Uninstalling Mandriva 2008.0 Free?

[Schlecht]

Hi, I have installed WinXP and Mandriva intalled on the same SATA HD and I need to uninstall Mandriva with no damage to XP. Is there any special utility for it? Or should I use anything like Partition Magic or what would you recommend?
Thank you.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

You'll need to do two things... delete or format the Linux partitions, and remove the bootloader (GRUB or LILO) from the master boot record (MBR).

To remove GRUB/LILO, boot with a Windows emergency boot disk and run the following command:

fdisk /mbr

...or you can boot with the Windows installation CD and from the Recovery Console enter the following command:

fixmbr

Doing either one of those should rewrite the MBR (master boot record) allowing you to reboot directly into Windows.

If neither of those options are available to you, or it doesn't work, try using the current version of the SuperGRUB LiveCD.

It's a small download and quick burn to CD, and it's a good tool for working with Linux, and/or Windows bootloader issues. Just follow the menu driven prompts for using it.

For working with your partitions, I recommend the PartedMagic LiveCD over and above Partition Magic:

http://www.partedmagic.com

It's a small download and quick burn to CD, it's easy to use, and there is very good documentation for using it on their website, and on the CD itself.

[redbook]

As per the previous answer ie. delete all mandriva partitions. Then boot from mandriva cd and use rescue, it has a utility to restore the windows boot loader which works great. Gparted will allow you to resize your partitions after this has been completed.

[Schlecht]

Thank you guys very much. Will get started with it soon - just do not have much time, cos as we all know nothing is done successfully at the first attempt
Just did not expect to get such extensive answers so quickly...

[Schlecht]

Well, everything started as expected - with troubles .
The comp i have was given me with preinstalled system, I do not know the superadmin password. But SuperGRUB worked fine, so I removed GRUB loader. Parted Magic was not able to load - I can see the welcome page with options, but it doesn't response to my USB keyboard. The same problem is with Mandriva DVD - by default "install" is highlighted and I can't change it to "repair". Moreover, I discovered that Parted magic can't merge partitions. I need this option since I want to install linux on the other HD.
So, very likely, can't avoid partitionmagic or paragon

[Schlecht]

UPD. Things are getting better I used PM 2.0 when 2.1 was available - so tried the newer one. Keyboard didn't work, but I was able to load the default 1-st oprion and reformatted linux partitions into NTFS. But - couldn' merge it with boot windows partition. Fortunately, uncle Billy lets to download from his site a utility called DISKPART, that did the merging job perfectly. Guys, all is done from command line, just pure linux!
OK, that's the end finally
Thank you all guys for your attention

[redbook]

Just a quickie, make sure usb keyboard is enabled in bios. and try gparted rather than parted magic.

[devils casper]

PartedMagic is developed by GParted developer only.
PartedMagic is much better than GParted imho. PartedMagic LiveCD has a lot of useful utilities.

Have you tried to toggle Legacy USB Support in BIOS?

[Schlecht]

Yes, I know about legacy support... On my Dell machine there is no such an option in BIOS But since SuperGRUB LiveCD worked fine I thought legacy support was on by default... Anyway, everything is OK now. Actually, have some more problems, but not with this issue