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How-To Geek Forums / Windows 7

UN-Install Windows 7 - How ??

(19 posts)
  • Started 4 years ago by raphoenix
  • Latest reply from ScottW
  • Topic Viewed 1792 times

raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 14920

The day will come when Windows 7 Beta will have to be UN-Installed either because of Time-Out or Final Release of the O/S.

**** Has Anyone Thought This Problem Through ???? ****

After testing Windows 7 Beta, I can find (NO) way to Bring a Dual Boot Configuration Hard Drive Back to its Original State without using Low Level DOS Tools and Doing a Complete Clean Install of the Old Original O/S which was on the Hard Drive.

I am (NOT) Familiar with the MS (NEW) Boot Manager but do anticipate many, many problems as MS has found a way to (LOCK FILES) (Access Denied) in (BOTH) Dual Boot Partitions so they (CANNOT) be (DELETED) after the Existing Original O/S is Forced Back to Being the (ONLY) Boot O/S on a Hard Drive.

Fortunately, I have the Old DOS Tools on Boot Floppies and Boot DVDs which allow me to Start-Over and Clean-up Hard Drives but many (do not) have these assets available as they are software programs of the past.

**** Any Links to MS Technet or Other Technical Articles (EXPLAINING) in Detail the (New) MS Boot Manager System would certainly be helpful to me and maybe to others ****.

Thanks in Advance,
Rick P.

Posted 4 years ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 17584

Rick, one more reason to run W7 in a virtual partition - you just close the virtual partition (one click). As I always say, dual booting has too many challenges.

Posted 4 years ago #
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raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 14920

@whs,

Yes you are correct.

I still don't understand how you accomplished the FIRST TIME INSTALLATION FROM A DVD because I was under the impression that a VM had a security layer between the HW and SW and supposedly that would keep Windows 7 from (discovering) all machine HW devices during the installation process ??

Apparently a VM doesn't have a complete layer because you accomplished the installation with everything working properly. :) :)

Best Regards,
Rick P.

Posted 4 years ago #
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LH
LH
Posts: 20002

Rick, I think it allows things in, but not out :)

Posted 4 years ago #
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Scott
Scott
Posts: 5618

I have an image of XP before the Vista installation and XP & Vista before the 7 install.

Posted 4 years ago #
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raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 14920

@LH,

(LOL) I sure won't be giving advice to others concerning VMs.

They are beyond me. :) :)

Would seem like one would have to have much memory installed to run a VM but I guess not.

Best Regards,
Rick P.

Posted 4 years ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 17584

@Rick, There is no problem to install W7 in a virtual partition from a DVD. But it is a lot better if you install W7 directly from the ISO file that you downloaded. The installation takes only 35 minutes (in VirtualBox). The virtual partition can access the DVD reader, the floppy (if you have any) and the USBs. Printers and files of the host system (and any other system in the Home network) you can access via "sharing". I think the Virtual partition way gives you the most flexibility. You can switch between the host Vista or XP and the virtual Windows7 with one click. And the performance is very good on both sides (once Superfetch has setup its files and on my test system with 3GBs of RAM). I can't wait to test it on my 4GB RAM Quad system in Germny. But for that I have to wait until Mai. I am currently making a full write-up about all that. Wait a few days and you will see it.

Posted 4 years ago #
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0zSpitt
0zSpitt
Posts: 1037

i'll just wipe my hard drive and do a reinstall if my ghost image doesn't reformat the hard drive back to original

Posted 4 years ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 17584

Oz, that sounds like a good approach for those who do imaging on a regular basis. But those people are still far and apart - unfortunately. But then again, if everybody would do it, we would be "out of a job" on the Forum - LOL.

Posted 4 years ago #
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LH
LH
Posts: 20002

Please sir, my Norton Ghost wont work. What do I do now ?

Posted 4 years ago #
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raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 14920

@whs,
Will be looking forward to your write-up about VMs.

I was just thinking of that long list of devices in Device Manager which take so many drivers.
--
(2) LAN Controllers
(1) Wireless Linksys Card
(1) Blue Tooth
(1) IEEE Firewire
(1) USB Hub + 8 Connectors
(1) Serial port
(1) Game Port
(1) Hardware Fax/Modem Card
(2) HD Raid Controllers
(1) eSATA HD Raid Controller
(1) Extra HD IDE Storage Controller
(1) Floppy Drive
(6) Hard Drives
(1) DVD Drive
(1) CD Drive
Digital On Board Surround Sound
SLI Nvidia Video - One Card in use.
Intel Dual Core Processor
Intel Chipset
(LOL) All the rest of the "Stuff" that shows up in Device Manager which needs drivers
-------------
I assume VM Software would pick up all the Real HW and Make a Virtual Machine using it ??

Best Regards,
Rick P.

Posted 4 years ago #
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ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 6609

As to how to "uninstall" Win7, I have thought about it but perhaps I'm overconfident. I currently have WinXP and Win7 installed in a dual boot configuration with the two system partitions on different hard disks. Here is my plan for removing Win7:

1. I boot into Windows RE, either from the Win7 install DVD or Advanced Boot Options, then use a command prompt to run diskpart.exe and delete the partition with Win7 on it. Using WinRE is necessary because you can't delete a system partition that is in use.

select disk 1
select partition 0
delete partition

2. At this point, Windows 7 is gone but it's bootloader is still on the system. Personally, I can live with that and just set XP as the default (or only) boot partition with no timeout. However, a neat freak will want to clean up this leftover situation.
3. To put an XP bootloader back, I imagine I would use the Recovery Console's Startup Repair function or the fixmbr command. I don't actually know how to use these tools, but I know I can look it up.

Posted 4 years ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 17584

@Rick, see, ScottW has it figured out. And regarding VM, you worry too much. It works beautifully as long as you do not get too exotic - who needs e.g. firewire for a W7 test system.

@LH, we'll can an answer and have the "automatic Forum answering service" display that.

Posted 4 years ago #
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raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 14920

@whs,
ScottW and I do things very similiar as we both run an XP / Win7 configuration setup.
I don't have a current copy of Vista so can't use RE.
Believe there is an issue using a (Home-Made Slipstream of XP3) and trying to get into an XP Recovery Console (IF ????) I remember correctly.

To UN-Install Win7, I use a Boot DVD; booting into a DOS enviornment and then run old utilies from the Command Line to get rid of the O/S and Restructure the Partitions and HDs.
This works Fine !!!!

To fix XP back to purity, I unarchive a current Ghost archive and thats it.
Everything is back the way it was started.
This is a "down and dirty" non technical solution but do (NOT) think it is the correct solution.

My real question concerned (EXPLAINING) in Detail the (New) MS Boot Manager System in some simplified manner so that I could understand how to use the BCDEDIT Command line and know what I'm doing.

I think the BCDEDIT Command with all of its nomenclature and switches, is the NEW WAY of setting up Hard Drive Structures and I need to learn it to help others in the future.
---------------------------------------
As for the Machine Device Drivers, Win7 does put them (ALL) in (Using Update) EXCEPT for the Sound Driver which I have to install and configure manually.

Best Regards,
Rick P. :) :)

Posted 4 years ago #
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fantazmic2
Posts: 11

I was just looking at my dual boot setup (Vista/Windows 7) and the best way to uninstall windows 7 without losing my Vista install. When I originally partitioned my hard drive, I setup 3 primary partitions (Partition 1 Vista, Partition 2 Windows 7, Partition 3 Data). According to Vista "Disk Manage" the Windows 7 partition is not recognized as a system partition which means all I should have to do it format the Windows 7 partition within Vista and edit my system startup options using bcdedit or VistaBootPro. Once this is done, I can either install another operating system on the second partition, merge partition 2 with partition 3 or keep the partition 2 for other uses.

I am wondering if others have looked at how the Vista/Windows 7 dual boot system is configured within Vista's "Disk Management".

Since I am not dual booting XP/Windows 7, I am not sure if this would apply to that dual boot setup.

Posted 4 years ago #
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ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 6609

@Rick, Windows RE is included with the Win7 beta. Restart your system, stop at the bootloader screen, select Windows 7, then press the F8 key for Advanced Boot Options. Select "Repair Your Computer" from the menu, then login using your Win7 admin account. That's it -- you are now in WinRE.

Here is an article that gives a brief overview of the Vista bootloader. It should help you get started learning about it. Also, I found out the proper sequence to restore the XP bootloader. From the Recovery Console, run fixmbr then fixboot. Seems easy enough.

@fantazmic2, in Windows, there is only one "system" partition. It's the one with the bootloader on it. In a multiboot configuration, each OS gets a "boot" partition. If you delete the Windows 7 partition, then the OS is gone but the Win7 bootloader is still installed in your system partition. Since the Win7 bootloader appears to be the same as the Vista bootloader, that should not be a problem and yes you can change the settings with bcdedit or VistaBootPro. In another thread, we talked about the view from Disk Management in Vista and 7 on a dual boot. There are screen shots, too:
http://www.howtogeek.com/forum.....-partition

Posted 4 years ago #
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ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 6609

Woops, forgot the article on Vista bootloader. Here it is:
http://articles.techrepublic.c.....69638.html

Posted 4 years ago #
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Scott
Scott
Posts: 5618

http://windows7news.com/2009/0.....windows-7/

Posted 4 years ago #
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ScottW
ScottW
Posts: 6609

All of the talk about uninstalling and the Win7 bootloader got me wondering what is in the boot.ini on my Windows XP that is installed in a dual boot with Win7. This part has been added to the comments:

;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.

The rest of the file contains the contents of the old boot.ini file, but it's not being used while the Win7 bootloader is handling the multi-boot.

Posted 4 years ago #
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