BleepingComputer.com: Uninstalling Rc1

Okay, I downloaded RC1, installed it on a seperate partition, ran it, said "ooh pretty!" then got bored. How do I go about unistalling it?

I want to go back to my old setup (which is still there and accessible) of dual booting with XP and 2000. My only concern is the Vista bootloader. If I reformat the Vista partition, will the old bootloader screen come back? As it is, I have to use the Vista bootloader and select "Old Windows Installation" and then select whether I want XP or 2000. When I run msconfig in XP, it shows the old bootloader setup and doesn't mention Vista.

In addition to deleting the Vista partition, there's 4 files/folders in the root of your boot drive that need to go.

Boot folder
bootmgr file
bootsect.bak file
and one other that I don't seem to have on my system (prolly the bootsect.*** file)

I found this info with a google for "uninstall vista" after reading a few of the search results.

Then, check your boot.ini file to ensure that no changes were made to it (there wasn't anything significant in mine).

I've done many uninstalls this way and have only had one problem (having to select Windows twice from 2 different boot menus) in order to get it to load. This was with the pre-RC1 release.

In effect what happens is that the system loads the Vista bootloader first. Then, if you select the older version of Windows - it drops you into your boot.ini file (and this may be the reason for my problem when I uninstalled it).

Thanks a heap! I'll give it a whirl once I get home this evening.

Okay, so here's what I did. I'll go into detail in case anyone else needs this info.

For reference, I have a multiboot system with Windows 2000 on the first logical drive (C:), XP on the second (E:), and Vista on the third (G:). The 2000 and XP installations predated the Vista installation and were happy and stable( )

• First, I deleted the logical drive ontowhich Vista had been installed (G:)
  
• Then I deleted boot.bak and BOOTSECT.BAK (none of the other files/folders that usamsa mentioned were there, I guess M$ can't decide which files to use and so they alternate or something... )
  
• Then I rebooted using the XP CD to enter the recovery console.
  
• In the Recovery Console, I entered the XP installation (rather than the 2000)
  
• I entered the command:

  fixboot C:

  and answered yes to the warning messages.
  
• I then exited the Recovery Console and rebooted. The Vista bootloader did not appear and Windows XP loaded correctly!
  
• Then I edited the XP boot.ini file to remove the erroneous (and useless) entries made therein by Vista.

Success is sweet.

This post has been edited by Amazing Andrew: 12 September 2006 - 12:25 AM

There should also be a folder named "Boot" on the C:\ drive - that's a remnant of Vista also.

Nope. Double and triple checked (all drives including C: with system and hidden files shown)