Ubuntu
ubiquity package

Partitioned Vista and Ubuntu: Uninstall Vista, Install Windows 7 In Partition Space

Asked by Paul Lastname

    Hello, I'm a student and my when I bought my laptop I installed Vista. A year has passed and I decided to partition my hard drive and install Ubuntu. When I did so, instead of backing up Vista, I just backed up my homework and music files on an external. I also didn't shrink the size of Vista before I partitioned. Now when I try to run vista from GRUB, I go to a System Recover Options Menu. I can't start up Vista because I didn't back it up, and I need to use one of the programs on it for my circuits homework. I had put off installing 7, and I was wondering if maybe this might be the time to do so. My questions can be summarized in the following two.

1. Can I still recover Vista if I didn't back it up without doing a full PC restore?

2. If not, can I clear out Vista then install Windows 7 easily?

Urgency is appreciated, thanks for your time.

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#1

1. Perhaps! Your "System Recover", if it is still present, think there are only two partitions on disk, and will restore Vista OS on previous partition. I presume you installed Ubuntu at end of disk (which is default behavior). But it is more sure to backup Ubuntu home directory.
You will simply after have to restore Grub MBR (multi-boot).
2. Yes, you can install Windows 7 easily, if you ask it to install in Vista partition. You will also have to restore after Grub boot loader.

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marcus aurelius (adbiz) said : 		#2

actually, doing a restore will erase the entire hard disk, wiping out ubuntu and everything else.

do you have the installation file for the program you want? you can try running it on wine to see if it works before you recover anything.

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marcus aurelius (adbiz) said : 		#3

oops. my mistake. correct answer follows.

1) you should be able to restore vista if you haven't written over your restore files when you installed ubuntu, AND provided that you haven't turned off the system restore feature. it will delete the ubuntu partition, so backup any files beforehand.

2) installing windoze 7 over vista won't help you as it'll erase everything, including the circuits program you want to retrieve.

if you have the installation file for the program you want to run, you can try running it under wine to see if it works before you recover anything.

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