Uninstalling Windows- no mac

[old nite]

I currently have accidentally deleted the entire Mac HD file and replaced it with the system file for Windows OS (entirely accidental). Point being is, to re-install Mac OS X, my computer is telling me I cannot do so while I have Windows installed as there is no available space for it. So...I am trying to delete Windows, without the ability to use Mac OS X, and so far, nothing has worked (I have tried Add/Remove Program -> Change/Remove Programs, but it thinks, for some odd reason, that there are never any programs on it, including the OS itself, which Windows help support says should be there...)

Well..I'm truly stuck here, and I need help.

Any ideas?

note: I do not have internet access while on Windows OS, but i do have internet access on my macbook laptop (Mac OS X Leopard on it only, nothing else)

 

[sjinsjca]

If I understand you correctly, you have hosed all your Mac data by installing Windows over it.

Windows accomplished this by reformatting your drive first. I suggest you return the favor, replacing the Windows partition with a GUID partition formatted as an Extended OS X (Journaled) volume. From there, you can install OS X fresh, or restore from a backup. As it stands, OS X is probably complaining that there's not enough room on the drive because the Windows partition has sucked it all up. That partition needs to die.

 

[old nite]

Yes you're right, the Windows partition has sucked up all of the space by writing over the Mac partition...

I'm sorry but, i'm not entirely sure how to install (or what exactly is) a GUID partition (im a newb at these kind of things ), and I'm also not sure on how to reformat it into an Extended OS X volume...mind walking me through if you could?

 

[Nermal]

Boot from the Mac OS DVD, open Disk Utility (it's in the Utilities menu) and then repartition your drive to a single partition (set the Volume Scheme to 1 Partition from the Partition tab). You should then be able to install OS X.

 

[old nite]

Thank you, both of you! My good ol' Intel iMac is in good shape again! To prevent this from happening again, how do I create a new, separate partition for Windows OS, so I don't have to rewrite my Mac partition?

 

[ARF900]

Just follow the steps in the boot camp assistant? Im not sure how you managed to overwrite OSX the first time.

 

[balamw]

A few questions first.

Is your Windows disc a "system restore" disc from another PC? If so, it did its job and don't use this disc again.

Did you run Boot Camp Assistant (from Mac OS X) when you installed Windows first?

B

 

[old nite]

ARF900, I managed to overwrite the OSX the first time by installing windows with the installation DVD, and managing files to create space for it, and due to a mistake, I wrote the Windows partition over the Mac partition, deleting the whole Mac OS X.

Balamw: I did not install it with Boot Camp assistant, I just installed directly from the installation DVD that I had used in 2006 to install Windows in the first place. As far as I know, it is not a recovery disk.


EDIT: I was a little premature in saying my computer was fine...apparently there's an error in writing in the data from the installation disks, so I had to restart and repeat. When I try again, and it says "select a destination" it offers NOTHING this time...I'm confused as what to do.

 

[balamw]

EDIT: Follow Nermal's instructions again to clean the drive. Make sure the DVD is clean and try again. THEN.

Use Boot Camp Assistant to partition the drive.

Read, print and follow the instructions provided by BCA.

Here's a pdf http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/boot_camp_install-setup.pdf if you can't find it.

If the Windows installer doesn't give you a choice of destination and you don't see a BOOTCAMP partition. STOP.

B

 

[ARF900]

Yeah, use the bootcamp assistant, follow the instructions step by step. The bootcamp assistant is in your utilities folder (just search "bootcamp assistant" in spotlight.

 

[old nite]

Thank you balamw! I'm trying that at the moment, hopefully the disks will work fine.

Then I'll do as you suggested to install Windows OS safely. Thanks again for the help!