Convert Linux to windows 7

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fionab

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Before I get any weird remarks......this is a technical question based on a request from a user.
I need to convert a pc from having a Linux install to a Windows 7 install as the user that has now bought this PC needs to have his windows installed. The last time I attempted this I could not get the system to reformat so I could wipe the hard drive and install a fresh copy of windows. Any tips as to the best practices. Please let's not turn this into a merits of the one OS vs the other!
 
My guess would be to boot up from a Linux live CD (most of them are these days) and delete all the partitions using that, using either 'gparted', 'fdisk', or whatever you wish. Then reboot with the Windows 7 CD and install as usual.

EDIT.
My recommendation would be to download the 'Partition Magic' CD and use that
http://partedmagic.com/

EDIT.
That download is REALLY slow :( .

EDIT.
Or try this one --->
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
 
Last edited:
Thanks, so can a reformat of hard drive work? And if so how do you do it? I will get the machine on monday but I think it is fedora
 
fionab said:
Thanks, so can a reformat of hard drive work? And if so how do you do it? I will get the machine on monday but I think it is fedora
Click to expand...

Um....you put in the Windows CD/DVD and run setup?
 
kingrob said:
Um....you put in the Windows CD/DVD and run setup?
Click to expand...

I've had problem where a drive has Ubuntu on it then the windows setup doesn't pickup the drive. So not really that easy.
 
Nope putting a cd in an just running setup did not work before hence the question will try some of the early replies
 
Windows 7 is able to reformat over Ubuntu. I've done it. Just put the DVD in and reboot.
 
The reason why the previous versions of windows did not recognize the drive with Linux on it is because Linux uses a different file system that Windows does not support, namely EXT (for Ubuntu). GParted can be booted once it is made into a bootable LiveCD and from there you can then delete the EXT partition and reformat it to NTFS.

But as the guys said, Win7 supports formatting ext filesystem, so give that a shot first perhaps. I personally have not tried this.....as windows will never be run on my personal hardware ever ever again (sorry...could not help myself hehehehe)
 
:) thanks and all have been well behaved!
Out of interest do you run any Adobe software on linux ie Photoshop or dreamweaver?
 
I have always found that Windows could pick up and delete Linux partitions during install, it just labels the partitions as an Unknown Filesystem. XP, Vista, 7, Server 2008 and so on all did this.

The only time I can think of it not picking up, especially in XP, is when it couldn't find the hard drive due to lacking drivers. Windows 7 dvd should boot, and unless it doesn't have drivers for the chipset, it should be able to format the drive easily enough.
 
The first time I tried Linux it was a distro called "Xandros". It was terrible and when I booted from my XP disc, it could not see the HDD at all. Had to ask someone to install my HDD into their machine and format the drive back to NTFS. If I had known about Gparted, I guess I could have fixed it myself, but what can I say, @ that time I was nothing more than a curious noob lol
 
This is just for the record.

As has been mentioned XP doesn't see a Linux ext disk. Boot using the XP CD and go into a recovery console. At the console, run diskpart. From diskpart, delete the unknown partition, reboot and let setup do its thing.

It was much easier with fdisk. I still have a win98 bootable CD with fdisk on it, very useful in situations like this.
 
wish me luck so far no good the techies could not give me the logon for the fedora
 
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