Gaming Need help uninstalling Windows 8!

[FireGrey]

Ok well i have Windows 8 installed on a 20GB partition.
I can't do anything on ti so i want to get ubuntu instead.
But apparently i can't simply uninstall windows 8.
When my computer boots, it loads Windows Developer Preview first and gives me a dual boot screen to choose between Windows 8 and Windows 7.
If i uninstall it wreck my computer for booting windows 7?
Would i be able to:
- Delete my partition with windows 8 on it and keep my conputer safe
or
- Overwrite the windows 8 partition with ubuntu by the ubuntu installation.

 

[TheDarkSeed]

If I did this on my own, my gut feeling would tell me to use ubuntu to wipe out the Win8 partition.

Hope this helps.

Also: Enjoy GRUB

 

[kevan]

Both your options sound good to me.

Edit: Someone else commented dw.

 

[kiel379]

have you tried (in windows 7) right clicking on my computer, manage, disk management. then deleting the partition and createing a new one in its place, or extending your windows 7 one and forgetting about ubuntu coz it gets pretty boring pretty quick.

 

[FireGrey]

I tried doing both things, but in result windows couldn't start up so i had to reinstall windows 8 to get rid of the error screen every time i start up my computer.
Looks like im stuck with the dev preview

 

[Jamstruth]

Here's another option to try. Boot into Windows 7 and type msconfig into the start menu run bar. Go to boot and set Windows 7 as the default boot then delete the Windows 8 entry. Then delete the Windows 8 partition and reboot.
Also if you do install Ubuntu remember that GRUB is a pain in the ass and must know exactly how your HDD is set up before booting. Do any partition editing in Ubuntu then run "sudo update-grub" from the terminal before rebooting. Otherwise you'll have to reinstall Ubuntu or put in a Windows disc to restore the mbr.

 

[Dimensional]

Another solution is to boot into windows 7, download and install EasyBCD, and use that to reinstall the windows 7 bootloader to the MBR and fix it. Another idea is to get SuperGrub2, which is a live CD that you download, very small, and burn to a CDR. After you do that, you delete windows 8, then boot from that disc, and it should detect windows 7 and boot to that. Then you download and install EasyBCD, and use that to restore the windows 7 bootloader and make sure windows 7 is in there. It should be automatic of course.

 

[FireGrey]

within the windows dev preview OS selection screen i changed the main OS to windows 7.
When i restarted my computer i found that windows dev preview doesnt auto-boot anymore, so that's solved.
And i deleted the boot in msconfig like jamstruth said and im gonna install wubi soon.

 

[Jamstruth]

Delete your Windows 8 install and just run a complete install of Ubuntu. Wubi is for people who aren't sure and don't want to make permanent changes to their disk, you've already partitioned and, while the bootloader is a bit annoying to get rid of should you change your mind, it seems a bit of a waste to leave that space on your HDD just dead. A full install runs better than off a virtual harddrive.

I'm guessing that your problem with the Windows Dev Preview was that once you'd deleted the partition the bootloader still thought it was there adn was your default WIndows OS so tried to boot from it after giving you 10 seconds to decide. I had a similar problem when I uninstalled the WIndows 7 Beta from my old computer and it was harder to get rid of as WIndows XP doesn't use the same loader.

 

[FireGrey]

yeah kinda, but i didnt get the 10 seconds thing.
whenever i try to install WUBI i get the error message, "no root file system defined".
this time i even installed it on a different partition(a new one with nothing on it).
when i do the normal installation it doesnt even let me choose a partition.

 

[Jamstruth]

Curious... Wubi gives no root file system defined... I presume you were just pointing it at your C: drive to install its virtual HDD (been a while since I've done an install of Wubi) I don't know what's going on there.
As for the normal installation thing you'll probably have to choose custom installation. Then you'll get the option of which partitions to use. Select the one that had Windows 8 installed to it and delete it. Then use the unallocated space to create 2 partitions. 1 the same size as your RAM as a SWAP partition, then use the rest as an ext4 file system mounted as "\" that's where Ubuntu will install.

 

[FireGrey]

Curious... Wubi gives no root file system defined... I presume you were just pointing it at your C: drive to install its virtual HDD (been a while since I've done an install of Wubi) I don't know what's going on there.
As for the normal installation thing you'll probably have to choose custom installation. Then you'll get the option of which partitions to use. Select the one that had Windows 8 installed to it and delete it. Then use the unallocated space to create 2 partitions. 1 the same size as your RAM as a SWAP partition, then use the rest as an ext4 file system mounted as "\" that's where Ubuntu will install.

I don't have space for 2 extra partitions..
1 of them is for my Bios, another for System and another for Windows 7.
I would like to install WUBI on another partition, though i always get that error :/

 

[Jamstruth]

But you said you'd already made a partition for Windows 8. Unless you've already deleted it and extended your Windows 7 partition. If you've just deleted the partition, or even just left Windows 8 you've got space for the extra partition for Ubuntu, the other doesn't count as a primary partition so it can be created. Trust me, I've got 5 partitions on my drive at the moment, the max primary partitions you're allowed is 4.

You can't install Wubi on another partition, I think that's the problem you're facing in the Wubi installer. It has to be pointed at your Windows drive because its going to fiddle with the registry and few things so that Ubuntu appears as a bootable OS without install GRUB2. Also to add an uninstall prompt to the Uninstall Programs list.

 

[FireGrey]

But you said you'd already made a partition for Windows 8. Unless you've already deleted it and extended your Windows 7 partition. If you've just deleted the partition, or even just left Windows 8 you've got space for the extra partition for Ubuntu, the other doesn't count as a primary partition so it can be created. Trust me, I've got 5 partitions on my drive at the moment, the max primary partitions you're allowed is 4.

You can't install Wubi on another partition, I think that's the problem you're facing in the Wubi installer. It has to be pointed at your Windows drive because its going to fiddle with the registry and few things so that Ubuntu appears as a bootable OS without install GRUB2. Also to add an uninstall prompt to the Uninstall Programs list.

Ok i'll make the SWAP partition and Ext 4 partition and use the proper linux install like you said.
Going to do it now.
Hopefully it will work.

 

[FireGrey]

I just got ubuntu now.
What should i do with the SWAP partition now?
Just delete it and give it to my ubuntu partition?
edit: ok im not going to bother with dual booting anymore.
cause none of my OS's would start cause i got: partition not found or something.
I needed to use my windows 7 recovery disk to get into command prompt and type:
bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
well, looks like im sticking to windows 7 until i get a new computer.
I'm sick of all these errors.