about uninstalling stax

[ADM 1]

OK, so what if i wanted to uninstall stax after having it installed on my USB already.

i've installed stax on an unformatted FAT32 USB drive. i couldn't get it to work after that.

sorry for the tone.

[ADM 1]

just to make sure there are no misunderstandings.

i followed read everything there was to read at that "Starting" page at the Slax Linux website. the thing is, i wasn't sure what needed to be done on the "formatting" part as it recommended either FAT32 or ext4, so when i checked the file system of my USB drive it was (and still is as my USB drive is unformatted as of this writing) FAT32 and thus assumed i would need not to format my drive. so i avoided the formatting part as much as possible.

i only checked if my drive used msdos partition scheme after the fact (as in, after i installed slax), and it's using MBR (master boot register).

even then, i couldn't get slax to boot up properly. instead, an already-installed OS just booted up like nothing happened. it felt like i was missing something.

apologies for the typo. i meant "slax" not "stax".

[ADM 1]

as i thought about uninstalling slax, there was something that made it not work after installation.

as i'm using windows 10, it allows for mounting an ISO file. the fact that i didn't mount it and preferred to extract its contents as-is is the reason why slax isn't booting up on my end in the first place.

this is why i made this thread, to see if there is any way i can uninstall it so i can start over and not screw up this time.

[parrothead]

On your USB drive, you just have a \slax directory with the files under it, right?  If so, you can uninstall Slax by just deleting that \slax directory.  Worst case, reformat the USB drive as FAT32.  I'm not sure of the details under Windows but you want to make sure to overwrite the MBR.  But if you are just going to reinstall Slax again, removing the directory and running through the installation steps again will be fine.  Make sure after re-creating the \slax directory and copying the files, to cd to that directory and run the bootinst.bat file.  Also make sure the BIOS on your computer is set to boot from USB (and not just the hard disk).

Pat

[parrothead]

I meant, cd to the \slax\boot directory and run bootinst.bat...

Pat

[ADM 1]

OK, as for the "cd" part, i cd to the \slax\boot directory and run bootinst.bat, right?

right, that's what i did. although i do see these messages which kinda serves as warnings for a brief second before the whole screen turns green. which should happen since this is how installing stax looks like, i think.

these are the warnings i get before installing.

---

'#!' is not recognized as an internal or external command

or external command, an operable program, or a batch file.

'exec' is not recognized as an internal or external command

or external command, an operable program, or a batch file.

'exec' is not recognized as an internal or external command

or external command, an operable program, or a batch file.

---

i'm using command prompt, which on Windows 10 can be run by going to the search bar, typing "cmd" and clicking on "command prompt".

in any case, should i ignore them or should i fix bootinst.dat?

[parrothead]

It's been a long time since I've installed Slax from Windows, but I believe those messages are normal.  The file bootinst.bat is pretty clever, in that the same file can be run from either Windows or Linux to do the installation.  I believe the messages you are seeing are from the Linux installation part of the script.  Those commands/syntax don't exist in Windows, so the errors are printed but  execution continues and then the Windows part of the script is executed and completes the install.  Did you get a message at the end that the installation was successful?  I believe (because of the MBR actions) that script needs to be run as Administrator.  From what I googled, right click on the start button and you should be able to choose "Command Prompt (Admin)".

Pat

[ADM 1]

no. i aborted the whole thing as soon as these messages showed up.

anyway, i'll will execute the command prompt as an admin and go from there. i'll report back when i'm done.

[ADM 1]

OK, here's what i've done.

1 - executed command prompt as an administrator (by right-clicking on it). on windows 10, when you right-click on the start button you instead get access to the "Windows PowerShell" both as a normal user and as an administrator. except i think PowerShell is janky as all hell. so, typing up "cmd" on the search bar and then right-clicking on the command prompt once windows 10 is done searching through it should do the trick, i think.

2 - on the command prompt (as administrator) i typed the partition name of my drive (in my case "F:", without the underscore), typed "cd \slax\boot" then typed bootinst.bat

3 - then the actual installation went quick. it began and ended in just four seconds, i think. at which point it tell me that the installation has been finished. proof is in the image.

4 - so i pressed any key and the command prompt went on as normal. meaning it's now green.

anyway, just closing this off would be a good idea, don't you think?

[ADM 1]

closing the window, i mean.

[ADM 1]

either way, i'll be rebooting my PC now. will report back when i'm done.

On Thu, Jun 3, 2021 at 6:29 PM ADM 1 <hyperdest...@gmail.com> wrote:

closing the window, i mean.

[ADM 1]

so, i'm back after a reboot and honestly i don't know if slax has been installed for real because i just don't see it in the BIOS.

[ADM 1]

maybe i need to do some googling, i don't know.

[parrothead]

Try to google for information  on booting your particular model of computer.  There should be a key sequence you can press at startup to change the order of devices to attempt to boot from (USB, hard drive, CD/DVD, etc.).  Maybe temporarily disable all but USB until you get it working.  If it's a newer PC, you might be running into a problem with "secure boot".  Try googling:

disable secure boot

Pat

[ADM 1]

OK, so i disabled secure boot completely through the BIOS. i can now boot at least two operating systems now.