Right now I am running XP 64-bit and linux ubuntu 7.06 on dual boot. I no longer wanted to use the linux partition, so i simply deleted it. After doing this, I couldn't boot into the xp partition, because of GRUB error 22 (common error from doing this). So I was forced to reinstall linux, and just not use it. My question is can I delete both partitions and completely re-install windows XP, or will it continue to show the GRUB error until I install linux as well? Thanks for any help.
Re-installation question (XP)
- Thread starter SapperX
- Start date
- Status
ssjheero_yuy99
In Runtime
- Messages
- 184
yes, deleting the whole thing and reinstalling would work... but not the best option if you want to save your data. Boot up in windows, open your my documents, and then tools-> folder options. scroll down until you see the show hidden files, then just two or three options under that is one that has a check next to hide system files. (recommended),
Unclick this and show the hidden files.
go back to your desktop and open up your my computer, check the partitions, there should be a boot.ini file, (I don't know what linux's version of the file is), this file could be in either one of the partitions, normally your primary one. move this over to the windows directory. (keep copies)
then check to make sure that the windows directory is primary and active. to do this open up the admin tools in the control panel, then select computer management then disk management. one should have "(System)" by it, this is your active system drive, it needs to be on the windows partition.
Once that is done go ahead and delete the linux partition, it should read from the boot.ini file in the windows folder and boot to windows. (note you might need to change things slightly in the boot.ini file if it pops up something like hal.sys file corrupted, or windows/system32/... is not found.
the boot.ini file should contain something like this.
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
this tells the computer where to look for the operating system. in my case, disk 0,rdisk 0, and partition 1, (which is the D drive of my master hard drive) I have a slave hard drive, and my master is broken into C and D drives, D is windows.)
you might just need to change the numbers to get it to point at the right partition, especially if the partitions change on you when you delete one.
Unclick this and show the hidden files.
go back to your desktop and open up your my computer, check the partitions, there should be a boot.ini file, (I don't know what linux's version of the file is), this file could be in either one of the partitions, normally your primary one. move this over to the windows directory. (keep copies)
then check to make sure that the windows directory is primary and active. to do this open up the admin tools in the control panel, then select computer management then disk management. one should have "(System)" by it, this is your active system drive, it needs to be on the windows partition.
Once that is done go ahead and delete the linux partition, it should read from the boot.ini file in the windows folder and boot to windows. (note you might need to change things slightly in the boot.ini file if it pops up something like hal.sys file corrupted, or windows/system32/... is not found.
the boot.ini file should contain something like this.
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
this tells the computer where to look for the operating system. in my case, disk 0,rdisk 0, and partition 1, (which is the D drive of my master hard drive) I have a slave hard drive, and my master is broken into C and D drives, D is windows.)
you might just need to change the numbers to get it to point at the right partition, especially if the partitions change on you when you delete one.
Actually, reinstalling is my best option, because I have been messing around with so many things that nothing works properly anymore practically. Thank you so much for this reply though, you went above and beyond what I expected to get. I am going to write this information down for future knowledge, as I couldn't find this information anywhere. Awesome!
- Status
