Any Way To Remove Previous XP Installations?

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-01-15 11:21pm

I was wondering if aside from formatting my HD, there were any ways of removing a previously installed Windows XP from my system?

Grandtheftcow · Post by **Grandtheftcow** » 2007-01-15 11:54pm

You mean pasting a new version of XP over top or removing the operating system while leaving your other files intact?

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-01-16 12:04am

Grandtheftcow wrote:You mean pasting a new version of XP over top or removing the operating system while leaving your other files intact?

Well, I had a major error last week that borked my system, and I couldn't run the auto-recover for some reason, so I ended up having to install it seperately. So I have 2 XP installations now, which is fine for now, but will fuck things up down the line. So I want to know if there is a way to remove the other windows installation without formatting my HD since it's a gigantic pain in the fucking ass with all the files I'll have to back up.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2007-01-16 12:08am

I don't know if there is a way or not, but I know I wouldn't trust it if there were. Multiple identical OS installs is powerful evil black magic and nothing good can come of it.

Grandtheftcow · Post by **Grandtheftcow** » 2007-01-16 12:12am

Flagg wrote:Well, I had a major error last week that borked my system, and I couldn't run the auto-recover for some reason, so I ended up having to install it seperately. So I have 2 XP installations now, which is fine for now, but will fuck things up down the line. So I want to know if there is a way to remove the other windows installation without formatting my HD since it's a gigantic pain in the fucking ass with all the files I'll have to back up.

Use Windows repair. It'll rewrite over the operating system while leaving your other files intact.

Edit: I can pull out the disk and write down the early steps if you'd like.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2007-01-16 12:23am

I remember using Windows repair and that took.. hrs to a day. Gave up and just formatted the partition with the OS.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-01-16 12:28am

Grandtheftcow wrote:
Flagg wrote:Well, I had a major error last week that borked my system, and I couldn't run the auto-recover for some reason, so I ended up having to install it seperately. So I have 2 XP installations now, which is fine for now, but will fuck things up down the line. So I want to know if there is a way to remove the other windows installation without formatting my HD since it's a gigantic pain in the fucking ass with all the files I'll have to back up.
Use Windows repair. It'll rewrite over the operating system while leaving your other files intact.

Edit: I can pull out the disk and write down the early steps if you'd like.

Yeah, I tried that and it wouldn't work at all. I was just hoping there was a workaround someone knew about that didn't involve formatting my HD.

Oh well, if not I'll just reformat once I recover from my surgery.

Grandtheftcow · Post by **Grandtheftcow** » 2007-01-16 12:29am

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:I remember using Windows repair and that took.. hrs to a day. Gave up and just formatted the partition with the OS.

It's basically a new installation without reformatting so you'd have to expect it to take as much time as a new install would.

I don't see how it could take any longer than that.

Edit:

Flagg wrote:Yeah, I tried that and it wouldn't work at all. I was just hoping there was a workaround someone knew about that didn't involve formatting my HD.

Oh well, if not I'll just reformat once I recover from my surgery.

Ouch I guess all I can suggest now is to buy some DVDRW disks and start burning.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-01-16 12:34am

Grandtheftcow wrote:
Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:I remember using Windows repair and that took.. hrs to a day. Gave up and just formatted the partition with the OS.
It's basically a new installation without reformatting so you'd have to expect it to take as much time as a new install would.

I don't see how it could take any longer than that.

Edit:
Flagg wrote:Yeah, I tried that and it wouldn't work at all. I was just hoping there was a workaround someone knew about that didn't involve formatting my HD.

Oh well, if not I'll just reformat once I recover from my surgery.
Ouch I guess all I can suggest now is to buy some DVDRW disks and start burning.

It will be OK for a few months, so I'll just get a portable HD. I'm not spending all day burning DVDs.

Thanks for all the help, guys.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-01-16 12:34am

Just go in with a boot disk, delete the WINDOWS directory, and then boot your WIndows install disk and select the original volume. BE sure to tell it not to format.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-01-16 12:37am

Uraniun235 wrote:Just go in with a boot disk, delete the WINDOWS directory, and then boot your WIndows install disk and select the original volume. BE sure to tell it not to format.

Thanks, I'll try that.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-01-16 12:42am

Oh, if you haven't got any critical data left in there, you might blow out the Documents and Settings folder too. Not critical but should make things a bit neater.

RThurmont · Post by **RThurmont** » 2007-01-16 01:53pm

I would suggest you download Mandriva One, which is a Live CD distro of Linux (that will run off of a CD ROM) that has an excellent tool for managing partitions. Using it, you should be able to detele the NTFS partition that your broken XP installation is on, and then resize the other partition to fill in the blank space. Back up your data first though, please; while I've never heard of any problems resulting from Mandriva resizing an existing partition, you still never know when something might go awry. Also, there is a slight chance that you might inadvertantly delete the wrong partition, so that's also why backing up your files is also very important. If you do screw up, you can use Mandriva One to format the entire volume, and then reinstall.

I've personally used Mandriva One in this capacity (when I inadvertantly b0rked a Linux install on bare metal).

I don't know if there is a way or not, but I know I wouldn't trust it if there were. Multiple identical OS installs is powerful evil black magic and nothing good can come of it.

Don't be a retard. As long as you remember to back up your data, nothing is "powerful evil black magic," and if done properly (with virtualization, rather than partitioning), multiple identical OS installs on the same system can be extremely useful. I would not personally install the same OS in two seperate partitions, but there are a number of easy ways for Flagg to extricate himself from this scenario.

Finally, Flagg, if you do need to do a complete reinstall, you might consider (if you have a relatively fast, modern system and don't plan on doing any gaming) using Linux as your base OS, and running Windows XP in VMWare (or vice versa).

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-01-16 05:20pm

RThurmont wrote:I would suggest you download Mandriva One, which is a Live CD distro of Linux (that will run off of a CD ROM) that has an excellent tool for managing partitions. Using it, you should be able to detele the NTFS partition that your broken XP installation is on, and then resize the other partition to fill in the blank space. Back up your data first though, please; while I've never heard of any problems resulting from Mandriva resizing an existing partition, you still never know when something might go awry. Also, there is a slight chance that you might inadvertantly delete the wrong partition, so that's also why backing up your files is also very important. If you do screw up, you can use Mandriva One to format the entire volume, and then reinstall.

I've personally used Mandriva One in this capacity (when I inadvertantly b0rked a Linux install on bare metal).

I don't know if there is a way or not, but I know I wouldn't trust it if there were. Multiple identical OS installs is powerful evil black magic and nothing good can come of it.
Don't be a retard. As long as you remember to back up your data, nothing is "powerful evil black magic," and if done properly (with virtualization, rather than partitioning), multiple identical OS installs on the same system can be extremely useful. I would not personally install the same OS in two seperate partitions, but there are a number of easy ways for Flagg to extricate himself from this scenario.

Finally, Flagg, if you do need to do a complete reinstall, you might consider (if you have a relatively fast, modern system and don't plan on doing any gaming) using Linux as your base OS, and running Windows XP in VMWare (or vice versa).

I have a PC that Mormon Jesus would envy (yes, I'm bragging like a douchebag) and I use it for gaming, so Linux just isn't going to do it for me. I appreciate the advice though.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2007-01-18 11:41pm

He wasn't suggesting you install Linux, he was just suggesting you try using Mandriva's partition tool.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2007-01-18 11:52pm

RThurmont wrote:
I don't know if there is a way or not, but I know I wouldn't trust it if there were. Multiple identical OS installs is powerful evil black magic and nothing good can come of it.
Don't be a retard. As long as you remember to back up your data, nothing is "powerful evil black magic," and if done properly (with virtualization, rather than partitioning), multiple identical OS installs on the same system can be extremely useful. I would not personally install the same OS in two seperate partitions, but there are a number of easy ways for Flagg to extricate himself from this scenario.

Thanks, I love you too. I sure am glad that your sense of humor is challenged to the point that suggesting that Windows is black magic gets a snide comment from you instead of a chuckle.

For the record, in case you ever read another post of mine, I also don't actually think that there's magic smoke inside semiconductors that makes them work.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-01-20 12:21am

Executor32 wrote:He wasn't suggesting you install Linux, he was just suggesting you try using Mandriva's partition tool.

No he also suggested that I use Linux as a base OS. Which is a fine suggestion, it's just that my PC is built for gaming.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2007-01-20 12:58am

Right, I'm blind. I didn't read that last sentence in his post.