system from the Ubuntu Live CD and select 'Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer'.
Open a Terminal session - Applications, Accessories, Terminal
To enter the GRUB configuration mode, type in 'sudo grub' and press Enter. Then type in the following commands in sequence:
- root (hd0,0)
- setup (hd0)
- root (hd0,0)
- setup (hd0)
Reboot the system. You'll get the GRUB bootloader but Windows XP won't be an option - we need to add this to the boot options.
Boot into Ubuntu and open up another Terminal session. Then, type in sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
Scroll down to the bottom of the file and type in the following text strings:
title Windows XP
root (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1
Save the file and reboot. When the GRUB loader launches hit ESC for the boot menu. Windows XP is the last option - select it and XP will load.
If you want to make the GRUB menu always available, boot back into Ubuntu and edit the MENU.LST file. Find the hiddenmenu text string and change it to #hiddenmenu.
To increase the menu timeout, change the default timeout 3 to something more appropriate.
Boot into Ubuntu and open up another Terminal session. Then, type in sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
Scroll down to the bottom of the file and type in the following text strings:
title Windows XP
root (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1
Save the file and reboot. When the GRUB loader launches hit ESC for the boot menu. Windows XP is the last option - select it and XP will load.
If you want to make the GRUB menu always available, boot back into Ubuntu and edit the MENU.LST file. Find the hiddenmenu text string and change it to #hiddenmenu.
To increase the menu timeout, change the default timeout 3 to something more appropriate.
Published: Oct 31, 2008 · Last Updated: May 06, 2009
2 Comments
- PoblanoKBowz Nov 4, 2008 at 03:01pmOne word. Wubi.http://wubi-installer.org/
- ChipotleMJReno Feb 15, 2013 at 01:59amHandy if you don't want to remove your Linux installation. I still think it's best to install Windows first, then Linux is you can.