Help! Finding Windows from Ubuntu...

Okay, so a while ago, with my new hard drive, I installed Windows XP. I didn't have the proper activation code so I couldn't get the service packs. Instead, I installed Ubuntu 12.04 on my computer. I really thought I asked to install it alongside Windows just in case things went wrong.

Now that I have my new DVD drive, I want to install Windows 7. Problem is, I gotta get rid of Windows XP first. I suspect that I accidentally deleted XP while installing Ubuntu though because:

- On booting up, there's no option to switch to Windows. In other words, there is no boot order.
- Windows isn't showing up at all in Ubuntu's Disk Utilities. Not showing up as a partition.

So yeah. I don't know where to go from here. Should I assume that Windows XP has actually been erased (even though I told it NOT to delete XP during installation) and go ahead with trying to install Windows 7? How can I be absolutely certain that XP no longer exists on my hard drive?

Help please!

(Google is not my friend. I always check there first.)

Right, been a while since I had to do something like this, but lemme see...

First thing: Why do you need to get rid of XP? Windows 7 will install overtop of it no problem.


Anyways: Pull up your partition manager and see if you have any NTFS partitions. If so, XP is probably on one of 'em. If not, then it's gone. If you have multiple drives and only see one in the manager, then more work will be required, but I'd have to look up what exactly.

Sounds like XP has already been deleted if it's not in the boot menu.

Also, I suggest trying what John said. Do you know how to do that?

If Gparted doesn't show the WinXP NTFS partition, then it's gone for sure.