Windows to Linux Switch

[BarePaw]

I want to completely wipe windows off my hard drive and install Ubuntu Linux on a clean system. I am doing this to my old computer in order to learn how to use Linux. I was told to restart with command prompt and type in "osuninst.exe". I did this and got a message that said that Windows XP could not be uninstalled because of missing registry information. What do I do now?

 

[Arm_Pit]

Boot off the linux disk andinstall it from there, its step by step, and one of the steps should be foramting, and which then you delete your current one, and make a linux one, which should remove windows and all of your files.

 

[PC eye]

A good old bootup with the XP installer once having asked if you wish to delete the current partition instead of deleting the current or repair can wipe that off. But what is even easier to first remove XP is booting from an old 98 or ME startup floppy and using fdisk to delete the current primary. From there you would either order a set of cds or a dvd with ubuntu on it for a few bucks for the costs of the cd itself and shipping or spend the time downloading the iso images ready to burn to disk. That is if you have the software needed to burn iso images to cd-rs or dvd-r media.

Ubuntu as well as a good number of other distributions will also need a loader unlike Windows with one included. Linux uses multiple not one single partition. Generally a good 2gb is reserved for a swap parition. Then you need to create a root as well as boot partition. Plus there is a need for an extended in order to run ubuntu. One version reuires two cd-rs for that distro. But since Linux is an open source when the next "flavor of the month" comes out I can pretty much toss the ones here.