"Charlie+" <charlie@xxx.net> wrote
| I would like to remove the Linux distro and revert to the bootable XP
| only on this laptop SSD.
Assuming you have XP on a primary partition,
set it active. I've been using BootIt for years, which
I use for disk imaging OSs, partition work and booting.
If you use a tool like that it should be fairly easy.
I always make disk images for every install, with
software installed and set up, as an easy system backup.
If you do that then it should be even easier. But in general,
you just need to:
* have it on a primary partition
* set that partition active
* check C:\boot.ini to make sure it's set to boot the right
partition. If XP is in the first partition then boot.ini should
say it's disk 0, partition 1. If, for example, Linux was up front
and XP was in the second partition, Grub would hand off
to XP and boot.ini would specify disk 0 partition 2. But if
you then remove Linux then XP would be trying to boot itself
from the partition behind it.
(Another convenience of BootIt is that it provides the ability
to edit boot.ini from its booter or from a BootIt CD. There
may also be other programs that can do that. I know that
a lot of people like Macrium because it's free. Personally, I
don't cut corners on this kind of software. For office docs I
want free. For PDF readers I want free. Not for disk managers.)
I think there's also a limit on how far into the disk the boot
partition can be, but I'm not sure whether that's a concern
with XP.
Unfortunately, Linux installers have become increasingly
aggressive. When I decided to try Fedora awhile back
it removed the BootIt booter without asking. I asked about
that in a forum and was told that "it's supposed to do
that because most people don't understand partitions".
So if you deal with the Linux side you should be aware
of that. They now think they're Apple. :)
"Charlie+" <charlie@xxx.net> wrote
| Easily backing up/restoring a dual boot system is also a problem no one
| seems to own up to as a con to dual boot systems, I never tried before!
| So thanks. I do have a way out even if not quite ideal..
| Interesting that Bootit can do backup/restore too.
BootIt creates disk images of any partition or disk. I store
images as my main backup. I think of it like an 18-wheeler.
Windows and software are set up, ready to go, on a disk
image of about 1-1.4 GB, stored on spare data partitions
and DVDs. That's the tractor part. I back up data separately.
That's the trailer part. So if the tractor blows a piston I
just need to hook up a new copy to the "trailer".
With BootIt it's easy to set
up multi-boot of multiple systems. I also keep an NT version
of XP, as well as FAT32. I usually have one Linux system,
just in case. And with newer Windows versions the booter
is very intrusive, so it's easier to do something like get
a disk image and then put that image onto a partition
with BootIt.... MS keep making the process more complicated,
as do the Linux installers.
There was a time when I multi-booted all the 9x systems, for
testing software. These days I mostly only use XP and have
separate 7 and 10 systems for rare occasions where I need to
do something I can't do on XP.
I think you're right that most people don't think
about managing multi-boot. It used to be that a lot of
people used a caddy, where they could easily swap out
hard disks. These days a lot of people use a VM. That seems
very wasteful to me and I don't trust them for security.
I also started with Partition Magic and Drive Image. Then
Powerquest sold those to Symantec, who came out with
a .Net abomination version of Drive Image. That's when I
switched to BootIt. It's barebones but very dependable
and does everything relevant. Acronis does more handholding
but it seems to be more a backup program than a disk manager.
You could check out Macrium. I don't know anything about
it, but it seems to be popular, as well as having a free version.
On Sat, 18 Mar 2023 08:40:05 -0400, "Newyana2" <Newyana2@invalid.nospam> wrote as underneath :
"Charlie+" <charlie@xxx.net> wroteThanks a lot for your suggestions and comments, enjoyed the last bit
| I would like to remove the Linux distro and revert to the bootable XP
| only on this laptop SSD.
Assuming you have XP on a primary partition,
set it active. I've been using BootIt for years, which
I use for disk imaging OSs, partition work and booting.
If you use a tool like that it should be fairly easy.
I always make disk images for every install, with
software installed and set up, as an easy system backup.
If you do that then it should be even easier. But in general,
you just need to:
* have it on a primary partition
* set that partition active
* check C:\boot.ini to make sure it's set to boot the right
partition. If XP is in the first partition then boot.ini should
say it's disk 0, partition 1. If, for example, Linux was up front
and XP was in the second partition, Grub would hand off
to XP and boot.ini would specify disk 0 partition 2. But if
you then remove Linux then XP would be trying to boot itself
from the partition behind it.
(Another convenience of BootIt is that it provides the ability
to edit boot.ini from its booter or from a BootIt CD. There
may also be other programs that can do that. I know that
a lot of people like Macrium because it's free. Personally, I
don't cut corners on this kind of software. For office docs I
want free. For PDF readers I want free. Not for disk managers.)
I think there's also a limit on how far into the disk the boot
partition can be, but I'm not sure whether that's a concern
with XP.
Unfortunately, Linux installers have become increasingly
aggressive. When I decided to try Fedora awhile back
it removed the BootIt booter without asking. I asked about
that in a forum and was told that "it's supposed to do
that because most people don't understand partitions".
So if you deal with the Linux side you should be aware
of that. They now think they're Apple. :)
:).
I had a look at Bootit - looks great but its not worth it+the learning
curve for just this job on my old laptop, though it has been a good lightweight travel friend for years (the X61s). I have generally used Partition Magic previously for messing..
Meantime I managed to find an Acronis backup from when I moved the old
girl over to SSD in 2015! Restored that to a spare SSD and it works just fine. I tried first to do a backup of the XP/Q4os combo SSD but ran into having to do sector by sector and then it just wouldn't boot so a fail
there (I might try Clonezilla for fun).
Easily backing up/restoring a dual boot system is also a problem no one
seems to own up to as a con to dual boot systems, I never tried before!
So thanks. I do have a way out even if not quite ideal..
Interesting that Bootit can do backup/restore too. C+
On 3/19/2023 3:44 AM, Charlie+ wrote:Thank you Paul for taking the trouble to step it through for me - kind
On Sat, 18 Mar 2023 08:40:05 -0400, "Newyana2" <Newyana2@invalid.nospam>
wrote as underneath :
"Charlie+" <charlie@xxx.net> wroteThanks a lot for your suggestions and comments, enjoyed the last bit
| I would like to remove the Linux distro and revert to the bootable XP
| only on this laptop SSD.
Assuming you have XP on a primary partition,
set it active. I've been using BootIt for years, which
I use for disk imaging OSs, partition work and booting.
If you use a tool like that it should be fairly easy.
I always make disk images for every install, with
software installed and set up, as an easy system backup.
If you do that then it should be even easier. But in general,
you just need to:
* have it on a primary partition
* set that partition active
* check C:\boot.ini to make sure it's set to boot the right
partition. If XP is in the first partition then boot.ini should
say it's disk 0, partition 1. If, for example, Linux was up front
and XP was in the second partition, Grub would hand off
to XP and boot.ini would specify disk 0 partition 2. But if
you then remove Linux then XP would be trying to boot itself
from the partition behind it.
(Another convenience of BootIt is that it provides the ability
to edit boot.ini from its booter or from a BootIt CD. There
may also be other programs that can do that. I know that
a lot of people like Macrium because it's free. Personally, I
don't cut corners on this kind of software. For office docs I
want free. For PDF readers I want free. Not for disk managers.)
I think there's also a limit on how far into the disk the boot
partition can be, but I'm not sure whether that's a concern
with XP.
Unfortunately, Linux installers have become increasingly
aggressive. When I decided to try Fedora awhile back
it removed the BootIt booter without asking. I asked about
that in a forum and was told that "it's supposed to do
that because most people don't understand partitions".
So if you deal with the Linux side you should be aware
of that. They now think they're Apple. :)
:).
I had a look at Bootit - looks great but its not worth it+the learning
curve for just this job on my old laptop, though it has been a good
lightweight travel friend for years (the X61s). I have generally used
Partition Magic previously for messing..
Meantime I managed to find an Acronis backup from when I moved the old
girl over to SSD in 2015! Restored that to a spare SSD and it works just
fine. I tried first to do a backup of the XP/Q4os combo SSD but ran into
having to do sector by sector and then it just wouldn't boot so a fail
there (I might try Clonezilla for fun).
Easily backing up/restoring a dual boot system is also a problem no one
seems to own up to as a con to dual boot systems, I never tried before!
So thanks. I do have a way out even if not quite ideal..
Interesting that Bootit can do backup/restore too. C+
Using the WinXP CD, there is "fixboot" and "fixmbr".
To get at the boot flag, before you dump Linux, you could
assert the boot flag (0x80) on the WinXP partition, using "gparted".
sudo gparted /dev/sda
(Now select the WinXP partition, look for "Flags" option, tick the "boot" flag)
So the order would be, use Linux for the boot flag first.
(That will save you looking for a "diskpart" on a Windows
CD or DVD, to do it from there.)
Then, "fixmbr" from the WinXP CD (recovery command prompt) would put the 440 bytes
(or so) of first stage boot into the MBR.
[ It is possible "fixboot" is a fix for the area near the file system header
of the C: partition and is not needed in this case. That's because your
C: partition has not been harmed by anything, so the info is intact.
When I reformat a WinXP partition and copy the files back manually,
that's when a "fixboot" is required to finish the job. ]
Here is the procedure, tested:
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/dtGRKVw1/return-to-plain-Winxp-Boot.gif
Paul
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