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safely removing linux

  • 24-01-2009 6:42pm
    #1
    JIZZLORD
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,484 ✭✭✭


    i have a 10 gig Linux partition on my laptop and i need the space. if i delete the partition through my control panel will this cause a problem with the boot loader or will it clean the linux part and give it over to windows.

    ideally i'd like to do it safely by fixing the boot record, but my dvd drive is screwed so i cant go into the recovery disk and go down the fixmbr route to remove the grub loader and then use a partition magic clone to give the space back to xp.

    Thanks!


Comments

  • #2
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 93,563 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    you need to check which partition is set active to be on the safe side, if it's the windows one then you should be ok

    if your dvd is dodg then i'd stay away from any changes that would need a cd to fix.

    another option is www.fs-driver.org this will allow windows to read/write to that partition

    linux bootable USB key is another way to recover if the dvd drive is stuffed


  • #3
    ethernet
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,568 ✭✭✭ethernet


    Indeed a little edgy to try without being able to rely on live CD/DVD.

    Here's another idea.
    • Boot into Linux
    • Open up /boot/menu.lst as root or with sudo
    • Edit out the line with the entry for Linux (if you feel brave enough)
    • Make sure the entry for Windows is there and working
    • Make the timeout really small, say 0-3 seconds
    • Save and quit the text editor

    Now, as root (or with sudo), execute 
    grub-install /dev/sda
    where sda is your hard drive; could also well be sdb but you'll know what to substitute.

    You could then restart, be landed in Windows, fire up Disk Management, delete the Linux partition and extend your Windows partition.


  • #4
    watty
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,417 ✭✭✭✭watty


    This why I do a custom Linux install if it's on a PC with Windows already.

    The following doesn't help now, but might in the future.

    VERY old instructions I wrote in 1999.

    Basically the NT Bootloader can boot ANYTHING if you copy the boot sector to a new file on the disk that boots NT and has BOOT.INI

    I've not tested it later than Win2K (previous laptop had DOS6.22, DOS7, WFWG3.11, Win98, NT4.0, Win2K and Redhat something. It now only has DOS6.22, DOS7, WFWG3.11, Win98 and Win2K) I edited the single NT BOOT.INI and used Partition Magic to resize the Win2K partition to include deleted NT4.0 and Linux partitions, changed partiton entry in boot.ini for Win2K. You might want a small FAT16 primary partition, or it might work on NTFS.

    Primary = DOS WFWG/WIN98, Boot.ini, NTLDR etc 2Gbytes
    SECONDARY contained:
    Logical 1 was NT4.0 now Win2K
    Logical 2 was Win2K now resized as Logical 1
    Logical 3 was Linux, now gone.

    http://homepage.eircom.net/~watty/program/multiboot.htm

    It was a 450MHz Mobile coppermine Dell Inspiron with 1400 x 1050 15" screen.
    I still use it for satellite setbox programming and Mobile Radio programming as the SW doesn't work on NT/Win2K/XP

    My new laptop (April 2002) has only ever had XP. I occasionally add various Linux via VMware player. For linux device driver debugging I used a separate Debian Laptop. I've given up doing that and concentrating on HW design.


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