Linux help please

.... reversing hard disk format

[austtr]

A physically handicapped lad in our area has just had his much loved and very, very old PC die on him. A replacement has been arranged but it has a Linux Ubuntu 5.10 install on it and I have no idea how to reformat the disk back to a DOS format ready for a Windows install.

Everything I'm finding on websites seems to assume the viewer has some understanding of Linux command line syntax... I have not a jot and as a consequence I am getting nowhere.

Can anyone assist?

[phranque]

there are several ways to do this and there may be a system setup tool in ubuntu that will let you get at least part way there with some reformatting and repartitioning.
eventually you are probably looking for something called fdisk.
it might be more helpful to have the ubuntu setup or rescue/recovery disk.
also if you happen to have the original setup disks for the windows system on that machine it may be easiest to start with a clean install from that.
otherwise refer to microsoft's support page for fdisk and format [support.microsoft.com].

[mcavic]

If you're installing a current version of Windows, all you have to do is boot from the Windows CD. During the installation, it will let you delete the Non-DOS partition(s), and create a DOS/Windows partition.

[encyclo]

Just to add, you will probably have to wipe the Master Boot Record (MBR), where Linux installs Grub or Lilo. You can do this with

fdisk

(from an MS-DOS prompt):

fdisk [b]/mbr[/b]

Then just boot from the Windows install CD, it will fail to recognize the Linux partitions and offer to format and partition the whole thing.

[austtr]

Thanks to all.... problem now solved.