I have a desktop dual booted with WinXP Sp2 and Hardy. I have attempted run my original win disk which was sp 1 but it will not restore because I have upped to sp2.

Is there another way to remove this program? ( I have it on my laptop and love it. But there is no room to keep it on the old desktop.)
Thanks!

I'd hardly call Linux a program. Scroll down, see similar threads on the bottom of this page.

If you are a newbie I would recommend you to start with Debian. The best thing about it is that it comes bundled with 3 DVDs. So even if you don't have Internet connection you can install all types of softwares without any major dependency issue.

Sorry, didn't mean to call it a program....my Newbie status is showing!
But is there a simple way to remove linux from my desktop without the windows xp sp2 disc?

I am confused what the point is.

"I have a desktop dual booted with WinXP Sp2 and Hardy."
Your computer has both Windows XP SP2 and Ubuntu 8.04 installed.

"I have attempted run my original win disk which was sp 1 but it will not restore because I have upped to sp2."
You want to run a restore to your installed Windows XP SP2 but cannot because the original Windows XP install disk is Windows XP SP1?

"Is there another way to remove this program?"
You want to remove the Ubuntu 8.04 that is installed on your computer.

Are you attempting to run the Windows XP restore to remove the Ubuntu installation in the first place or do you wish to perform a Windows XP restore and want Ubuntu removed because...

"But there is no room to keep it on the old desktop."
So you want to remove Ubuntu because of available disk space.

"But is there a simple way to remove linux from my desktop without the windows xp sp2 disc?"
Huh?

When you installed Ubuntu you or the installer repartitioned your hard drive? And now you want to remove Linux and resize your hard drive for only Windows? Is this correct? You do not want to perform a restore of Windows XP because of an issue with Windows XP?

Did you install with Wubi?

Let me answer this question for you as best I can, although it may at-first-blush seem to you to be "in a roundabout way." (I necessarily must describe a few technical-details that Windows-only users can ordinarily ignore...)

"What happens, exactly, when you 'boot your computer?'"

Well, three things:

1. The built-in BIOS software in your computer finds the disk-drive and loads the so-called "Master Boot Record (MBR)" from it.
2. The program in the MBR finds the "boot loader" and runs it.
3. The "boot loader" finds the desired operating system and runs it.

In a "stock" Windows system, a Windows-specific "boot loader" tries its very best to conceal the fact that anything unusual is happening ... it tries to look, reassuringly, "just like Windows."

Linux, on the other hand, usually employs a boot-loader (LILO or Grub) that gives you a choice: (say...) "Linux or Windoze?" It will subsequently load either system.

If you can get to Windoze, then "you don't have a problem." Let the old Linux boot-loader remain and just pick Windoze. It doesn't matter. The Linux boot-loader is a sort of "step two-and-a-half" in the itemized-list I gave above, but it's a matter of, "okay, who cares?" If you select Windows as your choice, you arrive at the same place... "1 .. 2 .. '2-1/2 who-cares' .. 3"

Thanks for trying to decipher my confusing question. I would like to remove Linux completely from my computer and repartition the hard drive. I need the room. I am not performing restore to fix any problem with Win XP
Thank you.

What sundialsvcs said, but for dummies.
GRUB is not part of Linux and can boot anything, incl Windows. Unfortunately if installed with Linux it stores some vital files in Linux partition. So, simply deleting Linux partition renders GRUB unusable and your computer won't boot.
Solution:
Before removing Linux boot into Windows and do whatever you need to do to reinstall Windows MBR code. You may need to boot with install CD and use recovery mode.
Once Windows is able to boot without GRUB carry on and recover disk space previously used by Linux for use with Windows.
As you see, removing Linux actually is not a Linux question at all, all operations have to be done from within Windows.

I thought Ubuntu Hardy came with an uninstall feature (as advertised on their main page; guess it's not so redundant after all).

Your Windows XP CD will do the trick for you.

It doesn't need service pack 2 to do what has to be done. Boot using the CD and after it finishes its preliminary examination of the machine, select recovery mode and you should end up at a Dos prompt.

From here enter the command FIXMBR. Windows will make warning noises about a non standard MBR but tell it to go ahead. That's it.

Reboot and you should end up with a normal Windows boot. Once in Windows, use its tools to remove the Linux partitions and remake them as NTFS or FAT32 for use by Windows.

John

Since I saw in one of your previous posts that you had been using Ubuntu 7.10 I thought it less likely you had used the new Wubi installer.
If you did install with Wubi you would follow the uninstall instructions.

If you installed normally by resizing a Windows partition, creating Linux partitions, installing Linux and bootloader then the steps are different.
Basically any methods you wish to use to reclaim the disk space and reinstall the Windows bootloader will work.

This is from memory so it might not be right, its been a few years...

Boot your xp CD, press R, type the admin password if you have one, type fixmbr, hit enter, reboot, go into the control panel, open administrative tools, then open computer managment, open Disk Managment on the left side. Delete the linux partitions?

Or just keep using it and pretend you use vista. It's about on par with "windows compatibility".

Thanks for your help. I cannot get to the dos prompt because it asks for the administrator password. When I put this in it states that it is incorrect. Any clue how I get past or around this point? I know this is a Win issue, but of course I get no help from that web site.

Thanks

If your computer has a floppy drive, get a Windows 98 floppy bootdisk from:

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

After making the floppy disk, boot from the floppy disk and at the DOS prompt, type:

fdisk /mbr

and hit Enter. After the command prompt returns, reboot the computer and it should boot into Windows.

You can then use a Windows or Linux based disk partitioning tool to expand the Windows partition to the full capacity of the hard drive.