How do I COMPLETELY remove Vista?

Just got my Xp Pro installed, so there is no longer a need for me to cope with that useless piece of software microsoft calls an OS. Can I just uninstall it by formatting the Vista Partition or do I need to do something else?

 

Format = OK.

 

hmm... I can't format it straight from windows it wont let me. I can always format it with the xp boot cd but for some reason I cant back up my data it gives me an error. Is it completely safe so format now? And when I do is XP going to boot as a default OS?

 

Wait a second....before you go deleting or formatting anything, we need to know your setup.

Regardless of which windows you installed first or second, the MBR of the first drive still points to the partition boot record, which will include some files for both OSs.

If you format the first drive you wipe out the boot records and those files and nothing will come up.

You would, at the very least, need to run a repair and rebuild the boot records for XP.

So, you need to have a plan before you start messing around.

 

Yes, you are right. I'm not goiing to rush into it, don't want to end up with a laptop that doesn't boot. So is there a safe, and possibly an easy way to do it?

 

There are several good mini-linux discs that include partition management software so that you can delete a partition from a boot CD (or you could use the XP CD to do it as well). You will almost certainly need to run the repair from the XP CD afterwords to get the system to boot correctly.

 

poor vista. can you give me the licence as you obviously don't deserve it? i would know quite some that would be happy to have one..

^^ just have fun with your xp. and yes, the system allways tries to boot over the vista partition first as it was the first one on the system. the most clean way would be to just remove everything from the notebook (including data) and do a fresh install of xp (or a clean vista ) after you removed all partitions.

but killing the partition and then fixing with the boot cd could work.

 

we need to know HOW you set it up

What's the first drive? What's the second drive? What boot manager are you using? How did you install XP onto your system (method? There are several different ones)

 

Just to be cheeky - you could just buy a new hard drive and install XP Pro on it; that way, _Vista would never even have had a chance to even breathe on the hdd.

 

did you even install it on a different partition?

 

I'm sorry, but Vista is more stable, safer, smarter, and handles resources better than XP. It had some problems at launch, and the "memory hogging" is actually virtual memory... so...

 

If XP and Vista are on different partitions - run GParted and delete the Vista partition. Then either make a new partition, or extend the XP one. If there are any MBR issues wrt XP, just pop in the XP Install Disc and Repair. Deleting partitions will be slightly quicker than formatting.

 

He says he has a VEESTA PARTITION. I.E. the HDD is formatted with at least TWO partitions and the one that has the Vista files on it is safe to DELETE, FORMAT, erase .etc. Unless HE doesn't know what he is saying and BOTH OSes are installed on the SAME partition. In which case it is safe to DELETE the VISTA folders only in order to free up some space as no FORMATTING should be done in this scenario as he has only ONE partition for the OSes. -Goodspeed

 

I bought a laptop with Vista Pre Installed on it, then integrated SATA drivers into xp installation and installed xp. Vista is on Disc C, and XP is on Disk D. Boot manager? Sorry if this sounds stupid but I don't know what that is.

Well, that may be but, I play games like wow, wc3, cs, and I get up to 30 fps more on high settings in xp than in vista because I have integrated graphics and it steals memory from my RAM...so...Also, XP is the gaming system right now. In vista when I play its all choppy and laggy but in XP mouse movement and everything else is smooth as hell.
Now, the only thing I'm worried about is that if I delete Vista partition, XP won't boot as a default OS cuz when I first installed XP I wasn't gettign a boot menu and I had to add XP to the boot menu with some software. So as long as XP will boot as a default OS, I'm good to go.
By the way, isn't deleting a partition and formatting a partition the same thing?

 

d4nzor, Please refrain from making unnecessary remarks.

 

Here's your situation, then, as best I can tell.

You have one drive, two partitions. The first partition has Vista, the second has XP

In addition to Vista, the first partition also certainly includes several files critical to starting XP, including the master boot record, the active partition boot record, NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, maybe BOOT.INI depending on what you did to install XP, possibly BOOTSECT.DOS and NTBOOTDD.SYS.

What instructions did you follow to install XP?

I would probably image by drive, remove the vista partition, use a third party tool to expand partition to use the entire drive, use an XP boot disk to create a new MBR, use fix boot to fix the partition record, then use bootcfg to rebuild the boot.ini.

Then you need to copy ntldr and ntdetect.com from a windows XP cd (or other machine) to the root of the new drive.

But, I'd start with imaging first. There may be some trial and error in this...

 

What do you mean what instructions I followed? I just installed it from a CD with integrated sata drivers.
What does image by drive mean?
What is MBR?
Is fix boot located on the windows xp cd?
Use bootcfg to rebuild the boot.ini - no idea how to do that.
How do I copy ntldr and ntdetect.com from a windows cd?
What is the root of the drive?
Sorry for so many questions, but you seem like you know what to do and if you just take 5 minutes to explain, I'm going to remember what to do for the rest of my life. Thanks!
And yes, I have one hd with 3 partitions on it:XP, Vista and RECOVERY which I can't even access.

 

You should really have backed up any files you might want then wipe the Vista drive completly with XP Setup, then proceed to install XP.

The problem is if your PC came with Vista pre-installed it would most likely be occupying your bootup drive typically C:\ drive, so formating Vista drive could stop your PC from booting. But you could try XP repair in this case to fix the booting.

Or you can just delete all the Vista folders and directories, but you will need to set owner properties otherwise it won't let you delete them.
There may also be some files that just won't delete, in this case you could use certain delete software. This method could be a big headache if you don't know which files are which. Which is why you should do it in the order:

Backup > Wipe/Format > Install

 

If you install XP over Vista, it should have ruined the Vista boot menu. What did you do after that?

Image drive is the technical term for ghosting a drive so you can always return to the beginning point if something goes wrong.

MBR=Master boot record

Fixboot is accessible from the windows recovery console

bootcfg is as well

copy ntldr and ntdetect.com from the i386 directory of the CD using the copy command

Root is
c:\

I'm going to need some time to put together a tutorial....even then, I am likely to miss a step since I am not looking at your machine.

I'd like to know how you got an active boot menu up after installing XP over Vista...I think you are leaving out a step that may be crucial to solving your problem....

 

I think what would be best for you is to just start over. I also feel that Vista is not the underlying problem rather is a case of PEBKAC.

 

I'd second Sewje's suggestion. In the long run, you might be better off taking the time to reinstall XP. Be sure to back up EVERYTHING you might need to be safe. I would recommend leaving two separate partitions, and installing the OS and programs on one, and your data on the other. You can always try to delete the Vista install and repair the XP boot loader, but this may be more that you are ready for.

There is a difference between deleting and formatting a partition. If you delete the partition, the space becomes free space on your hard drive. You then need to create a new partition (and format it) before you use the space. Formatting a partition instead of deleting it leaves the partition intact on the drive, but "removes" the data (I use quotes because a simple format does not actually remove any data, it just tells the drive to forget that there is anything there: the data may be recovered until it is overwritten by other data).

 

I got an active boot menu after installing xp, with a software, called Easy BCD. Its free and it works.
Also, right now I'm trying to figure out how to back up data, and most important, how to bring it back if something goes wrong.

 

Once again, the issue is what resources do you have available to you? Network? Another computer with some extra space?

I might try to duplicate your setup later this week just to see how complicated it would be to achieve your goal, but I just don't have time right now.

When dual booting, it is always best to install the oldest OS first and move to the newest

 

Yes I have a desktop and a laptop, and I also want to clean install now, seeing all the trouble i need to go through.

 

up............................

 

Sound idea. Backup your data, boot from the XP CD, delete the existing partitions and repartition your drive how you wish, install XP fresh, then reinstall your apps and restore your data. This will provide the soundest environment moving forward.

 

Map a drive from laptop to desktop. Copy all data to the mapped drive. Use XP disc to delete all partitions. Create new partition, install XP, Mpa the drive on the new install, copy data back

 

Okay, thanks for the info, and I have a partition called RECOVERY. All HP laptops have it, anyone know if it's safe to delete it?

 

You'd be better off making sure you've either got a cloned image of that partition you can restore to the hard drive if need be, or else that you've burned the recovery CDs that _HP gives you one chance to burn; otherwise, you'll be flying without a net in terms of getting your original OS back.

 

Why even bother with XP? Windows7 is comin' up soon. Vista's interface is a bit different but it has more in common with XP. Whatever you decide is fine but what's with the zinger with Vista? Good luck