Deleting Windows Partition..

How can I delete my Windows partition and restore it to OS X? I was originally going to restore everything to original setting but then it asked me which partition I wanted it on. I didn't know if I should've made them both OS X or not? Is there anyway I can delete my Windows partition from within OS X?

 

Open up Boot Camp Assistant (in OS X) and you can delete the Windows partition there.

Here's the Boot Camp PDF. http://images.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/pdf/Boot_Camp_Beta_Setup_Guide_v1.4.pdf

Go to the Table of Contents and click on Page 22. There's instructions on how to remove Windows there.

 

Thanks for the quick response Sam, but I'm still having a bit of trouble it seems. I opened up Bootcamp Assistant and gone through the steps there until I hit the select destination step. I'm unsure of how to delete the partition through there. Do I need to go farther in or should I have been able to delete it by this step?

 

It should have been pretty easy...I can't follow it step-by-step because I don't have Boot Camp on my MacBook...looking at the instructions I got this:

Close all programs and log off all users running (except you of course). Open up Boot Camp Assistant and click on "Restore the startup disk to a single volume". Click Continue. That should be it...

 

Hmmm weird... I open Bootcamp Assistant (the ejectable icon on my desktop) and it has three things in it: Boot Camp Beta Installation & Setup Guide, Install Boot Camp Assistant.mpkg, and Read Before You Install. I went to the Boot Camp Assistant.mpkg and it just brings me to the installer. There is no option Restore the startup disk to a single volume option.

 

That's weird...once you open Boot Camp Assistant you should be taken to the Introduction page and there should be options: Burn a Mac Drivers Disc, Start the Windows Installer and Restore the startup disk to a single volume.

Here's what I have from the FAQ:

You should have the second Windows installation (second disk partition), and the instructions are the same as mine.

 

Okay well this is interesting... It turns out that I was opening the wrong thing. I was opening BootCampAssistant.pkg. I spotlighted Boot Camp and attempted to open the actual Boot Camp Assistant and got this message:

The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows.

 

Hmm...did you try using Disk Utility to erase the disk and reformat? It could be possible that it doesn't work in Boot Camp and works in Disk Utility. The reason I ask this is because of this paragraph on Apple's FAQ:

The underlined is what you're trying to do; restore the disk to a single partition and Boot Camp Assistant isn't really working well, so try using Disk Utility and see if it works.

 

Okay I have the Disk Utility open right now and it looks like it will work but I really want to make sure that I don't screw anything up. So do I wanna go to the restore tab or the erase tab? If I go to the restore do I set the Source to the Windows partition and the Destination to the Mac partition? If I go the the erase tab I can either set the Volume Format to Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I'm unsure of which to do.

 

Y'know what, hah, I think we're being too risky here. I can't help you further as I don't have Boot Camp, so why don't we just wait up a bit and wait for some other members to sound off, in case its another issue and Disk Utility might screw it up. Sorry I couldn't be of more help .

 

Haha I totally agree. Thanks for the help though. Hopefully I can get this sorted out. If it comes down to it then I'll just take it to the Mac store and get them to do it. Thanks again. Any other suggestions are welcome.

 

Did you create the Windows partition with the Boot Camp Assistant in the first place? If not, there's your problem.

If you did, did you reinstall OS X or anything similar after that? I suppose that could screw things up.

Sam is right, don't fiddle with the partitions - if you did, you would practically erase OS X as well as Windows, and I don't think you'd want that

 

Yeah I created the partition through Boot Camp. I didn't reinstall OS X after creating the partition. I'm really not sure what to do, I'll probably just end up taking it to the Mac store.

 

Even though the error messages are not identical try repairing your disk by following this guide.

For reference:
Boot Camp Beta: Requirements, Installation, and Frequently Asked Questions.

 

Okay well it seems that the second partition (the one meant for Windows) is completely blank. It has all 32 gigs free. I think this is because I didn't activate my copy of Windows XP on the Mac. Is this the reason why I'm getting the error? Is it possible to just put OS X on that partition and then just merge them into one?


EDIT: Thanks for the guide Eternal, I will try that if this doesn't seem to help anything.