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General discussion

how do i change dual-boot system

May 8, 2005 4:29AM PDT

I have two hard drives in my HP, one with XP sp2, and the other drive has Linux Mandrake. How do I remove Linux from the second drive (I'm pretty sure it's the slave) and free up that drive so I can use it for XP? I'm not very computer savvy, so if you can help please don't get too technical on me! Thanks very much.

Discussion is locked

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Remove a Dual Boot System
May 13, 2005 1:07AM PDT

IF you are truly a Dual Boot System, when you boot your system it will give you a choice of Mandrake or Other. If this is the case and you do not want to reinstall XP and its gazillion updates. Format the drive that contains Mandrake.You will still get the Option screen at start up, but will now have your former Linux drive available for XP.

If you presently do not get the option screen at start up. Just reformat the drive with Mandrake installed.

If you are unfamiliar with formating a hard drive, click on help and check out formatting.It contains a very easy explanation of formatting and all the options.

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removing linux
May 13, 2005 4:02PM PDT

If you really want to get rid of Linux the first thing to do is get hold of a win98 startup disk. Insert into floppy drive and boot computer. At the command prompt C:/ type in C:/fdisk /mbr. This will get rid of the boot loader for linux and restore you windows loader, then type in exit at command prompt. Remove floppy and reboot computer. When windows has fully loaded left click on Start - All Programs - Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Then Disk Management in the window that opens showing you disks. Right click on the drive that Linux was installed on and click on format.
You have now got rid of Linux. Reboot your computer and the drive that was Linux should now be a blank drive ready for you to use.

This may seem very simplified but I have not done this for a while and I am writing this from memory.

Good Luck.

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Don't Do It!
May 13, 2005 10:01PM PDT

Roxxxy, you have a very workable system now! I'd recommend you simply learn to use the Linux system; it's not that different from Windows, and while Windows development is slowing down dramatically, Linux is exploding. Also, I personally don't like the direction Windows is headed, with us users having less and less control over what our computers will do. I didn't want "Big Brother" deciding what's best for me, and I certainly don't want Bill Gates to do it. By its very nature, Linux has no CEO and very little government control. Also: very little malware (virus etc) is being written for Linux, and I see a day coming soon when some virus cripples nearly all Windows computers. That nearly did happen a few years back with the Blaster worm.