HELP WINDOWS XP

[Graham Watkins]

Jake wrote:
> Ok, I've been through this so many times, "you have to press ESC", "Is 
> there", well no, its not, can anyone just PLEASE tell me how to 
> UNINSTALL Ubuntu, so I can get on Windows XP and re-install Ubuntu to 
> dual boot, Please do not tell me that I don't have to uninstall, 
> because the fact of the matter is, I really need do, so Please help me..
>
> Help Greatly Appreciated, Jake
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Get Windows Live and get whatever you need, wherever you are. Start 
> here. 
> <http://www.windowslive.com/default.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Home_082008>
Poor old Jake.  He asked a question - probably the wrong question, and 
is now in the middle of a bar fight.

This is the situation as I see it:

If, a) Windows XP partitions cannot be viewed from Linux
    b) Windows XP is not listed in grub
    c)  sudo fdisk -l does not show sda as a FAT or NTFS partition

then the Ubuntu installation has used the whole hard disk and Windows XP 
has most likely been overwritten.  It is an ex-operating system, it has 
ceased to be.

Jake, I hope you backed up all your data before you started messing with 
Ubuntu. The only way to "uninstall" Ubuntu is to use your favourite 
partitioning program to repartition and reformat your hard disk and 
re-install Windows XP if you still want it.  I don't do Windows any more 
but I gather that with the recent versions and crappy re-install disks 
provided by OEM vendors, this is no longer a piece of cake.  I wish you 
luck, I think you are going to need it.

I don't think Ubuntu should take the blame for this fiasco however.  You 
need to do your homework before you embark on any sort of Linux 
installation.  I'd advise spending more time with the live CD and 
rtfming for a while before trying a hard disk install.  (Not that we had 
live CDs when I started out.) Otherwise, buy a pre-installed box if you 
can find one.

Despite what has been said here, there is nothing wrong with dual 
booting provided the installation is done properly , I did it for years 
first with Windows/ Mandrake then Mandriva/ Windows /Ubuntu and finally 
Ubuntu/Mandriva until I reached the point where I felt it was more 
trouble than it was worth.

I don't think there's much else to be said really.  I'm amazed that 
people here have taken so many words over it.

-- 
Graham Watkins

"To mess up a Linux box, you need to work at it; to mess up your Windows
box, you just need to work on it."
SecurityFocus columnist Scott Granneman.