Unpartitioning

[massahwahl]

A few months ago I got into linux and made a partition on my laptop so I could dual boot linux and xp. Later on, I ended up putting linux on a desktop since I wasn't using it on my laptop very much. My question is, I want to remove the linux partition from my laptop and give it back to the XP partition. Is this possible without reinstalling windows on a new complete HDD partition? Hopefully that makes sense lol.

 

[patrickv]

as much as i want to answer your question i can't cause i don't understand !!
when you installed linux on that desktop Pc , did you make it dual boot ?

 

[massahwahl]

Ok, dont worry about the desktop computer, the question is for the laptop.

I have a dual boot Xp- 40gig, and linux-40gig

I want to remove linux and just have a single boot XP without completely reinstalling windows....is this possible?

 

[spanky]

A few months ago I got into linux and made a partition on my laptop so I could dual boot linux and xp. Later on, I ended up putting linux on a desktop since I wasn't using it on my laptop very much. My question is, I want to remove the linux partition from my laptop and give it back to the XP partition. Is this possible without reinstalling windows on a new complete HDD partition? Hopefully that makes sense lol.

You should be able to with Windows Disk Management in XP or 3rd party software. I would try using Windows Disk Manager to delete the partition of linux and then add the unallocated space back onto XP partition. Then, insert an XP installation CD and enter setup mode. Choose the recovery option and boot to the DOS command line. Execute the command "FIXMBR" and reboot.

 

[patrickv]

yeah i think FIXMBR in recovery console or fixboot, should do the trick in not showing linux

 

[massahwahl]

You should be able to with Windows Disk Management in XP or 3rd party software. I would try using Windows Disk Manager to delete the partition of linux and then add the unallocated space back onto XP partition. Then, insert an XP installation CD and enter setup mode. Choose the recovery option and boot to the DOS command line. Execute the command "FIXMBR" and reboot.

How do I get to disk management in XPSP3?

 

[spanky]

In your Control Panel

 

[massahwahl]

Ok, I deleted the Linux partition, now I need reboot with my windows disk in?

 

[spanky]

*points to his above post*

 

[massahwahl]

How do I add the space back to my windows partition?

 

[spanky]

You should be able to right click that unallocated space or something and see an option about rearranging it back onto an existing partition otherwise you might google for 3rd party software.

 

[massahwahl]

If I right click on it it asks me if I want to make a new partition or enter properties. Nothing under properties that will let me do that though.

 

[spanky]

Edit: just looked up on a MS site and I don't think you can add the space without reformatting XP but what you can do is format the space to NTFS format and still use it for space. It will show up as a D: drive.

 

[massahwahl]

Hmmm..... I dont have that either:

 

[spanky]

Right click the unallocated space and click "Format..." and use it as "D:"

 

[massahwahl]

Ok that will work, I had to make a partition on the empty space first. Thank you so much!