[St!nkf!nger]

I've done a bit of poking around to find my answer, but all the answers I find revolve around having the Vista disc handy to complete the operation. When I bought my laptop it came with Vista installed, but no Vista disc. So how do I uninstall Ubuntu and reclaim its partition in Vista if I don't have the Vista installation disc?

[lotuseclat79]

Hi St!nkf!inger,

Lesson #1: If you purchase any kind of computer without the installed OS (OEM) disc, then before you make any changes (such as you have), buy an external disk and backup your entire installed original OS - also, a good idea in its pristine form after purchase - this can be done with a Linux Live CD using the "dd" command. At least then you should be able to cobble up the installed image on the backup disk to substitute as the original installation and then not need the original OEM disc. All you would have to do then is repartition the entire disk to the Vista format (whatever that is? NTFS???), and then do a sector dump of the backup image onto the compatible Vista partition, also using the Linux Live CD with the "dd" command.

For example, my WinXP Pro SP2 (80GB) disk is partitioned like this, i.e. the output of the Ubuntu command: $ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x60276028

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 9728 78140128+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Lesson #2: If at first you find yourself in the situation of wanting to try Ubuntu, use an Ubuntu Live CD without installing it to bring up the Ubuntu Live CD environment which does not destroy your Windows Vista environment.

-- Tom

P.S. Look up on the Web the manufacturer of your laptop for further advice, and/or call the MS 1-800 phone number for help. Your laptop should have a serial number or some official Certificate of Authenticity label on it for Windows Vista. Also, keep looking on the Web for some other solution (if there is one) to your situation.

[St!nkf!nger]

So what you're telling me is that there's no quick fix to do what I'm trying to do?

[lotuseclat79]

Hi St!nkf!nger,

I do not know, but that does not mean that there is not a way to do it. The quick way is what I described above, but that train appears to have left the station.

Keep trying as there may be a way I do not know about.

Good luck,

-- Tom

[TerryNet]

Do you have a Vista Recovery partition, or is that gone? (An alternative to Tom's Lesson #1 is to just create Recovery CDs/DVDs from the Recovery partition as one of the first things you do with a new system. Not as nice as an image on an external hard drive, but maybe easier to accomplish and no purchase needed except some CDs or DVDs.)

Do you still have Vista installed, or just Ubuntu?

In fact, just what partitions do you now have and what are their contents?

[aka Brett]

if you have it installed with wubi then your ubuntu is in the same partition as windows
you just use wubi to remove ubuntu.
if that isnt the case,Have you tried the vista disk management tools?
perhaps you can delete the partition there then extend your partition to take the unallocated space back.
It might let you do it Beings it is a foriegn file system its worth a try.

Myself i always keep a copy running of ubuntu on a machine,never know when you might need it,its like a spare car so to say.

You can always use gparted to fix your problem but you have to have a vista dvd to a start up repair.

If you live in the states the pc manufacturer has to provide you with a windows disk,now if it comewith one and has been misplaced then thats a differant issue,but if you purchased the pc and it has no recovery media or windows,then a phone call is in order.

[Elvandil]

Any changes made to partitions on a machine with a recovery partition will make recovery impossible with that method. The manufacturer uses an MBR that is not used by anyone else, and it can't be restored using standard tools. These machines are not designed to be altered in any way.

With these machines, a drive image is very important to have since there is no way to recover from drive failure as there is when you have the CD or DVD. And all data will be lost if there is no backup when the drive fails. And you lose your Windows installation files right along with everything else.

It's possible, if the recovery partition is intact, that you can boot to it using this specialized CD. It will allow you to bypass the MBR and boot to a partition.

SGD Boot Disk

Failing that, you will need to buy recovery CD's from the manufacturer.

[lotuseclat79]

Hi St!nkf!nger,

If you installed Ubuntu in a dual-boot setup with Vista (which I doubt), here is a procedure that could help you get back to square one: HowTo: Remove Ubuntu (& Restore Windows).

Note: Read the entire set of webpages to pick up on nuances about /drive 0, and there are 9 webpages of information to clarify issues.

I am posting this because no one asked if your were already dual-boot or not, and you did not inform us if you were - on the off chance that you are, then this article link could help you solve your problem.

-- Tom

[TerryNet]

... because no one asked if your were already dual-boot or not ...

Well, I didn't use the term "dual-boot" but I did ask for that information in post # 5.

[St!nkf!nger]

I guess I should have clarified in the op. Yes, my laptop dual boots Vista and Ubuntu.

@TerryNet

Yes, my recovery partition is intact, it shows up as D: in the drive listing. As far as what resides on the partitions, C: is my Vista partition, D: is the recovery partition, and Ubuntu resides on whatever it resides on.

[aka Brett]

Originally Posted by St!nkf!nger

I guess I should have clarified in the op. Yes, my laptop dual boots Vista and Ubuntu.

@TerryNet

Yes, my recovery partition is intact, it shows up as D: in the drive listing. As far as what resides on the partitions, C: is my Vista partition, D: is the recovery partition, and Ubuntu resides on whatever it resides on.

did you use wubi to install ubuntu?
or did you use a cd and create a partition for it?
If you have only c and d listed it appears as if you uses wubi to install

[aka Brett]

go to control panel
classic view
administrative tools
computer management
storage
disk management

send a screen shot

[St!nkf!nger]

Originally Posted by brett888

or did you use a cd and create a partition for it?

Precisely.

[aka Brett]

Originally Posted by St!nkf!nger

Precisely.

Send the screen shot as to what we can see exactly what we have going

[TerryNet]

If you installed Ubuntu "under" Vista all you need to do is Control Panel - Programs and Features - and uninstall Ubuntu (or Wubi).

If you created a partition for Ubuntu you probably formatted with ext3 or some other format that Microsoft pretends does not exist. You can use a partition editor to merge that partition with the Vista one, but I don't know if you'll get into trouble with booting. If you have a separate Linux partition, better so state and wait for somebody more knowledgeable to advise you how to proceed.

Since you could lose your ability to boot into Vista you should create Recovery CDs or DVDs now. Think you can find instructions in the Help and Support Center.