# Removing Linux (SUSE 10)



## Spenright (Apr 16, 2006)

I'm running out of space on my harddrive, how can i remove my copy of SUSE. I have a partition with XP and SUSE and a GRUB Loader. Last time i deleted SUSE, GRUB was like where the hell is SUSE, screw this i'm going back to sleep.

So what can i do, even to change the partition sizes


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

Easiest way is to boot up a DOS 6 or above floppy with fdisk.exe inside and type

```
fdisk /mbr
```
That replaces Grub with Windows MBR. If you haven't use a floppy before dig out the XP installation CD. Boot it up and wait to get into "recovery console" (just a term for the terminal mode) and type

```
fixmbr
exit
```
Both give the identical result. If you have neither then download FreeDos as it got fdisk program inside.

To remove Suse partition you first boot to XP. In disk management just click the Suse Linux partition and opt for "delete" and Suse would disappear in seconds. Thereafter you have claimed back empty space for further use.

If you prefer Linux way just boot up any LiveCD and use its cfdisk or fdisk program to delete the Suse partition.


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## Spenright (Apr 16, 2006)

Problem -> No XP installation disk, No floppy drive

Any program that i can open in XP that'll do it ?


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

Download FreeDos or similar system that has fdisk.exe, burn it into a CD, boot the CD up and use the fdisk.exe to restore MS's MBR.

Alternative you can burn Grub into a CD. In such case Grub is unattached to an operating system and XP can be booted manually. Details documented in the last link of my signature.

In a long term you need MS's MBR that that can only be restored by Dos's command "fdisk /mbr" or XP/Win2k installation CD's command "fixmbr" available in recovery console.


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## Spenright (Apr 16, 2006)

hmm ok, how risky is this ? Cos if i uninstall windows it wont be cool. Not cool at all


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

It is bomb proof!

Both methods only replace the MBR which is 512 bytes large. MBR is the first 512 bytes of the boot sector of the first parimary partition and has "nothing" to do with the internal filing system of XP. More precisely only the first 446 bytes as the partition table located between 447th to 510th bytes are never touched by any boot loader.

When you had Suse iGrub taking over the MBR your XP was booted without MS's MBR. You XP can still booted without MS's MBR.

You can burn Grub into a CD to boot XP manually every time. 

MS's has a common MBR for Dos, WIn9x , WIn2k and XP. Its function is to search the four primary partitions, like a blind man, to see if anyone has the booting flag switched on and then boot it. The booting flag is a byte inside the partition table indicating that partition active or not. In a PC system only one primary partition is allowed to have it boot flag switched on at any one time.

A completion destruction of the MBR together with the complete removal of a boot loader will not affect the internal information of a partition. You XP is safe as long as you do not change its size, overwrite it or format the partition.

Don't take my word for it, boot up a Linux Live CD, mount the XP partition and you will find everything been waiting for you. You can always access a XP partition by any Linux Live CD. To boot it you need a boot loader.


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## purple_cloud (Jun 19, 2004)

http://www.bootdisk.com

I have a computer in which the hard drive went bad. So I have an XP License. Neither M$ nor the manufacturer of the computer will provide an XP CD. I received the computer because it would not work.

As I understand the contract situation. If one buys a new computer. If you do not receive an XP CD. If you request one in the first 30 days they will provide the Windows XP CD for a nominal fee.

My third option is that my local computer fix it shop. If I take the computer in to have it worked on. If it is the same computer that came from the manufacturer. If I pay their base price to work on it. If I have the XP license (which is the little XP sticker on the tower). They can add XP for no added cost.

The point is. If you buy a new computer. If you do not get an XP CD with the shipment. Ask the manufacturer for the XP CD, right away.

Else you will be like me. Running Linux and Windows 98 instead of XP.


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

purple_cloud,

I believe you are talking about the Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM) version of XP which is sold with the hardware. That license is attached to the computer and is supposed to die with it.

You can transfer the content of the bad disk into a new hard disk and continue with the XP in the existing computer. That is perfectly acceptable but you need special software to do the transfer. A Linux Live CD can do this job too (1st link of my signature refers).

XP does have a build-in protection system that it keeps a record of the hardware and assigns a number to each hardware change. There is a threshold beyond which the XP will demand a re-activation to prevent user moving the OS between computers. Within reason MS will allow XP user to change the CPU, memory, hard disk, network card and just about everything but not all of them at the same time. 

For users wanting to preserve their work Linux is the way to go. I have been moving installed Linux from partition to partition, disk to disk and computer to computer without a need of a re-installation. There are some small amount of editing needed to the boot loader and the /etc/fstab file if the Linux installed address is altered but otherwise one can keep the distros for ever. Many of my Linux distros have moved home twice between machines.


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## Spenright (Apr 16, 2006)

Ok not cool, it wouldn't start up once i did fdisk /mbr and deleted the linux partition. It said there was a hardware malfunctions or something. So luckily, very luckily i managed to get a copy of Windows Xp so i reinstalled it and now i have 2 drives, one with all my old stuff and this new one. IE, how disgusting. So what do i do know ? I'm not in the mood for just copy and pasting


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## Spenright (Apr 16, 2006)

Well..


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

A XP partition will boot if it is the "active" primary partition.

What is the hardware malfunction you had?

You can use a Grub floppy to boot a XP too but you need to create one first by following the Chapter 3.1 of Grub Manual. The files required are stage1 and stage2 which you can source from Linux Live CD.

By the way the "fdisk /mbr" does not delete the Suse partition. It only place MS's MBR over the Grub's stage1 file. Don't delete the partitions if you are having booting problems. Also if your new copy of XP boots then the old copy cannot boot because its record of being installed disk Number 1 will mismatch with being in disk Number 2. You have given the 1st disk statuts to the new XP disk!

If you want to cure your XP booting problem remove the 2nd disk and concentrate on fixing the MBR, say by doing the "fdisk /mbr" again. Your original XP is safe as long as you don't format it or forcibly write on it.


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## Spenright (Apr 16, 2006)

No i used FreeDos to delete the other partitions except the NTFS one with Xp on it, it wouldn't boot up at all then, so I just reinstalled Xp, I still have all the old stuff on a seperate partition which is good, but i want my olds Xp back..


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

For argument sake if your Xp was installed in the second partition after Suse it would have a record inside telling it was installed in the second partition.

The removal of the first partition can make your XP unbootable. You need to arrange XP's original disk number and partition number valid.

You should try to make a bootable Grub floppy as I mentioned in post #11.

This is how I use it to boot Vista that I have just installed.

Boot up the Grub floppy
Type "geometry (hd0)" and Grub will show up all the partitions in Disk (hd0). Vista or XP uses NTFS partition which is type 0x7. In my case it was partition 0, as Grub counts from 0. So I type

```
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
boot
```
and the Vista fired up. I have just installed it a few minutes ago and want to see if Grub can do it. So get yourself a bootable Grub floppy. More information in the last link of my signature.

If you don't want Grub to boot it just use the FreeDOS to run "fdisk /mbr" again like I said in my last post.


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## newbie17 (Feb 15, 2008)

Folks - could you please help me.
I followed the following instructions for uninstalling suse10:
http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.co...-i-remove-suse-linux-dual-boot-system-xp.html

Basically through xp I deleted the 2 Healthy (unknown partition)s and had (C Healthy (System) and unallocated space. I then rebooted and tried fdisk /mbr at grub with a bootable xp cd, returns "Error 27: Unrecognized command".
I also let it boot from cd and tried to go into Recovery Console - it shows "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer".

would really appreciate any input/tips - my goal was to learn a little more about disk partitioning by uninstalling suse, have deallocated space merge into windows, partition my disk again and install ubuntu.


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

> "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer".


That means XP CD cannot recognised your Sata hard disk. If you feed a Sata driver then it can recognise the disk. Just the first message at the screen bottom when you boot the XP CD. It asks you to press F6 if you have such driver.

The Sata driver is supplied with the mobo.


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