Windows OS supports dual booting a computer, where
consumers could setup multiple OS's and choose which system to turn on to
startup. If you have used Vista on top of current XP to make the computer a
dual-boot system, but now determined to dump or ditch the Vista separation to
relapse to the classic Windows XP go after the instruction below to remove and
uninstall Vista to maintain only XP w/out having to install back the Operating
System, and w/out affecting saved data and files.
Important: Don't use this guide if your dual-boot
system is Vista.
Boot your PC and go to desktop.
Put the Vista DVD installation disc to DVD-ROM or
CD-ROM optical drive.
Otherwise, mount the image of Windows Vista DVD ISO
on any virtual drive.
Open Command Prompt, or click Start menu to go to
Run command.
In the Run text box or the command prompt, issue
the subsequent command and press Enter:
[DVD Drive Letter]:bootbootsect.exe /nt52 ALL
/force
For instance,
If the DVD path is D:, then key in the following:
D:bootbootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force
The step will eliminate the boot menu to choose OS
to begin.
Eject the DVD disc and restart the PC.
The PC will open up with XP setup partition.
Manually eliminate folders and files of Vista,
including Program Files, Windows, and Users folder. If you are installing to
divide partition, simply format the separation to clean it immediately.
On the root folder of XP, erase BootSect.BAK and
Boot.BAK. The 2 files are scrap backup files of previously placed Vista
boot-loader, but no longer helpful for Windows XP system.
Tip: NT52 is the Master Boot Record or MBR used by
Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP, while Windows Vista utilizes NT6. So if you
are going to uninstall 7 in Vista/7 dual-boot system, alter the NT52 in the
prompt to NT60.
Fast Shortcut: It is possible to arrange the
Windows Vista partition immediately as well, and then begin the computer with
Windows XP installation CD to fix the partition, or open the "bootsect
/nt52 c:" command from the boot folder of Operating System immediately to
fix the boot partition.