Hi! Im a total newbee but i just wanted to share to people who are trying to switch back to windows xp after installing linux on their pc's.

The first thing i did was change the settings of my motherboard so that it can boot from cd. I then inserted Disk 1 of my RedHat 9 cd and then type:

linuxrescue

in the boot prompt.

After selecting languages and what type of keyboard i am using, the screen then went into the command line. I then typed the command:

parted

and then it shows what type of partition my harddisk is on. I delete all the partitions using the command:

rm ((partition number)---- i.e. rm 1)

And after removing the partition i reset my pc and then insert my Windows 98 startup disk. I created a windows-compatible partition by typing:

fdisk

and then after partitioning my harddrive i format it by typing:

format c:

Then after formatting I reset my pc and insert the windows xp cd and then install it normally just like installing any other windows operating system.

Im sure that theres a lot of ways to do that but this works for me and i hope this thread will be a big help to anyone who needs it. People here at LQ are great and without them I may not be able to share my experience with you guys. Anyway ill be installing linux again. I just wanted to make sure if i can swith back from linux to windows xp.

If you boot from the Windows XP CD you can totally erase your HD ... Just go through there till it askes about your HD ...do manual partition and delete all of your Linux partitions. PooF done

You also have to remember to either fdisk the entire drive, or run WinXP's fixmbr, to get rid of Grub.. unless of course you already use Window's bootloader and have just added Linux to it (god knows why!. Grub is a lot better in my opinion).

It's why I have Live! cd's actually, god love em...