How do you uninstall Windows XP?

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Well, as you may know from reading my other thread, my computer has pretty much gone kaput on me.

After contacting Dell Support, which was no help whatsoever, and going over the article which Nightwood referred me to, I've decided that its simpler to just try and restore my registry on my own.

Now, I had installed Windows XP Professional after my Home Edition install stuffed up. Now, I need to remove this installation ASAP and fix my original installation.

How do I do this? I have not installed anything...its just a stock Windows XP Pro. installation. I need to remove it. How?

 

I know its a lot of hassle but I can only suggest backing everything up and formatting your HD, then start a fresh install from scratch, would this be too much effort for a solution?

 

Boot. Format. Done.

Boot: Insert WinXP CD to the drive right away. Check from your motherboards manual what is the magical "F" button to make it boot from the CD.

Format: WinXP setup comes up. In one point it will ask about "partitions" and such. Format/empty the partition you want. Of course, if you have only one of them, you will lose ALL data on it. IMO, it would be best to burn all sensitive data on a CD/DVD and start from scratch.

Done: the setup should do the rest for you. After that, boot normally, install drivers, tinker with the settings to make it look like you want it to look, and that's it. Just remember that you will lose all data in format.

 

@Wihre: Great minds an all that...

What I normally do is chuck all my files on to my D: but none of my settings, registry etc... these are the files that normally stuff everything up in XP anyway, just format C:, reinstall, then start again... It is painful but I do it every 6 months out of principle...

 

Hmm...I've learned my lesson.

I'm just going to burn all my music, documents, videos everything on a couple of DVDs...it should all fit. Then I'll just have to remove everything and re-install.

After I make a couple of partitions or so.

Ah well.

But for technical purposes, is there no way to remove a windows install from a single partition which has another windows install, without stuffing your system up?

 

It is possible. Boot to the OS you want to keep and simply delete the folder of your old install. Then go to the system settings, find boot selection, and set it to automatically boot to the new OS. If they both are in the same folder (like WinXP or WinNT), then you only need to set the boot-menu. You will have a lot of useless clutter there, though.

 

Dell tech. support is absolute rubbish.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone...I managed to fix my computer, thanks to all you wonderful folks at SP.

You guys are tons better than the people whom I paid for a warranty!!!

 

Naturally. The bigger the company, the less they care for their indivitual customers. Learned this the hard way only a few weeks past when I was looking for hosting.