How do I Uninstall Vista?

Although Vista is the most recent and technologically advanced operating system available from Microsoft, Windows XP or other operating systems are still considered more stable by many end users. One of the reasons that many end users who have Windows Vista loaded onto their computer want to uninstall it is that many computers just aren't powerful enough, or configured properly, to take advantage of all the features of Vista. If you would like to uninstall Vista, it should be noted that in most cases, it is a fairly simple process, but it may take some time - about an hour or two. Here are some tips.


There are three main situations in which you will be uninstalling Vista, and the instructions are different for each situation. These three situations are as follows:

You originally had Windows XP on your computer and upgraded to Vista.
You bought a new computer with Windows Vista preloaded on it.
You have a dual boot system; Windows Vista and another operating system (e.g., Windows XP) are both on the same partitioned hard drive.
Uninstalling Vista If You Originally Had Windows XP on Your Computer and Upgraded to Vista
Most people fall into this category; they upgraded their computer to Vista, but because Vista requires lots of memory and a high-performance chip, it didn't perform as well as they thought it would. If you would like to uninstall Vista and go back to Windows XP, follow the following directions.

Note: You cannot downgrade Vista to Windows XP. To load XP on your computer again, you will first need to remove Vista entirely, reformat your entire hard drive, and then reload Windows XP on your computer.

Step 1. Before you uninstall Vista, back up all your files, have your Windows XP disk handy, and create an MS-DOS boot CD. You can easily create an MS-DOS boot CD by downloading the files at the following site: http://www.allbootdisks.com.

Step 2. Before you start the process, go into your BIOS settings and ensure that your CD-ROM drive has the highest drive priority and not the disk drive or some other drive. This will ensure that your MS-DOS boot CD will load up before Vista.

Step 3. Restart your computer with the MS-DOS boot CD inserted into your drive. A setup menu should pop up. You should select or type "R" to repair an existing installation in the setup menu.

Step 4. After typing "R" in the setup menu, type the following command:

fixboot C:\.

If your Vista root is not on C drive, replace "C" with the appropriate drive letter.

Step 5. Input the following command: fixmbr C:\. After this command has been entered, type EXIT. You can now close this setup program and restart your computer. When you restart your computer, ensure that the MS-DOS boot CD is loaded in the CD-ROM drive.

Step 6. Once at the command prompt, you will reformat your hard drive. (Remember that when you reformat your hard drive, you are effectively erasing all its contents.) Type in the following command: format C:/. Once your computer has completed the reformatting of your hard drive, you can restart your computer. Before restarting, ensure that your Windows XP installation CD is in your CD-ROM drive.

Step 7. The Windows XP installation menu should appear; just follow the directions to install Windows XP onto your computer. Once XP is fully installed, the entire process will be complete.

Uninstalling Vista If You Bought a New Computer with Windows Vista Preloaded
If you have purchased a new computer and Vista came preloaded, you can still uninstall it off your drive and replace it with an operating system of your choice. If you plan on uninstalling Vista and replacing it with Windows XP, the process will be pretty much the same as the preceding scenario. You will first remove Vista from your hard drive, then reformat your hard drive, and finally install Windows XP on your hard drive. To accomplish this task, you will need your Windows XP installation CD. You will also need to create an MS-DOS boot CD. You can download an MS-DOS boot CD from the following site: http://www.allbootdisks.com.

Now just follow the steps given in the preceding section (steps 1 through 7).

Uninstalling Vista If You Have a Dual-Boot System: Both Windows Vista and Another Operating System (e.g., XP) Are on the Same Partitioned Hard Drive
As you have two operating systems on one partitioned hard drive, you can easily gain access to Vista to remove it. In this case you will not need an MS-DOS boot CD. The only thing you will require to remove Vista from a partitioned disk drive is your Windows Vista DVD. It is important to back up any files that you want to keep, because all files on the Vista partition will be erased during this process.

Note: For this tutorial, we are using the configuration of a partitioned hard drive that has Windows Vista on one partition and Windows XP on the other.

Step 1. Start up your computer, and once in the boot menu, select Windows XP.

Step 2. Insert the Windows Vista DVD into your DVD drive and launch Vista. Once Vista is launched, close any menus that might open.

Step 3. Click your start menu and then click on Run. Once the Run menu opens, input the following command: e:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force. Note that the letter "e" corresponds to the drive letter for the DVD-ROM in which the Vista DVD has been inserted.

Step 4. Now, restart your computer, and once in the boot menu, choose Windows XP. You will now reformat the part of the drive that Vista was installed on.

Step 5. Once the partition where Vista was installed on has been reformatted, you will need to delete two specific files: Bootsect.bak and Boot.bak. These files can be found in your Windows XP root folder.

Once these two files are removed, the uninstallation of Vista should be complete.