Uninstalling/ Removing Fedora the easy way

This post is about Uninstalling Fedora from your Computer the Easy way.

I assume before you Dual Booted with Fedora you used Microsoft Windows XP.

i also assume the reason you installed Fedora was to help you in your college course work and reason you are uninstalling is you want to get back to your comfort zone -”win xp”. (my 2 bits :its always betterto stay out of your comfort zone to get an “edge” over your competitors).

if you are still reading this i believe you are determined to remove fedora, maybe you want to install more friendly version of linux (try ubuntu)  or you want to regain your precious hard disk space.

whatever it is here is the solution you’ve been looking for.

there are 2 bootloaders basically.

• Windows MBR (master boot record)
• Linux bootloader (GRUB)

when you installed fedora over XP ,grub was installed as the actual boot loader taking over MBR.

if you delete the fedora partition directly from XP ,you might not be able to boot into either of the operating systems.

there are 2 ways of getting rid of fedora.

1)  Install a new microsoft operating system :

if you were planning for installing the latest operating system from microsoft you can do it now. windows 7 RTM is just released and its  definitely better than xp.you can download it for free,worth a  try if you are not bent on having XP as your soul operating system.This will automatically set MBR as boot loader.All the content on the XP primary partition will be saved under windows.old folder and you wont loose any data this way.

2) I just want to remove fedora please do not distract me.

ok alright .you want to be loyal to xp .i understand. what you seek is what you get.here goes….

step 1: Install XP  Recovery Console

How to install the Recovery Console

This article describes how to install the Recovery Console to your Microsoft Windows XP-based computer. To install the Recovery Console, you must be logged on as an administrator.

Although you can run the Recovery Console by starting directly from the Windows XP CD, it is generally more convenient to set it up as a startup option on your startup menu.

To install the Recovery Console, follow these steps:

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click Start, and then click Run.
3. In the Open box, type d:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive. In the case of ‘Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, type d:\amd64\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where d is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.
4. A Windows Setup Dialog Box appears. The Windows Setup Dialog Box describes the Recovery Console option. To confirm the installation, click Yes.
5. Restart the computer. The next time that you start your computer, “Microsoft Windows Recovery Console” appears on the startup menu.

Step 2: Use Recovery Console

The Recovery Console takes several seconds to start. When the Recovery Console menu appears, a numbered list of the Windows installations on the computer appears. (Generally, only c:\Windows exists.) Press a number before you press ENTER, even when only one entry appears. If you press ENTER without selecting a number, the computer restarts and begins the process again.

1. for a list of commands that are available in Recovery Console, type recovery console commands or help at the command prompt, and then press ENTER. For information about a specific command, type help commandname at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
2. Type  following commands at the command prompt to fix the bootloader.

bootcfg /rebuild
fixboot
fixmbr

1. To exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer, type exit at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

Now you should not be seeing the grub Bootloader when you restart the computer.

step 3:

Boot into windows xp. go to control panel.

select Administrative tools>>computer management>>storage>>disk management>>.

select the partition which contains fedora ,right-click and delete the partition.again right-click and choose “new simple volume” to gain the unallocated space.

comment here if you are stuck anywhere.i will get back to you asap.

Disclaimer: Attempt this at your own risk, I assume no responsibility for any data loss.