Un-Installing Linux

[neozoon]

I was always wondering if there is a way to uninstall linux (whatever is the distribution) without having to format.. Seriously this Feature should b included in the..
If i format I loose much of my Data..

[cross]

What were you wanting to uninstall to? If you installed *.nix like normal, it formatted your hard drive already once, so there is nothing there to go back to.... I'm just assuming you want back into windows? I think the only option you have is to copy off your info to another HD or partition then reformat.

[The3ntropy]

One word, back up. Err two? Backup, no, ahh back-up, that's it.

[the_JinX]

Uninstalling linux:

boot from a bootdisk (dos) or windows install CD (win98SE or later)

type: fdisk mbr

there ya go..

now you have a spare ext2 (or reiserfs or something) partition.. you won't be able to descently access on windows... (or are ya gonna go for OS/2 ?)

[jdenny]

boot from a bootdisk (dos) or windows install CD (win98SE or later)

type: fdisk mbr

there ya go..

Great, the_Jinx treats your Linux bootloader like an MBR virus...
Anyway it should be fdisk /mbr
Neozoon, more info: http://www.claws-and-paws.com/virus/...es/fdisk.shtml

Peace always,
<jdenny>

[the_JinX]

Originally posted here by neozoon
Seriously this Feature should b included in the..

Does windows have an uninstall for itself ??

seriously I don't know of any OS that features an uninstall for itself!!



btw.. thx Jdenny for fixing my forgotten /

[SirDirge]

I don't that it has anything actually called UnInstall Windows, however it does have the format function which pretty much is the same as uninstalling Windows.

[neel]

I actually remember some uninstalling app in some older windows... Not like it worked or something... never tested it either... When I want an os gone I just remove the partition... my bootloader (xosl) automaticly removes the ability to boot that partition, but you can do that later on manualy to.

If you use grub or lilo you can sue the thing the_jinx and jdenny showed. You can remove the partition with fdisk and make it a windows partition (fat(32) or ntfs most likely). If you want to merge the space with an already existing partition you'll need other tools, like partitionmagic. I don't know if there's a 30 day evaluation thing of it or something... I guess there are more of those programms, but all I know cost money.

[w0rm3y]

if you need to save important documents or so forth, just save separate the /home partition to another drive. when you reinstall linux, you could tell it to keep the existing partition and just rewrite the /

-w0rm3y

[er0k]

hehehe... well if you want to *almost* uninstall linux without formatting:

su -

rm -rf /

and there you have it.