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linux to xp


Brent
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ok i want to take linux off the new pc and install win xp....i stuck the xp cd in and booted up the pc and i deleted the partition and made a new one and installed xp on that one and then it asked to reboot the pc and then it came up with error loading the op system what went wrong?????

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Is Windows installed on drive C? It is the convention that the prime O/S is on that drive letter. If drive C is the one from which you have removed Linux and Windows is on another then your machine will not find an O/S.

What I would do is reformat the whole drive and start afresh.

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The easiest way if you have access to another machine (which I assume you have as you're posting here) is to remove the disk you want to format, put it into another machine as a Slave and format from that. You can then return it (as Master) to the original machine and install the O/S.

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I'm not familiar with Linux but, can you instruct XP to perform an install over the top of the Linux that you have there? That is to say, don't place it alongside in another partition.

It should be possible to instruct XP to format the drive and install itself at the expense of anything else on the disk.

Note: ensure you only have the essential hardware attached when you perform the install i.e. remove all things like printers, scanners and nything else not required for the process.

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You cannot simply delete a partition, recreate it, the install something on it. That partition needs a filesystem. During the install, does it ask you if you want to format the drive (it will have a big warning that says "Everything on this drive will be erased")?

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I've never seen a Windows XP Installation CD that didn't include partitioning in part of the initial setup process.

- Make sure your comp is set to boot to CD before HD so you get the XP setup.

- Enter the installation, complete install. Agree to the term, etc...

- It should ask which partition you want to install XP to, it will also give options to delete partitions.

- Delete all your partitions (well beware, some comps recovery partitions like Hewlette Packard, DO NOT DELETE THAT, however if you have a recovery partition it will restore your PC back to day 1)

- Create a new partition using up all the space, make it NTSF (The setup will lay out all the commands/buttons to press)

- Install XP on that partition.

Windows XP setup is extremely simple. Unlike with Linux, installing Windows XP is extremely fool-proof. So I am curious as to how you messed up.

My guess is you put Windows on a different partition OR windows had some conflict with installing its boot loader. Yes, as Linux has LiLo/GRUB windows has NTLOADER (which can be used to boot even Linux, IMHO is better for a duel boot). If the MBR (master boot record) does not contain a proper bootloader you will not boot... Obviously :)

As for formatting the whole drive with Linux, the XP Setup will do it for you... BUT just so you know, Windows XP setup probably won't recognize EXT2/3 partitions, and they will need to be deleted. If that is the case then you will need to blank your partition table using Linux. My favorite method is putting in the VECTOR Linux CD and running its fdisk (Vector takes seconds to get me to the partition process) and just deleting every partition. I'm sure you have a Linux distro installation CD lieing round, or you can use your current install you apparently made half way down the thread.

Not sure how else to lend a hand, anything more specific?

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