[AuckLUG] HELP NEEDED TO UNINSTALL

[Brian McVicker]

Alan Nicholson wrote:
> I have a spare PC that I have been using to install various Linux Distros to 
> try out. It also has a legal copy of WIN XP installed.
>
> My wifes PC (running XP)has finally expired with a WORM despite running 
> Antivirus updated everynight, Zone Alarm, Adaware & SpyBot. So she has agreed 
> if I leave XP on my spare machine for her "just in case" she will allow me to 
> install either Suse10.1 or Kubuntu. I also intend to install Crossover Office 
> to make it as painless as possible for her to move away from XP
>
> It appears there are the following Partitions:(checked in Kubuntu)
>
> Partition		Size		Mt Point	Type		Dev
>
> 1			17.6Gb					hda1(assume this is XP)
> 2			1Kb						hda2	
> 3			6.3Gb	/		ext3		hda3 enabled (assume Kubuntu)
> 4			996.2Mb					hda5
> 5			12.1Gb					hda6(suspect Suse10)
> 6			313.7Mb none				hda7enabled  (suspect Kubuntu Swap)
>
> I have made some assumptions on what each partition is but really may be 
> wildly astray. I have no idea what hda2 on partition 2 is.
>
> My wife is a contractor and frequently works in companies that have software 
> that will only run under XP- or will only allow MS products to connect to 
> their network she has to have XP available .. This is a legal OEM copy but I 
> have no CD to use for a reinstall.
>
> Problem...How do I uninstall existing Kubuntu and Suse 10 so that I can do a 
> fresh install BUT LEAVE XP INTACT!!!!
>
> This is a MAJOR advance in convincing her to try Linux so I need help.
>
> Alan
>
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>   
Got a few options, only one I know that definately works however is time 
consuming, mostly letting it do its thing though.

This trick has saved my XP (god only knows why I wanted to save XP, 
must've had some games that I'd 'lost' the disks to on it ;-) ), too 
many times to mention, all from my own stupidity of wiping out the MBR 
on hda1. Only works if its FAT32 though (don't know why mine was 
formatted FAT32, thats just how it came from the shop:-) ) never tried 
it with NTFS so no idea if it would work with it. Also does require an 
XP disk (don't need to activate it though, just want it to setup your 
MBR) and a spare harddirve with enough space to hold your current XP 
install.

Use SUSE (must be Suse, I've tried Fedora, Ubuntu and DSL for the same 
trick but they seem to miss something somehow albeit I do it through the 
GUI) to copy ALL your XP files as they are in one go (folders and all) 
to a FAT32 partition on another hard drive.

Do whatever you need to the old harddrive, repartition to make more 
space and reformat it as you need. Reformat hda1 (assuming this is the 
partition you're going to use) as FAT32.

Install another copy of XP onto the harddrive (any should do, you're not 
going to activate it or bother installing any programs) to get the MBR 
setup how XP likes it. Don't bother activating it or anything, don't 
need to.

Use Suse to copy your "backed up" copy of XP over the top of your fresh 
install.

Restart your computer and Windows won't even realise anything has 
happened, except for the fact that Avast antivirus (if installed) will 
require a reinstall and it puts stupid desktop.ini files in ...lots... 
of your folders (just search for them with that stupid dog and delete 
whichever seem fit,...normally pretty much all)

Or without the XP disk may be able to backup the boot part of the MBR in 
Suse and when you copy the files and reinstate this when before you copy 
the files back over. (Don't quote me on this haven't tried it only had 
it suggested as the best course of action next time it happens, yes I've 
backed up my MBR now!) Windows Fixmbr command never seems to work once 
I've trashed the MBR on hda1 so don't rely on that.



Probably far easier to copy the partition with partitioning software, 
however I haven't used any for this so unsure how to advise further on 
that although its probably the recommended method.


Or make an XP boot disk and use the fixmbr (can't remember the exact 
command, pay to google it) command to reinstate the windows bootloader. 
Then wipe your ext3 partitions and repartition your empty space to suit, 
just be careful doing this though.

Cheers,
Brian