It would be a pain to reinstall Ubuntu because I have made lots of modifications to the default install, not just installing software but actual config changes.
I think my best bet would be to format the Windows partition, shrink it down to like 10 MB, and leave it in place. That way I get the space back but don't have to worry about messing up the boot order or mappings. -- Brian Weeden On 8/9/07, Jamie Furtner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Brian Weeden wrote: > > I am finally ready to cut the cord after using Ubuntu for a couple > > months now. I am currently dual-booting with Windows on the first > > partition and Ubuntu on the 2nd and would like to get rid of windows > > but need to make sure I'm not going to fubar my Ubuntu install. > > > > Is grub installed on the first (ie windows) partition? In other > > words, by removing that partition is it going to have an effect on > > getting the system to boot? > > > Grub is usually installed into the MBR and contains components on the > Linux partition that contains /boot. It can be installed into a > partition, but then would be installed into the boot sector of your > Linux partition, and the Windows boot menu would need to be set up to > load that boot sector (Ubuntu setup doesn't do this, last I checked - > this is something that you'd need to have done yourself). You can tell > how the machine is set up based on the order that the boot loaders load > - if the order is Grub with Windows as an option, then it's installed > into the MBR; if the order is Windows loader with Ubuntu as an option > then Grub is installed into the boot sector of your Linux partition. > > Also, will removing that partition change the order and mapping of > > partitions in Ubuntu? RIght now my structure is as follows in order > > from first partition to last on the HD: > > > It will depend on the tool you use to remove the Windows partition; some > of them will rewrite the partition table and renumber your primary > partitions (partitions numbered less then 5). If you use the basic Linux > or Windows fdisk, it shouldn't change the partition order. > > I'm not sure if Ubuntu uses partition UUIDs (unique identifiers in the > partition's boot sector) or if it uses device nodes instead - take a > look at /etc/fstab, if the first column looks something like this line: > /dev/hda6 / reiserfs > defaults,auto,user_xattr,acl 1 1 > then Ubuntu is using device nodes and you may have to update the file. > If it says something like > UUID=3e6be9de-8139-11d1-9106-a43f08d823a6 / reiserfs > defaults,auto,user_xattr,acl 1 1 > or > LABEL=root / reiserfs > defaults,auto,user_xattr,acl 1 1 > then it's more robust and should adjust as the partitions are renumbered > automatically. > > Even if the partition order does change, it's not extremely difficult to > use a Live boot CD and rewrite your /etc/fstab file to point at the > correct partitions and/or update your Grub configuration. It isn't what > I'd consider simple as it requires work at the command line, but it's > not hard. > > Jamie > > /dev/sda (my only HD) > > /dev/sda1 (windows ntfs partition) > > /dev/sda3 ((ubuntu ext3 partition) > > /dev/sda2 (extended patition) > > /dev/sda5 (linux swap within the extended) > > /dev/sda6 (fat32 within the extended) > > > > > > Jamie >
