Installing Windows 7 from Fedora 17

[danman20]

The original OS of my laptop is Windows Vista. I installed Fedora 17 and chose the option to wipe all other partitions. Now I would like to remove Fedora and install Windows 7. Unfortunately, I cannot boot Windows from the installation CD - instead it just jumps to the GRUB loader. I have verified that the boot order in BIOS is set so that a CD boot has higher priority than a harddrive boot.

Another problem I have run into after the Fedora installation, is that I can no longer press F11 and enter the System Recovery menu.

Is there a way I can disable the GRUB loader or something so I can install from the Windows boot disk?

[caf4926]

Are you sure the CD / DVD is bootable/burned correctly? Or is it a retail product?
Have you tried booting it on another machine?

Check your BIOS again and make sure you don't also have to press something like Esc. at the BIOS screen to access a boot device menu

[BBQdave]

Originally Posted by danman20

Is there a way I can disable the GRUB loader or something so I can install from the Windows boot disk?

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

May help in partitioning your drive so your Windows restore cd will recognise and restore. Though I am not familiar with how your Windows restore cd recognises your hardware (as valid) for the restore

[george_toolan]

You said you wiped all "other" partitions. This includes the recovery partition and explains why F11 isn't working anymore ;-)

You should be able to boot from the windows 7 DVD. Try to locate your computer's boot menu by pressing F12, ESC or something like that.

If you want to erase your HDD you could use fdisk (from a LiveCD) and just write a new empty partition table to the disk.

[ddan]

I have run into this kind of problem as well. You need to write over the first few sectors of your disc with a disc diagnostic.

You can obtain a disc diagnostic for free at:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

ddan

[danman20]

I tried to install on a different machine and, as it turns out, the disk wasn't burned properly. It was burned as a data DVD instead of a bootable one. I re-burned the disk with ImgBurn and Windows 7 is now successfully reinstalled.

It sucks that System Recovery no longer works during the boot sequence (on account of I did end up deleting the recovery partition during the Fedora installation). I'll look around for how to fix that problem later.

Thank you all for your insight!