3

I want my old family pc to use only windows xp now that I don't use it anymore. However, I have a 200GB ext4 partition, containing ubuntu. Windows does not detect ext4.

I also don't want it booting into GRUB: I want it to boot directly into Windows XP.

How do I do it?

7
  • 3
    You want help from Ubuntu users to delete Ubuntu? well we are a friendly bunch but it is more a question for a Windows forum ... ;)
    – Rinzwind
    May 14, 2012 at 17:32
  • A question about removing Ubuntu is definitely on-topic for an Ubuntu forum! (One of the things that sets Ubuntu apart from some other OSes is our robust respect for the freedom of users to decide how they want to use their computers.) May 14, 2012 at 17:38
  • I was joking @EliahKagan :+
    – Rinzwind
    May 14, 2012 at 17:47
  • @EliahKagan: It is not a task for an OS to remove itself and clean up the drive for another OS. Currently, no OS does that
    – MestreLion
    May 14, 2012 at 18:16
  • @EliahKagan: It is the task of an OS installer to give a choice of wiping out other OSes and perform a clean install.
    – MestreLion
    May 14, 2012 at 18:17

5 Answers 5

3

Windows does not detect ext4.

True but it does detect partitions that are not Windows' fat or ntfs. So you can delete the Ubuntu partition from within Windows with a partitioner. No idea what the name is but I do recall Partition Magic from my Windows days.

You can also do this from a Ubuntu live cd with gparted.

also don't want it booting into GRUB

Have a look at the Windows tool fixmbr

enter image description here

0

Do a Windows XP repair. http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/inst+xprepair1.htm

1
  • @Rinzwind It's just that I stopped using that old PC. It's now for my mother and little sister. I'm upgrading mine to 12.04 today, actually. May 14, 2012 at 17:34
0

First boot in windows...

Install Easeus partion manageror any othe partition manage but i prefer easus)

select the ext4 filesystem generally reffered to as "other"

delete it...

create a new partition in theat space so that you can later use it in windows as a drive..

And then to bring back the bootloader... try reading the following links... theay all have almost similar info but the discussions below have some options mentioned as to which changes in commands etc might have to be made for some users,etc...

http://www.naveen.info/2009/06/07/how-to-restore-the-windows-xp-bootloader-after-uninstalling-ubuntu/

http://www.ehow.com/how_5089290_restore-windows-xp-bootloader.html

3
  • Also try this link: neowin.net/forum/topic/…
    – Nirmik
    May 14, 2012 at 17:34
  • You don't need a third-party partition manager to delete partitions, only to read/create/move/resize etc. Also, if that partition manager can not recover a mbr/bootloader by itself, what is the point of using it?
    – MestreLion
    May 14, 2012 at 18:11
  • @MestreLion Well yeah thats true but i have faced problems quite a few times with the default windows partition editor... So as a safe side i suggested Easus...
    – Nirmik
    May 14, 2012 at 18:14
0

From my experience doing this, you will need a windows recovery disk in order to get windows running again.

1) Use a live boot ubuntu disk to boot into live,
2) open GParted. Delete your ubuntu partition.
3) Once this is done, reboot
4) Your computer probably wont want to do anything at all at this point
5) Run the windows recovey disk, and check for errors. It will modify the MBR so that windows boot manager takes control.
6) after it does this, it should allow you back into Windows.
7) you can then manage your computer HDD and reallocate your HDD

-1

A safe way would be to download and burn gparted : http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/files/gparted-live-stable/

Boot the cd. Change the boot flag on the ntfs partition to active.
Check to see if you now go directly into Windows. Reboot gparted cd
Delete unwanted partitions. Grow NTFS to full size.

3
  • Changing active partition in a drive with grub installed has no effect. It will still load grub. And worse: if you don't update its menu, it will still list the Ubuntu partition. And worst: if you delete the Ubuntu partition without unisntalling grub first, grub will fail to load and his computer will not boot at all.
    – MestreLion
    May 14, 2012 at 18:09
  • Sorry you are right. Its the linux/swap in opensolaris that can be active or inactive. Still changing the boot flag should be safe to do or undo with gparted but yeh when the boot record has been overwritten it doesn't do any good. Sorry
    – user63213
    May 14, 2012 at 20:00
  • True, gparted can safely set/unset the active partition flag. But that flag is ignored by grub2's boot record. Only windows's (and, as you said, opensolaris) boot record cares about it.
    – MestreLion
    May 17, 2012 at 10:28

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .