How to uninstall RC2 (dual boot) and fix MBR?

I'm getting ready to install the RC2 build on my nc8430 (want to try it out for a while). However, I want to know how I would need to uninstall Vista properly so that the Master Boot Record would properly work.

Last time I uninstalled Vista (beta 2), the MBR still thought I had Vista installed...so every time I booted I would have to select XP or have the machine say "no OS found" when it tried to load an (uninstalled) Vista.

Does anyone know about this?

Also, is there a way to force the computer's default OS to XP if I don't pick which OS to use at bootup? I only want to run Vista once in a while, not all the time.

 

If you want to do a complete uninstall while leaving your windows XP on the same drive....

basically, it would go something like this:

*insert your windows XP cd and boot off it

*choose recovery console

*use the fixboot command - it will restore the bootloader

!!!!!!!!BEFORE YOU DO THIS!!!!!!!!!

Google 'Windows XP recovery console' commands first and understand WHAT you are doing! Make sure you aren't that 0.0001% whose XP install doesn't want to work with this fix!

also:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...ocs/en-us/recovery_console_cmds.mspx?mfr=true

and this, especially the part about BOOTCFG!
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

Be very very careful, if you aren't paying attention, use the wrong commands, or do things in the wrong order you can very easily mess up your partition tables and wind up destroying all your data!!!!!!!

You may just be better off (if you feel uncomfortable) leaving the vista bootloader and just living with having to choose your older OS option.

 

Well, I Ghosted my current partitions (XP and DATA) just in case. For Beta 2 I just nuked all the installations and reinstalled XP fresh (I needed it anyway). This time I don't want to mess up the install already there.

I don't think it would be too hard, but I want to make sure I get it right. From the looks of it I probably would only have to run fixmbr and fixboot.

 

Best is to not let windows manage the multi-boot itself. I'd recommend using ranish partition manager and this boot method here next time you try it:
http://www.trombettworks.com/multi-boot.htm

 

I must have gotten lucky. When I removed Beta 2, I just wiped the partition or "merged" it with the XP one. After that there was no problem. I guess that's not the way you're supposed to do it, but it worked for me.

 

Yes, you can uninstall Vista and restore your Win XP boot manager as well...

Boot your computer in to Windows XP.
Ensure you have the Vista DVD in the DVD drive.
Go to “Start” and “Run”. Type "cmd" & Enter.

Type “e:\boot\bootsect /nt52 c:" - Press Enter
(without quotes, and replacing e: with the drive letter of your Vista DVD & replacing c: with whatever is your XP partition drive).

***Ofcourse before doing this keep a backup of you data just in case the boot manager gets hosed. It shouldnt, I have done this many times and it will restore the boot manager.

 

There is a much easier way to do this. After you install Vista, download the program VistaBootPRO found here. Install that. This program allows you to mess around with Vista's bootloader (which takes the place of the XP bootloader after you install Vista). In the program, there is an option to "disable Vista Bootloader", which will disable Vista's bootloader and restore XP's bootloader. You can then reboot with your partition manager and just destroy Vista's partition and merge it back with XP if you wish or leave it as a seperate data partition.

 

you can always try control panel -> system -> advanced -> startup settings

 

Was there any reason to navigate there? Or am I missing something in these seemingly simple instructions?

 

Well, since it is command prompt, it defaults to C:\ So, if you type E:\boot it will take you to the folder on the DVD(considering your CD/DVD drive letter is E). I hope you didnt open up the folder in Windows!! There is no need to do that, what I meant was to navigate to E: in the command prompt.
EDIT:Fixed the wording, hopefully now it makes some sense.

There are other ways to do this as well. You can just type(e:\boot\bootcf...) the whole thing in Run menu and it will do the same thing. The cmd prompt allows you more options.