linux wont let me instal windows

U

UltimateX

New Member
i have a dell latitude d600 laptop and a week ago i installed fedora linux core 5 but it just isnt for me so now i want to install windows xp again but it wont let me. i tried 3 diffrent windows discs including the system restore disc but none of them worked. they all get to inspecting system specs then go completely black and pressing keys maks beeping noises.

i think its because the whole disc is formatted for linux but i could be wrong. if anyone has any clue on how to format this thing please help me. thanks in advance
 
Its not linux that is doing that. What you need to do is format your hard drive, and since you cant do that via windows xp boot disks, then if you have a floppy drive, create a bootable dos floppy.
EDIT: Then after that, format the hard drive with DOS.
 
Do you have a floppy drive available along with one or two 3 1/2' floppies hanging to use? http://www.computing.net/howto/simple/bootdisk/ With the updated fdisk for 98SE even you can use fdisk to delete the current partition(s) on the drive to prepare it for a reformat with the "format C: /s" command to not only format the dirve but the added switch will transfer the basic dos files to the drive to make it bootable to dos. The XP installer should readily detect the then current newly created partition. You can download the needed file for different versions of Dos and Windows to prepare a boot disk at http://www.bootdisk.com/
 
UltimateX said:
how do i format with dos though
Click to expand...

Once you have reviewed the first link and downloaded the needed files to make up a boot floppy you simply boot from that to enter the "FDisk" command at the dos prompt to then follow the onscreen prompts for deletion of the detected partition. After the drive is seen to unpartitioned you can use the options menu to create a new partition and set it active. With that completed you now enter "format C: (letter of drive) /s" to format the new partition along with transfer of basic dos files to make the drive bootable.
 
Are you inserting the Windows CD's while your in Linux? If you are then it wont work, you have to boot off of the CD.
 
[-0MEGA-] said:
Are you inserting the Windows CD's while your in Linux? If you are then it wont work, you have to boot off of the CD.
Click to expand...

no i was booting the disc at start up

im in the middle of pc eyes process and i think im gettin somewhere
 
UltimateX said:
its a laptop so scsi i guess
Click to expand...

That wouldn't be a SCSI setup but an ide drive for the portable. Now to get XP to delete the partition. Of course there is always the Linux fdisk for removing Linux partitions. That will easily allow dos and Windows alike to create new MS partitions ready for a new installation of XP. A few tips on this can be found in one article.

"When you installed Linux, you probably created a set of partitions on one of your hard disks. You can just go into the Linux 'fdisk' (using your installation diskette or CD) and delete all of your Linux parititions (including swap and "native" (ext2)).
Once you done that then DOS/Windows should be "willing" to create new partitions in the unallocated portions of disk space that you've created by deleting your Linux partitions.
If the whole disk was devoted to Linux and you want to trick MSDOS into believing that this whole drive is "fresh from the factory" you can use the following trick:" http://www.tldp.org/LDP/LG/issue36/tag/61.html
 
ok i tried the dos disc made a dos partition and tried to format it and i got an error

i made a 6 disc xp boot disc and it says a random disc number is corrupt so that didnt work

and anything in lunix is confussing :P im soooo screwed

isnt there some bootable app thatll destroy partitions
 
well fedora wont load up anymore (not sure if thats good or not now) but i can run knoppix live disc. so how do i run fdisk with knoppix
 
UltimateX said:
well fedora wont load up anymore (not sure if thats good or not now) but i can run knoppix live disc. so how do i run fdisk with knoppix
Click to expand...

Just like in Windows you can type help at the Command prompt. That is what you would open to start fidsk in Knoppix as well.

"fdisk
Many Windows users will recognize the term fdisk, which is a menu-driven program for creation and manipulation of partition tables. Partitions are logical disks on a physical device. These logical disks can be formatted with a variety of file systems. Also, fdisk can create or delete partitions and rewrite the master boot record. To use fdisk from Knoppix just launch a command prompt and make sure to su to root, then to access your disk type fdisk /dev/hda where hda is the name of your hard drive (usually this will be /dev/hda but if you have two hard drives you may see it as /dev/hdb). For more information on how to use fdisk you can type m for help at the Command: prompt. Also, you may find it useful to read the fdisk manual by typing info fdisk at a command prompt. This will bring up extended data on the fdisk partition table manipulator (see Figure 3)." http://linux.sys-con.com/read/45259.htm
 
can we do this without linux, im already confussed enough :P

i was able to remove the hdd by any chance is there a way for me to hook up the hdd to my pc heres the specs

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=879&cid=10

edit: i found some devices online

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...f=pd_bbs_2/103-0719604-4083014?_encoding=UTF8
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-108&cat=HDD

would the windows cd running on the pc be able to format the laptop hdd thats completly linux format
 
Last edited:
You would have to have adminstrative access on the desktop to use the Disk Management to delete the current partition found on the drive. That would be the manager recognised the partition when the drive was setup. The Linux fdisk when booting from the cd or floppy was all that was ever needed when multibooting on an extra drive here. Preparing an old dos style floppy disk if you have a floppy drive for the unit(do you?) should do the trick with the Linux version of fdisk.

The easier yet more time consuming way is to locate a drive utility right from manufacturer would zero fill the drive removing all traces of Linux or anything else. With hardwarezone's site down for maintainance I couldn't go to the manufacturer's support site directly to point you at a link there. Zero filling a drive usually is an overnight job however where an fdisk utlity only takes a few minutes at the most.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top