Uninstall Windows Vista:

[David Johnson]

HI Everyone! I want uninstalling Windows Vista returns to Windows XP, so I
had frustrated with Internet Explorer won't print image & document, too
file much that I need cutting numbers of files on Vista. I was not happy
with Windows Vista Beta 2 - Evaluation copy Build 5384.

I had lost games that they do not working with Windows VISTA that make me in
depression. How do I uninstall Windows VISTA? Please help me with this
??

Thank you for help!
David Johnson

 

[Mark D. VandenBeg]

HI Everyone! I want uninstalling Windows Vista returns to Windows XP, so
I had frustrated with Internet Explorer won't print image & document, too
file much that I need cutting numbers of files on Vista. I was not happy
with Windows Vista Beta 2 - Evaluation copy Build 5384.

I had lost games that they do not working with Windows VISTA that make me
in depression. How do I uninstall Windows VISTA? Please help me with
this ??

Thank you for help!
David Johnson

Same as you "uninstall" any operating system: reformat the drive.

 

[Guest]

I installed Windows Vista Beta pack 2 on my system in a different partition,
and kept Windows XP installed, but Windows Vista has been problematic, and
I'd like to uninstall it. Is there ANY other option besides reformatting my
hard drive? I don't see why I should have to do that if I didn't upgrade,
because XP is still on my system, and still runs the way it should by itself,
but Windows Vista is taking up space on my hard drive that I could be using
for other things. Please tell me ther'ws another option.
reformatting/reparetitioning my hard drive is extremely inconvenient!

 

[Guest]

Then you are dual booting? If so, you can probably use a utility such as
VistaBootPro to delete the Vista bootloader. Then you may need to reset your
XP boot file by booting with the XP install disk or a Windows XP start up
disk and using the fixboot utility. I can't give you the details, but you
can search online for how to do this. After you get XP back, you can delete
the Vista partition, assuming it isn't locked by the vista OS. You might
need to reformat the partition to delete it in that case. I'm not an expert,
so one of the MS experts could probably give you more details.

 

[Thymej]

After doing everying Jo said, (when booted into XP) you can just delete the
windows folder Vista installed in (make sure you dont delete the XP Windows
folder (most likely on your C drive). You will have to take ownership back
on the folders then grant your self permision to the folders (Full Control).
Vista is installed in the folder named 'Windows', the user profiles is in
folder 'Users'. Verify there is not something you want to keep in the
'Program Files' folder also before deleting it too. There are some other
hiden folders also but they are not too big.

ThymeJ

 

[JDR]

Same as you "uninstall" any operating system: reformat the drive.

Do we know whether the FINAL version of Vista, installed over the
Vista Beta 2, will make an old Windows XP upgraded to Vista - available
on that PC? Or is the Win XP deleted entirely by Vista Beta 2 during the
upgraded installation?

 

[Mark D. VandenBerg]

Do we know whether the FINAL version of Vista, installed over the
Vista Beta 2, will make an old Windows XP upgraded to Vista - available
on that PC? Or is the Win XP deleted entirely by Vista Beta 2 during the
upgraded installation?

"Upgrade limitations
You may not be able to upgrade your installation of Windows Vista Beta 2 (or
RC1) to the final, commercially available edition of Windows Vista. To
upgrade you will need to acquire the final edition of Windows Vista and you
may have to do a clean installation."

"Installation limitations
There are two installation scenarios for Windows Vista Beta 2 (and RC1):
You can do a clean installation. This process will overwrite any data that
you have on your hard disk or on your installation partition. The
overwritten data will be lost and unrecoverable.
You can upgrade an existing installation of Windows XP.


"No other installation scenarios are supported. Upgrading to this beta from
any other edition of Windows requires a clean installation, as described in
option 1. In addition, once you install Windows Vista Beta 2 (or RC1) you
cannot roll back to the previous operating system installation-you will
either have to acquire and install the final released edition of Windows
Vista or reinstall a previous edition of Windows. Before installing Windows
Vista Beta 2 on any computer, please remember to back up all your files."

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/preview.mspx

Your call. Microsoft seems ambiguous at this point, regarding answers to
your first question. And while there seems to be a definitive answer to
your second question, I will go out on a limb and say: No; there is no way
to go back to Windows XP from Windows Vista for the average home user or the
experienced hobbyist, but there may be some with enough experience that are
able to reconcile the registry changes, etc..., but I am certainly not of
this group, and I suspect you are not, as well.

 

[JDR]

"Upgrade limitations
You may not be able to upgrade your installation of Windows Vista Beta 2
(or RC1) to the final, commercially available edition of Windows Vista. To
upgrade you will need to acquire the final edition of Windows Vista and
you may have to do a clean installation."

"Installation limitations
There are two installation scenarios for Windows Vista Beta 2 (and RC1):
You can do a clean installation. This process will overwrite any data that
you have on your hard disk or on your installation partition. The
overwritten data will be lost and unrecoverable.
You can upgrade an existing installation of Windows XP.


"No other installation scenarios are supported. Upgrading to this beta
from any other edition of Windows requires a clean installation, as
described in option 1. In addition, once you install Windows Vista Beta 2
(or RC1) you cannot roll back to the previous operating system
installation-you will either have to acquire and install the final
released edition of Windows Vista or reinstall a previous edition of
Windows. Before installing Windows Vista Beta 2 on any computer, please
remember to back up all your files."

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/preview.mspx

Your call. Microsoft seems ambiguous at this point, regarding answers to
your first question. And while there seems to be a definitive answer to
your second question, I will go out on a limb and say: No; there is no way
to go back to Windows XP from Windows Vista for the average home user or
the experienced hobbyist, but there may be some with enough experience
that are able to reconcile the registry changes, etc..., but I am
certainly not of this group, and I suspect you are not, as well.

Thank You Mark!
That was just an academic question and you are probably right that
at the moment we can assume that there will be Vista Beta limitation
when the final version is in our hands.

Best as ever -
Jdr