How To Remove Linux Completely

This is a tutorial. In it, I assume you installed Linux on it's own hard drive. If not, find a new tutorial.

Today I tried to install Linux onto my brand new external hard drive. I went with the Mandriva distribution, a version that is purportedly excellent for beginners. I had no problems running Linux off the Live CD, and I even installed it onto the hard drive...or so I though. I set up the bootloader (the menu that now comes up and asks if I want to run Windows or Linux when I start up my computer) and restarted my computer. I chose Linux from the bootloader, but Linux wouldn't load up. I restarted again, and put the CD in, and Linuc worked fine. So I decided to uninstall Mandriva and install a different distribution, Ubuntu. Ubuntu wouldn't even install, so I gave up on Linux.

So now I go back to Windows with the full intention of returning my computer to normal, pre-Linux state. However, I cannot access my external hard drive...it's not showing up o my computer. So I had to download EASEUS Partition Manager Demo free from CNET. Then I used it to format the hard drive I had Linux installed on. I could then access the hard drive!

So now Linux was totally gone, or so I thought. I restarted, and found that the bootloader menu was still there! This is a big problem, because it starts up Linux by default! So we gotta get rid of the bootloader, but this is VERY HARD.

First, you need to uninstall Windows Service Pack 2. Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and then check the "Show Updates" box. Uninstall "Windows Service Pack 2."

After you finish that, you can do the next step: Go to Start>Search, and search all drives for "WINNT32.exe". When you find it, note where it is located.

Then go to Start>Run. In the "Open" box, type something like this:
C:\Windows\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons
What you have to type exactly will depend on where the file winnt32.exe was located.

Now something will come up, most likely an error message. Ignore it, or do whatever you can to make it go away. Then, just WAIT. Eventually, an option will pop up to install the Windows Recovery Console. Install it, and then restart.

Now, an option will come up to start the Windows Recovery Console. Go ahead and do that. It will ask which system to fix; each one will have a number by it. Windows will be number 1, so type "1" and hit Enter.

Now it will ask for a password. Type the admin password, whatever you set it to, and hit enter. THIS MAY NOT WORK. If it doesn't work, leave the password box blank, and hit enter.

Now this will bring up a regular command line. Just type fixmbr and hit enter. Ignore all warnings, and continue. This will get rid of the bootloader, and Linux is completely gone, and Windows remains unharmed!

Now you can reinstall Service Pack 2. If you want, you can also uninstall the Windows Recovery Console. However, this is a VERY useful tool. But it's annoying to have the option popup every time you restart. So do this:

Go to the disk Drive (probably C) you installed the Console in. Go to Tools>Folder Options>View. Then un-check Hide Protected Operating System Files. Now exit the folder and open it up again. You should see a file called boot.ini. Right click it, edit its properties, and uncheck the read-only box. Now edit the file to say "3" where it says "30". Now when you restart the Console option will go away after 3 seconds, and Windows will start up like normal.

After you do all this, it is a good idea to re-hide all the Protected Operating System Files, and make boot.ini read-only again. Digg This!

Posted by TecHappy on Sunday, January 21, 2007 at 1:02 AM Post a Comment