Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Uninstall XP while on Vista

Aug 22, 2007 10:30PM PDT

Hi,
I've been working with Vista for a while now and, for space reasons, I need to uninstall XP from my machine.

I tried to use the Disk Management tool on Vista with no result.
I Also tried to use diskPart, using the "override method"; (I input "delete partition override") with no result.

How can I format the partition containing XP?
Thanks in advace.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Which OS was installed first?
Aug 23, 2007 1:40AM PDT

If XP was installed first on the primary system partition then you cannot format that partition without losing the ability to boot Vista as well. If that's the case you'll need to reformat the partition from outside of Windows (you can do so from your XP CD, Vista DVD, or third-party bootable disc), then click here for a quick guide to repairing Vista's bootability.

John

- Collapse -
How do I do it?
Aug 23, 2007 7:32AM PDT

I installed XP first. Therefore I will have to do what you say. But, after I removed XP, how am I supposed to follow the steps of the guide if I can't boot the OS?

- Collapse -
Ah, good point...
Aug 23, 2007 9:53AM PDT

My apologies...I forgot that was not included in the KB article. In cases where you don't have a bootable installation of Windows you can insert your Vista DVD and boot to it. (Ensure your system BIOS has the optical drive as the primary boot device.) Enter your keyboard/language settings and then on the next screen choose the Repair option from the bottom left corner instead of proceeding with the installation. Startup Repair can then correct the 'damage' and enable a successful boot of the newly XP-free system.

Hope this helps,
John