How To Remove Windows 8 From Dual-boot (or Multiboot) Machines
Easily Remove Windows 8 Beta from Your PC
The time has come for me to uninstall Windows 8 Developer Preview (I just could not adapt to Metro). Here’s how I did it.
To test out the new Windows operating system, I had created a 3rd partition on the machine’s hard drive and installed the Win8 DP there. The other 2 partitions held a Vista and a Win 7 operating system. My concerns about removing Win 8 centered on the fact that Windows 8 had installed its own bootloader — would simply deleting the (Win8) partition prevent the other OSes from booting? To eliminate that possibility, I started the operation by editing the machine’s BCD file ¹.
** Backup Your Important Files To Another Location Before Doing Things Like This! **
1) Download BootICE (or EasyBCD) and extract it. ¹ It is a “portable” app, so you can run it from a thumb drive, or your Desktop. Double-click to Run (aka Open) the bootice.exe file.
2) Click on the BCD Edit tab, then click the “View / Edit” button.
3) In the left column, click on the “Windows 8” entry and turn it blue (aka “select” it)…
.. and then click the “Del” (delete) button.
4) Reboot the machine. You should now see the old style multi-boot menu. Choose one of your older OSes (in my case, I chose Windows 7).
5) Now you can go into Disk Management and delete the partition where you had installed Windows 8, and reclaim the space it took up.
5a) Press the Windows Key + “R” key to launch a Run dialogue box, and type “diskmgmt.msc” (no quotes) into the run box.
5b) Right-click on the appropriate drive in the list, and click on the Delete Volume option in the context menu. You will be prompted and warned that all data will be lost, select “Yes” to continue. (You did make a copy of anything important, right?)
5c) You should now see “empty” space.. and the top bar has turned black. Right-click on the the partition the partition with the blue header, directly before it, and select Extend Volume from the context menu.
A “wizard” will open – simply click “next”, “next”, OK.
That’s it. You’re done. Windows 8 is gone, and your machine is back to how it was before you installed the beta.
¹ Note: This is for machines where at least one of the other operating systems is Vista/Win 7 (which uses a bcd boot loader). If the only other OS in your multiboot setup is XP, you might try the msconfig method instead of Steps 1 – 3. A tutorial for that is here.
Today’s quote: “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” ~ Mark Twain
Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
Windows 8 Consumer Preview Download + Lightning Deals
And – Robot Cars
Folks,
The “Consumer Preview” (beta) edition of Windows 8 is now available for download, for those who are interested in trying out Microsoft’s next generation operating system.
For more information, and to get the download, click here. (I do advise reading the FAQ’s first.)
Note: “Windows 8 Consumer Preview is stable and has been thoroughly tested, but it’s not the finished product. Your PC could crash and you could lose important files. You should back up your data and you shouldn’t test Windows 8 Consumer Preview on your primary home or business PC.”
And:
No. To go back to your previous version of Windows, you’ll need to reinstall it from the recovery or installation media that came with your PC.
Amazon “Lightning Deals”
Those interested in electronics might like to know that starting at 5:00 a.m. Pacific time today, March 2, 2012, there will be a series of Friday-only Lightning Deals in the Amazon.com Electronics Store. See all deals.
* * *
Reading reco: Robotic cars get boost from Alex Padilla’s bill
“Robotic cars may have just turned a corner in California. Several years after Google’s autonomous vehicles began zipping up and down the state’s highways, a legislator has introduced a bill that would potentially clear the way for everyday use.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Padilla said that 99 percent of accidents are caused by human error, mistakes that the driverless cars mounted with cameras, sensors, lasers and intelligent software are unlikely to make.” Read more..
* * *
Today’s quote: “As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.” ~ Ben Hogan
.. It’s getting to be more like Minority Report every day..!
Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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