[phosho510]

i just bought a computer and it came with linux in it. since im not a fan of linux i wanted to install windows. so i pop in the cd, reads it and then the file opens. i click setup and it says open with and there are a butch of things to click on (for exp:monitoring, internet, home, etc..) so im stuck there. linux is so confusing there is no my computers or anything.
ps: i have the mandrake linux.

[horndude]

You can install windows no problem, but you will have to use the linux install disk to use the linux version of fdisk or cfdisk to get rid of the linux partition on the hard drive, the windows version of fdisk wont work.Once you do that, install windows as usual.

[phosho510]

what if i do not have the linix disk?

[horndude]

then you will need some version of fdisk or some OS you can boot up to get rid of that linux partition, as far as I know, windows wont do it

Any of the live cd's like knoppix will do it, you may even be able to do it from inside mandrake but im not positive, as soon as you wipe out that partition it will kill mandrake too, you can try it though, open a terminal and as root type fdisk /dev/hda and give it a try

[m3trj]

If you wanna clean Linux right off the hard drive, then get Killdisk from www.killdisk.com and use that. Then when you boot from the Windows CD you'll be able to create a new partition for Windows.

[slackware05]

What I would recommend doing in this case is change your BIOS boot sequence to do this press F1, F2 or DEL to enter the BIOS setup screen. Go to First boot device and change it to CDROM.

Then your second boot device HDD-1, third boot device Floppy, etc.. when done save changes, exit the BIOS and reboot the PC. Place Windows CD in the CDROM drive reboot PC this time it will prompt message "press any key to run CD", This will bypass Linux Mandrake and load the CDROM first which is Windows then you can simply use FDISK, FORMAT, REINSTALL WINDOWS and all updates.

[Alex4R]

Originally posted by slackware05
What I would recommend doing in this case is change your BIOS boot sequence to do this press F1, F2 or DEL to enter the BIOS setup screen. Go to First boot device and change it to CDROM.

Then your second boot device HDD-1, third boot device Floppy, etc.. when done save changes, exit the BIOS and reboot the PC. Place Windows CD in the CDROM drive reboot PC this time it will prompt message "press any key to run CD", This will bypass Linux Mandrake and load the CDROM first which is Windows then you can simply use FDISK, FORMAT, REINSTALL WINDOWS and all updates.

As horndude said, this will not work. When you do this, it will copy the files and reboot to this error message: "Error loading operating system".

You have to either use the formatting utility within Linux or use the disk that came with your hard drive to run a low level format.

[horndude]

windows fdisk usually WILL NOT remove non windows partitions

The reason for this is pretty obvious, microsoft doesnt formally recognize any other OS and has taken steps on purpose to try to keep them away.

[phosho510]

i already got it working, thanks anyway guys.