Jump to content

Remove Chameleon from NON-project laptop


RamblingBarba
 Share

9 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

I loaded 10.6.5 on a Acer netbook yesterday. I used a ton of info from these forums that made the job easy and smooth. Thanks a ton for that. :thumbsup_anim: 

 

I was using my Lenovo Windows 8.1 laptop to chase down files for the install. Some how, in my zeal to get the netbook going, I ended up with Chameleon on my Lenovo. This is NOT my project for the iAtkos install. It doesn't seem to hurt anything. I get a wait screen at boot but it adds a significant amount of time to boot. I have search around but the only answers I can find are for preserving or changing the boot to OSx which I do not have on this machine.

 

Does anyone know how to uninstall Chameleon? This is NOT a dual boot question. I just want the old single boot WIndows 8 function back.

 

Thanks in advance for any help. :wink_anim: 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've gotta find a way. It didn't come with the disc so I'll have to make one. I did, on a whim do a full backup while I waited for the iAtkos to load on the Netbook. If I have to I could restore it. Thanks

 

EDIT: Restore point or back up doesn't help as they are restoring the system and not the boot partition. I don't have a disc to do a repair with nor a way to make one. I only have the windows 8 refresh option which means hours of re-installing programs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try Recovering the Windows Bootloader with EasyBCD - follow instructions under "Type1" repair to write Windows boot code to MBR.

 

Also how to create a USB recovery drive and fixing the MBR manually:

bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force
Edit

The instructions above are applicable if you have Windows 8.1 installed under a legacy MBR or hybrid MBR partitioned hard disk. As kyndder mentions in post #6, if you have UEFI installed Windows in your machine, simply setting your BIOS firmware to boot UEFI only will ignore chameleon's boot files and boot through Windows bootmgfw.efi directly ---> faster boot.

 

You can check with Windows Disk Management: UEFI Windows will have an EFI partition on the hard drive while legacy Windows has a "System Reserved" partition eg my UEFI Windows 7 has a 200MB EFI partition

 

post-846696-0-22403100-1396853994_thumb.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Try Recovering the Windows Bootloader with EasyBCD - follow instructions under "Type1" repair to write Windows boot code to MBR.

 

Also how to create a USB recovery drive and fixing the MBR manually:

bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force

I tried several bootrec commands from cmd in recovery. Each reported finishing successfully but nothing changed. The second command you have here I didn't try. I'll move on and give it a try.

 

I have a recovery USB drive but my understandinbg is that Win8 only allows a reinstall(reset) or a refresh. The refresh saves the user data but dumps all software and programs added to the machine requiring re-installs of everything. I am trying to avoid that. The reinstall (reset) is nuclear for everything, user data included. I am looking into EasyBcd per you suggestion. Thanks for the excellent ideas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if still working for Win8 but at WinXP we had the "Repair" option from where we could use the 'fixboot' and 'fixmbr' commands to repair Windows' s bootsectors....

 

But, AFAIK, machines that already came with Win8 are UEFI capable and mostly, Windows already is installed in EFI mode, in this case, you only need to setup your BIOS to make only UEFI boot then you will have your Windows boot again...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tried several bootrec commands from cmd in recovery. Each reported finishing successfully but nothing changed. The second command you have here I didn't try. I'll move on and give it a try.

 

I have a recovery USB drive but my understandinbg is that Win8 only allows a reinstall(reset) or a refresh. The refresh saves the user data but dumps all software and programs added to the machine requiring re-installs of everything. I am trying to avoid that. The reinstall (reset) is nuclear for everything, user data included. I am looking into EasyBcd per you suggestion. Thanks for the excellent ideas.

boot with Usb or installer usb look up for command prompt type  bootrec /rebuildbcd

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, we have a winner!! :w00t:  I decided to try EasyBCD recommended by fusion71au  because it had "EASY" in the name. It turns out it was. I loaded it, opened it and on the first screen deleted Chameleon. The following reboot proved to be quick again and straight to Win8 without the wait screen to choose between Win8 and Chameleon. Thanks a ton for all of the great ideas. :thumbsup_anim:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...