Delete Vista Installation without Reformatting

Well this a problem faced by one of my friend so I decided to post this...

If you decide to uninstall Windows Vista, you can remove the bootloader of Vista with VistaBootPro. But how do you remove the files? If you try to do it from XP, you will get some nasty "Access Denied" errors. That's because the installer applies some nasty security permissions on them. They are not being used by anyone, it's just the permission restrictions that do not allow you to delete them. You have to go in Safe Mode. Restart your computer, and press F8 in the old pre-Windows Vista bootloader, or while waiting for the Windows XP logo to show up. (There where a cursor blinks). Select Safe Mode in the list of options that shows up. Login as Administrator. Go to Start -> My Computer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View -> Show Hidden Files and Folders -> OK. This is to show some hidden files the installer places in the directory it installs Vista in. These include, but are not limited to "Program Data, Pagefile, Documents and Settings (hidden)." Select all the folders you wish to delete. Right click, properties. Go to Security Tab (yes to the popup that shows up) and click on Advanced. Go to Owner and select Administrator, make sure "Replace owner on subcontainers and files" is ticked. Wait. Once finished, right click, properties, security and advanced again. Make sure administrator has full permissions. Check "Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects." Hit OK. Wait again. Now, the last step! Go to Advanced again. Go to Administrator and hit "Full Control" under Allow. Make sure "Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects." OK, and wait. If you followed everything right, you should have full and unlimited access on Windows Vista files. What are you waiting, for, then? Hit the Del button!

Delete Vista Installation without Reformatting

Written by ShaDow on February 20th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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