How to Uninstall a Second Operating System

Hard drives can contain multiple partitions, each with an operating system.

If you have more than one operating system on your computer and are low on hard drive space or are experiencing conflicts, you should remove the secondary operating system to free up hard drive space. There is no uninstall feature for an operating system; instead, you will need to completely format the partition of your hard drive where the operating system is installed.

Instructions

1. Log in as the system administrator in your primary operating system.

2. Retrieve and back up all important data from the hard drive or hard drive partition to be formatted. Formatting the disc removes all data, including the operating system.

3. Click "Start," "Control Panel," then "System and Security."

4. Click "Administrative Tools." Open "Computer Management." Look on the left side of the screen and click "Disk Management."

5. Look at the list of hard drives and partitions on your computer. Right-click the one you want to format and choose "Format."

6. Type a name for the drive in the box titled "Volume Label."

7. Set the File System to NTFS, the file system for Windows XP, Vista and 7. Leave the Allocation unit size box as "Default."

8. Uncheck the "Quick Format" box. This makes the format more thorough by checking for and repairing bad hard drive sectors. Click "OK."

9. Confirm the format by clicking "OK" on the warning screen.

References

• Microsoft Support: Windows 7 - Create and Format Hard Disk Partition