Yeah, great title eh? Alright, now down to the technobabble. I am running into a massive error when trying to install windows xp. Of course I am only posting this in the linux forum because my computer (for some reason totally unknown to me) is running feisty fawn. I asked a friend to fix my sound driver and this is what I get. Alright, so when I pop the disk in it stops at the "Setup is inspecting your hardware configuration" screen. Well, right after that at a blank screen really. It confuses me and I have tried everything. I tried to hide the partition (which incidentally wouldn't hide so that was pointless) and I tried to get my friend to explain what to do. I've come to two conclusions. Either I must order a disk and wait 4-6 weeks for it to come in to try to delete the partition using it, or I can find someone who can walk me through how to hide or, better yet even, delete the partition completely without using the disk. Now I have tried to avoid booting ubuntu and go straight to dos mode but I cannot seem to do that. I think mayhap the commands differ between linux and windows at the bootup phase. You never know, right. So...if anyone thinks they can help me, I would really really love to see what you have to say. Though if you want to tell me to use the disk...I already came up with that idea on my own. Downside is...I don't have one.

Are you trying to install XP and get rid of ubuntu? What make and model of computer do you have. If you order HP, Compaq,... recovery disk it will be overnighted to you via FedEX.

By any chance is there an Ubuntu Live disk in the cdrom? Linux doesn't just get "accidentally" installed. The short answer is that if you don't have Windows installation disks, you can't install it. Period. And you can not boot into dos using your current setup because Linux does not have dos. What disk are you 'popping' in?

First off ....as per groovicus - you either have an Ubuntu live disk in the cd-rom.....OR......your friend has used the excuse to fix your sound card as an opportunity to "introduce" you to linux without your consent and has actually installed Ubuntu onto your hard disk hoping you'll like Linux.....(you probably would but that's beside the point. He needs your permission). If it is just a live disk, remove it and your PC should boot into Windows. You will probably want to reset the BIOS to boot off the hard drive.

IF he has actually installed it to the hard drive, you may want to give him a sound thrashing for not getting your permission. Anyhoo...... if he's done that, most linux distros will by default set the boot loader to recognize a Windows partition, so the fact that this boot menu is apparently not available to you indicates that there is either a live cd in the machine OR he screwed up the Ubuntu install somehow.

As mentioned, unless he wiped the HD clean, there should be a recovery partition where XP is residing, waiting to be recovered...but you will need the recovery disks. The prompt " setup is inspecting your hardware configuration" sounds to me as though you have an XP disk and have popped it into the cdrom tray. If this is the case, then it would make sense that a Linux partition has been installed on your PC and Windows cannot recognize Linux partitions......hence the blank screen.

For what it's worth, if you want to try linux, do it with a live disk. If you want to dual boot (have both xp and Linux on your HD), then life is much easier if Windows is installed first.....then Linux ( because Linux CAN see a Windows partition). It can be done the other way around but prepare to grind your teeth into a powder.

Hope this helps

From what I am guessing, everything on the hd except the MBR is probably ext2 or ext3...which could explain whay you never progress beyond that "blank screen". I though WinXP would say something witty like No HD detected or a general not enough space error. This is curious.

You didn't even malke a repair disk or system disk on a floppy? If not, I bet I know one of the first things you'll do when this is resolved ;)

As to the accidentally installed thing...there is no disk, a friend volunteered to fix my computer and gives it to me with ubuntu, which already confused me, then I keep trying to get rid of it and as I said before the only thing I can think to do is get a disk and use it to delete the partition so I can get windows on it. I am not trying to dual boot because I am not the greatest fan of linux. Nothing against it....I would just rather run windows and I prefer to use windows namely because the games I play are not linux friendly. Though somehow in the midst of trying to learn how to uninstall my linux I magically fixed my sound driver. I am not sure how I did that, and I managed to get vmware installed which I am also not entirely sure how I accomplished it. It is annoying because when I tried to do these things, I couldn't, but I go into the troubleshooting mode of ubuntu and suddenly I fix the problems that were bothering me originally. Ironically I'm just still stuck on the "how do I get rid of this partition and reinstall xp" part of it. My laptop is running xp. My pc is an hp, and a mildly old one at that. I just recently upgraded my ram which will make it easier to run xp because before it was the bare minimum. I am just concerned with the "how to" on getting linux off of my pc.

well, sounds as tho your friend installed Ubuntu onto your HD. You will need to have some sort of a bootable disk....either Linux or Windows, with the fdisk utility where you can view, delete and repartition the HD.

Make sure whatever files you want saved are backed up. I am not that familiar with HP recovery partitions and don't know if they are "protected" from partition utilities. If the recovery partition is there, you will need the recovery disks from HP. If your friend wiped the HD clean then you will need a windows XP installation CD, not the recovery disks.

google "removing Linux" or "reinstalling Windows". I think MS has a link here -> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/247804


hope this helps

On hp/compaq recovery partitions, they are not normally protected against low level programs, such as fdisk, fsk, etc. The recovery disks from HP will fdisk the hard drive, create a recovery partition, create the user partition, copy all files from the recovery disks to the recovery partition to create a system image , then start recovery by copying the original image from the recovery partition to the user partition. You do not need an original windows XP if you have the recovery disks for an HP or compaq. Get the recovery disks, XP Home oem is over $100.00, XP Home Full is about 180.00 a set of recovery disks should be less than $50.00, even if you pay for 2 day air or something faster.

Here is a link form HP that will allow you to order the Recovery CDs. Enter the model of your computer at the bottom of the page. The last set I ordered cost $25 next day FedEX.

Obtaining an HP Recovery CD or DVD set

If you run into problems there checkout RestoreDisks.com

If the recovery partition was not protected from a low level format and is wiped clean, do you mean that the HP recovery disks provide Wxp within the recovery disks?

Absolutely! The OEM sticker should be on the side or back of your computer.

Well, now I know a little more about recovery disks.

Thanks