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unistalling zorin

firejack

Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:51:26 pm

I have zorin 5 installed next to windows 7, but I want to uninstall it.
but I don't have the repair **** of my windows.
how can I uninstall it?

firejack

Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:17:16 pm

yes, yes I can.

Obsidian1723

Thu Oct 06, 2011 3:43:41 am

When you install Linux (not just Zorin, but Linux itself....), the NTLDR (NT LoaDeR, which is the boot loader for Windows) gets replaced by grub, grub2, or lilo. In the case of Zorin, it's grub2, which is actually a superior boot loader to NTLDR since grub2 can boot ISOs and do al sorts of things NTLDR can't do.... but be that as it may, if you soft partitioned a single hard drive, thus one side is NTFS with Windows and the other side is ext4 and Linux, you can undo it, but it's not pretty. Same thing goes with if you have 2 logical hard drives, one with Windows and one with Linux.... not as messy, but still not very clean to undo.

Sad to say that the problems don't really lie with Linux, but with Windows and it's boot loader. It's easy to install Linux on a system where Windows was on it first, but not so easy to install Windows on a system where Linux was there first. Same thing goes for removal really. Ideally, for the sake of Windows, probably the best and cleanest way to do it is to backup your personal files and reformat everything, then restore Windows from the recovery DVD set.

If you want to play with different Linux distros, maybe do it in a virtual machine (VM) via VirtualBox or just get a second PC to use for Linux-only.

or.....................

Do the big move and dump Windows and go Linux-only.

firejack

Fri Oct 07, 2011 12:58:58 pm

swarfendor437 wrote:
firejack wrote:yes, yes I can.


OK, then if you can boot into Windows 7 I would firstly, make a backup of any critical data, then create your 'emergency repair disk'. I'm in zorin at the moment and memory is slipping but if you just type in 'emergency repair disk' in the search box of the Windows Menu and it should get you there. You will need a DVD Burner to create it as it's about 1.0 Gb from memory. You may also need a copy of your Windows 7 disk - If it's a laptop then create your recovery DVD's. I am advising on the basis that Windows 7 is at the 'start' of the hard drive and Zorin at the 'end' of the drive. I would download a copy of GParted live from here:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Once you have burnt your CD, boot with gparted live and delete both your swap file and ext4 partition marked as '/'. This should leave you with only your Windows 7 installation - the partition should be marked as NTFS. If you don't intend installing another version of Zorin or other GNU/Linux you can use gparted to either expand your Windows 7 partition, or create an extended logical drive to save your data to. Once you have applied the changes to your hard drive I would shut-down your PC and remove the gparrted disc. Re-boot with the Windows 7 Repair disc and that should automatically remove GRUB and replace with the Windows bootloader. However, the boot repair disc may require an original Windows 7 disc for certain files to be repaired. Good Luck!


thank you, when Ive time I will do that,
thanks again for youre help.

regards

garrydb

Fri Oct 21, 2011 11:49:39 pm

firejack wrote:yes, yes I can.


put your windows disk in like you were installing it. When it comes to a screen that allows choice of install or repair, clik repair, then look for "repair MBR, click on it and say yes.. then it should be working.. Then go into a partitioning app and delete Linux. u will still have your linux partition.. or you can just install another distro and not worry about partitions..