Uninstalling Linux From Dual Boot Machine

[Rich]

I have a dual boot machine with Windows XP Pro and Red
Hat Linux 8.0. It boots first to GRUB, which allows me
to choose XP or linux. Linux resides on a separate
physical disk. I would like to remove linux entirely and
then use that separate disk for more XP storage. How can
I safely do this?

 

[Rich Barry]

Rich, I think this is more of a Linux issue since you use Grub as the Boot
Loader. Check here

http://www.security-forums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3937&highlight=uninstall+linux

 

[Michael Stevens]

I have a dual boot machine with Windows XP Pro and Red
Hat Linux 8.0. It boots first to GRUB, which allows me
to choose XP or linux. Linux resides on a separate
physical disk. I would like to remove linux entirely and
then use that separate disk for more XP storage. How can
I safely do this?

Boot from the XP Cd and type: fixmbr. Then type fixboot.
You can delete the Linux partitions and format the space using Disk
Management after booting into XP.
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Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
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[Michael Stevens]

Boot from the XP Cd and type: fixmbr. Then type fixboot.
You can delete the Linux partitions and format the space using Disk
Management after booting into XP.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
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I forgot an important detail. You want to select R from the first setup
screen. This will load Recovery Console where you will type fixboot and
fixmbr.
Click on or copy and paste the link below into your web browser address box.
Recovery Console
http://michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#RC
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Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
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[Alex Nichol]

I have a dual boot machine with Windows XP Pro and Red
Hat Linux 8.0. It boots first to GRUB, which allows me
to choose XP or linux. Linux resides on a separate
physical disk. I would like to remove linux entirely and
then use that separate disk for more XP storage. How can
I safely do this?

Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot the XP CD and, instead
of Setup, take the immediate R for Repair. Assume any password
requested is blank, and TAB over.

Give
Fixboot
FixMBR

Then you need to ensure that the Linux installation has not made some
other partition than the XP one the active partition for booting. So
give
diskpart
list partitions
- to find the partition number n the XP is in
select partition n
active
exit

Or you can do that stage with a Win98 startup floppy and its FDISK
And you can do the FDISK /MBR there, but not the Fixboot - which might
not be necessary, so that might be a good alternative way to start it
you have the floppy

This will have removed the dual boot - you can then in XP Control Panel
- Admin Tools - Computer Management, select Disk Management and look
lower right for the graphic of the drive that the Linux is on. R-click
in the 'Unknown' partitions which are Linux ones, and once you have Free
space, r-click in that and Create Partition

 

[Rich]

Thanks for your help. I can't say I followed either
advice to the letter, but close. I booted into the
Recovery Console and first just tried Fixboot. That
didn't do the trick - the GRUB screen still appeared on
my next boot. Then I went back into Recovery Console and
did fixmbr and then fixboot again. I tried to follow
Alex's instructions concerning diskpart but exited before
doing anything. Anyway, on my next boot the GRUB screen
was gone and I booted fine into XP. I'll deal with the
Linux partitions with Disk Management later. It was
being unable to boot to XP that had me worried.

Rich