Removing kubuntu

[ts6bl]

I want to install kubuntu on a laptop with windows xp but my parents will not let me unless i am able to totally remove it at some point in time and get windows xp as it is now. The problem is that after searching extensively on the net all the solutions use the windows recovery cd, something that has been misplaced. is there a way around this to get windows back running normally without the recovery cd

[dibl]

Re: Removing kubuntu

Is there enough free space on your hard drive (like 15GB) that you could install Kubuntu in its own partition(s), and then remove it later. In other words, if you could leave Win XP on the laptop, you could set it up to boot either Kubuntu or Windows. With no recovery CD, I think removing Win XP is a one-way trip for your Microsoft OS.

[Qqmike]

Re: Removing kubuntu

You need the recovery CD to fix the Windows MBR (the bootloader for Windows, NTLDR).
Super GRUB Disk used to be able to fix the Windows boot, but I’m not sure if it still does.

Here’s an option:

The problem is that you can easily install Kubuntu on that drive. But what you do NOT want to do is let the installer put GRUB in the MBR of that drive (and so you do not want to overwrite the Windows bootloader in the MBR of the drive).

You can install Kubuntu on some partition of the drive, tell the installer to put GRUB in the SAME partition as it put the root files of Kubuntu—NOT in any MBR!

Then, to boot into Kubuntu (or Windows), put GRUB on a flash drive, and boot your PC from the flash drive, let the flash drive give you a boot menu, and from that menu select either XP or Kubuntu – it will never touch the MBR of the drive.

Here’s how:
How To Make GRUB Thumb Drive
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081748.0


If you tell me what partition you are putting Kubuntu in, I’ll tell you how to have the installer put GRUB there, too.

[ts6bl]

Re: Removing kubuntu

Im sorry i've not exactly explained my problem very well heres attempt 2

I plan on dual booting the two OSs but if at some point i want/need to remove kubuntu and resize the windows partition to full size I would still be stuck with the GRUB at startup. solutions on how to get the windows equivalent are on the net but reguire the recovery cd

[Qqmike]

Re: Removing kubuntu

That's correct, I understand. To dual boot, GRUB must be written to the MBR of the hard drive. You other choice is to configure the Windows bootloader to boot your Kubuntu, and there are references on it, I can dig some up for you if you wish, but it may be more involved, I've never done it.

[Qqmike]

Re: Removing kubuntu

Boot Linux from Windows
http://www.vsubhash.com/writeups/multiboot_os.asp
He’s a Windows guy, getting NTLDR to load Linux; if you dump Linux, easy to reverse.
Moral Volcano: Multi-boot OSs.

http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p9.html
“This webpage is to explain how I set up boot.ini in Windows and install WinGrub to boot either Windows via its own bootloader NTLDR or Linux via WinGrub, without touching the MBR.”

Ed’s Software Guide on Linux:
http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux...w2k-HOWTO.html

Technique is clearly described in Chapter 4 of Linux in a Nutshell.
Chapter 4 happens to be the freely downloadable sample chapter.
EDIT: O'Reilly books, on-line, this Chapter was a free sample chapter--I don't know if that changed now.

[Qqmike]

Re: Removing kubuntu

You could also install Kubuntu to a flash drive, but it may work slower and there’s a question of burning out (wearing out) the flash drive with re-write cycles caused by Kubuntu writing stuff to the flash disk in large quantities and often. I just put Kubuntu 7.10 on a flash disk as an experiment at:
How To Make GRUB Thumb Drive
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081748.0
Reply #12

You can also just simply use Super Grub Disk Live CD to boot Kubuntu and Windows for you.


(I have to split pretty quick here, so I'm giving you much of what I have on this subject now. )

[marshallbanana]

Re: Removing kubuntu

If grub is the only thing left its really no problem, you can set the default os to windows and the wait time to zero seconds and then the only way you'd ever know it is there is about a tenth a second and a single line of text at the beginning the windows startup. It's not exactly back to how it was but noone will ever actually notice the difference.

[Qqmike]

Re: Removing kubuntu

No, because if he deletes Kubuntu (deletes the Kubuntu partition), GRUB Stage_2 is missing and GRUB will drop him to a grub> or maybe give an error. Now, he could rig up a very small dedicated GRUB partition on that drive, and do what you said . . .

[marshallbanana]

Re: Removing kubuntu

Good point. I was pretty much flying by the seat of my pants for that last post guessing what would happen in that instance (never having tried such a situation myself). Never realized stage 2 got installed to the partition.

That said, would removing kubuntu and then reinstalling grub using 'grub super disk' work in the manner I described above?

[aged hippy]

Re: Removing kubuntu

When one of my (many) re-installs of XP broke, i downloaded a Win 98 boot disk from http://www.bootdisk.com/ copied it onto a floppy, and booted from it.
IIRC, when you're presented with a prompt, you give the command "fixboot" then "fixmbr" - and the surprising thing is.... it worked.

Some relevant links:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/termsf/p/fixboot.htm
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/termsf/p/fixmbr.htm
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=311908

[Qqmike]

Re: Removing kubuntu

@marshallbanana:
No, because, again, you need the GRUB files to be present. The GRUB files, the real image files, are in, like, /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc. Then, from that, we all end up with the GRUB files in /boot/grub, which are just basically Stage_1, Stage_1.5, and Stage_2. Most of GRUB is in Stage_2. Stage_1 is 512 Bytes and is installed to the MBR. Stage_1.5 is installed to the rest of that cylinder, some 32KB just preceding the first partition of that disk. Most of GRUB is in Stage_2 and is located in the root (or the boot) partition; Stage_2 is where the menu.lst is, for example.. When you or I or SGD fixes GRUB by re-installing GRUB, we are doing it from the Stage_2 files, basically. Stage_1 points at Stage_1.5 which points at Stage_2. So you need them all (usually – sometimes I think you can omit Stage_1.5, for example when installing to a root-boot partition versus a MBR). So, in other words, those 512 Bytes of Stage_1 files is useless without Stage_2 (and usually also Stage_1.5). That’s why I said that if you had just a very small dedicated GRUB partition to hold /grub files and a menu.lst, that would do the trick

[Qqmike]

Re: Removing kubuntu

aged hippy, I've heard of such, also. Good idea. Best to investigate it and test it before . . .

[aged hippy]

Re: Removing kubuntu

aged hippy, I've heard of such, also. Good idea. Best to investigate it and test it before . . .

It certainly works, i think it was when i removed a Mandrake install which left me unable to boot anything.

I think it's because Windows refuses to see another OS, or - at least - acknowledge it, so it installs a Windows MBR.

[Fintan]

Re: Removing kubuntu

Since when does anybody listen to their parents??

Seriously,

......solutions use the windows recovery cd, something that has been misplaced

if you can't get another copy of the rescue cd from the laptop vendor or manufacturer (should be possible) then your only recourse is to either get a boot.disk as mentioned by hippy or get widows to boot your linux as mentioned by mike. Bthw those links mike gave you work, I have used them in the past.

Just my 2.5 cents.

Happy hunting and enjoy