Uninstalling Vista - Repartition your drive correctly...

[MRU]

So after installing vista and being dissapointed with it, I decided to restore my drive from a clone I made in carbon copy cloner.

HOWEVER....

After partitioning my drive to 1 partition - acm journaled format, I cloned my previous install back onto the drive.

But when I went back to bootcamp it kept telling me there was a problem with my partition scheme....

This would cause problems with future firmware updates etc...


IT TURNS OUT....

In disk utlity on the partiton scheme page, there is a button on the bottom called options. You must click this and instead of the default Apple partition scheme, you must choose GUI scheme.

On an intel mac if your parition scheme is set to Apple partition os X wont installl from the CD's etc.. A lot of problems could arise, so make sure it's GUI.

Then parition the drive as 1 partition.

I then cloned back my HD with CCC and this time everything is working properly. Bootcamp now recoggnises my drive as it did before hand.


Hope that helps anyone else after deleting VISTA.

 

[Abulia]

Good save!

I'm not feeling dangerous enought to install Vista at this time. Maybe when they hit RC1.

 

[VanillaIcee]

There is another way to restore your drive back to normal after installing Vista, and it doesn't require making a backup.

1. In Vista, open up Computer Management and format the 200MB empty drive that was once your EFI partition as FAT32 (You can also do this with the Vista Disc, in case your Vista install is corrupted).
2. Reboot off of the Mac OS X Disc
3. Switch to Console
4. Type in "diskutil list" and note which partition is your Macintosh HD. In my case it was /dev/disk0.
5. Type in "fdisk -e <partition>". However it is important to note that you will need to insert an 'r' before the disk device name. For example, in my case I typed "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0".
6. Type "print". This should list the partitions of your Macintosh HD. You should see a FAT32 200MB partition, followed by an HFS+ partition and the partition you used for Vista. If this does not match up, stop here and retry fdisk with another disk or give up. Note the start and size of the partition and write them down.
7. CAUTION (fdisk is very dangerous): type "edit <#>" where number is the number of the 200MB partition used for the EFI. In my case I typed "edit 1".
8. CAUTION: You will be prompted for a System identifier (id) for that partition. Type in EE, which is not in the list provided by the help. Once again, I am retyping the last line to ensure there are no typos. Type in EE, which is not in the list provided by the help. Choose the default [n] for the next question about editing. Enter in the identical start and stop numbers you recorded in the previous step. In my case the start was 2048, although I don't recall the end.
9. CAUTION: You are done, but the changes have not been written. If you might have made a mistake, cancel now and exit and nothing will be lost. I would type "print" and ensure that the starts and stops match the previous print done before the edit. If you as sure you entered everything correctly, type "write" and fdisk will write the new partition table. Please do not proceed with this step if you are not sure about the procedure.
10. Reboot into hard drive Mac OS X.
11. Use Boot Camp to remove Windows partition.

I have done this TWICE and it works, but be very careful. Good luck.

 

[treblah]

There is another way to restore your drive back to normal after installing Vista, and it doesn't require making a backup…

You are my new hero. I have tired of Vista already.

 

[MRU]

I have done this TWICE and it works, but be very careful. Good luck.

Wowsers that's complex. Probably be safer to make a backup anyway.

 

[WorldIRC123]

^Yes its safer but this could save you a couple hours in backup and restore.

 

[MRU]

^ true

Mind you a couple of hours is ok, I'm looking to be down a fortnight as my macbook has to be replaced Damn crappy matsushitty superdrive.

 

[treblah]

I don't know what I did but I couldn't uninstall using the 'restore EFI partition' instructions above. Kept getting MBR error on the first "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0" part. Any ideas?

 

[cokeaholic]

Great, it worked for me
I even executed the restore procedure while in OS X (without the installation CD).

@treblah: Can't you just ignore that error?

 

[lexus]

There is another way to restore your drive back to normal after installing Vista, and it doesn't require making a backup.

1. In Vista, open up Computer Management and format the 200MB empty drive that was once your EFI partition as FAT32 (You can also do this with the Vista Disc, in case your Vista install is corrupted).
2. Reboot off of the Mac OS X Disc
3. Switch to Console
4. Type in "diskutil list" and note which partition is your Macintosh HD. In my case it was /dev/disk0.
5. Type in "fdisk -e <partition>". However it is important to note that you will need to insert an 'r' before the disk device name. For example, in my case I typed "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0".
6. Type "print". This should list the partitions of your Macintosh HD. You should see a FAT32 200MB partition, followed by an HFS+ partition and the partition you used for Vista. If this does not match up, stop here and retry fdisk with another disk or give up. Note the start and size of the partition and write them down.
7. CAUTION (fdisk is very dangerous): type "edit <#>" where number is the number of the 200MB partition used for the EFI. In my case I typed "edit 1".
8. CAUTION: You will be prompted for a System identifier (id) for that partition. Type in EE, which is not in the list provided by the help. Once again, I am retyping the last line to ensure there are no typos. Type in EE, which is not in the list provided by the help. Choose the default [n] for the next question about editing. Enter in the identical start and stop numbers you recorded in the previous step. In my case the start was 2048, although I don't recall the end.
9. CAUTION: You are done, but the changes have not been written. If you might have made a mistake, cancel now and exit and nothing will be lost. I would type "print" and ensure that the starts and stops match the previous print done before the edit. If you as sure you entered everything correctly, type "write" and fdisk will write the new partition table. Please do not proceed with this step if you are not sure about the procedure.
10. Reboot into hard drive Mac OS X.
11. Use Boot Camp to remove Windows partition.

I have done this TWICE and it works, but be very careful. Good luck.

That is fine except that I cannot start Vista!

 

[Nermal]

That is fine except that I cannot start Vista!

Please note that this thread is entitled "Uninstalling Vista."

 

[JonD25]

There is another way to restore your drive back to normal after installing Vista, and it doesn't require making a backup.

1. In Vista, open up Computer Management and format the 200MB empty drive that was once your EFI partition as FAT32 (You can also do this with the Vista Disc, in case your Vista install is corrupted).
2. Reboot off of the Mac OS X Disc
3. Switch to Console
4. Type in "diskutil list" and note which partition is your Macintosh HD. In my case it was /dev/disk0.
5. Type in "fdisk -e <partition>". However it is important to note that you will need to insert an 'r' before the disk device name. For example, in my case I typed "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0".
6. Type "print". This should list the partitions of your Macintosh HD. You should see a FAT32 200MB partition, followed by an HFS+ partition and the partition you used for Vista. If this does not match up, stop here and retry fdisk with another disk or give up. Note the start and size of the partition and write them down.
7. CAUTION (fdisk is very dangerous): type "edit <#>" where number is the number of the 200MB partition used for the EFI. In my case I typed "edit 1".
8. CAUTION: You will be prompted for a System identifier (id) for that partition. Type in EE, which is not in the list provided by the help. Once again, I am retyping the last line to ensure there are no typos. Type in EE, which is not in the list provided by the help. Choose the default [n] for the next question about editing. Enter in the identical start and stop numbers you recorded in the previous step. In my case the start was 2048, although I don't recall the end.
9. CAUTION: You are done, but the changes have not been written. If you might have made a mistake, cancel now and exit and nothing will be lost. I would type "print" and ensure that the starts and stops match the previous print done before the edit. If you as sure you entered everything correctly, type "write" and fdisk will write the new partition table. Please do not proceed with this step if you are not sure about the procedure.
10. Reboot into hard drive Mac OS X.
11. Use Boot Camp to remove Windows partition.

I have done this TWICE and it works, but be very careful. Good luck.

I got to the part where you type "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0" and I got:

"fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot: no such file or directory
the signature for this MBR is invalid. would you like to initialize the partition table? [y]"

So I type y, and it seems like everything is fine. But when I type "print" I get some info, but nothing about my partitions and a bunch of 0's. I tried changing the disk, but I basically get the same thing, and even then I'm positive I had the right one first. Does this mean I should, as you said, "give up"? I guess by the time I get an answer, I could have just repartitioned and restored from my backup. Oh well.

EDIT: I tried it while in booted on the hard drive, not the OSX install disk. For whatever reason, it worked. So no problems here. Vista removed! Yay! I'm installing it now in Q. Hopefully the performance won't be too bad.

 

[lemon lime]

There is another way to restore your drive back to normal after installing Vista, and it doesn't require making a backup.

1. In Vista, open up Computer Management and format the 200MB empty drive that was once your EFI partition as FAT32 (You can also do this with the Vista Disc, in case your Vista install is corrupted).
2. Reboot off of the Mac OS X Disc
3. Switch to Console
4. Type in "diskutil list" and note which partition is your Macintosh HD. In my case it was /dev/disk0.
5. Type in "fdisk -e <partition>". However it is important to note that you will need to insert an 'r' before the disk device name. For example, in my case I typed "fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0".
6. Type "print". This should list the partitions of your Macintosh HD. You should see a FAT32 200MB partition, followed by an HFS+ partition and the partition you used for Vista. If this does not match up, stop here and retry fdisk with another disk or give up. Note the start and size of the partition and write them down.
7. CAUTION (fdisk is very dangerous): type "edit <#>" where number is the number of the 200MB partition used for the EFI. In my case I typed "edit 1".
8. CAUTION: You will be prompted for a System identifier (id) for that partition. Type in EE, which is not in the list provided by the help. Once again, I am retyping the last line to ensure there are no typos. Type in EE, which is not in the list provided by the help. Choose the default [n] for the next question about editing. Enter in the identical start and stop numbers you recorded in the previous step. In my case the start was 2048, although I don't recall the end.
9. CAUTION: You are done, but the changes have not been written. If you might have made a mistake, cancel now and exit and nothing will be lost. I would type "print" and ensure that the starts and stops match the previous print done before the edit. If you as sure you entered everything correctly, type "write" and fdisk will write the new partition table. Please do not proceed with this step if you are not sure about the procedure.
10. Reboot into hard drive Mac OS X.
11. Use Boot Camp to remove Windows partition.

I have done this TWICE and it works, but be very careful. Good luck.

hi, i have a problem with the first step. i cant format the 200mb empty drive that was my efi partition, in disk management i right click it and formatting isn't even one of the options.

can someone help me please?

 

[Hardmacca]

Same as above!

Hi,
Yes i am having the same issue as "lemon lime" with not being able to format the 200 Mb partition in vista as there is no option to do so. Is it true that RC1 of Windows Vista can be installed onto an Intel Mac via Bootcamp without the hassle of formatting the 200Mb partition?? Another question also, should you be able to use the DVI connecter (for the TV - sold seperately) work with Bootcamp/XP/Vista?

Thanks, Anyones help would greatly be appreciated!

 

[MRU]

LADS this thread is old and refers to the first public beta.

If you are using Beta 2, or RC1 you can just use bootcamp to get rid of the vista partition.