Need advice in deleting win2000 dual boot

[ahurd]

I have dual boot via grub with win2000 in sda1 and feisty on sda3. Feisty has a virtualbox win2000 VM so I have no need, I think, for the win2000 on sda1 so I want to delete the win2000 install on sda1. How do I do it safely without screwing up the grub boot manager. Help much appreciated.

[john14424]

Re: Need advice in deleting win2000 dual boot

For safety's sake, keep the files on sda1 for now. Open a terminal. Type 'sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.test' That will make a backup of your grub loader file ( Better safe than sorry ). Type 'sudo kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst'

You should see a file like this ...

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 3

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=7a9267e0-a13e-40d0-8b14-9f47bc42e901 ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=7a9267e0-a13e-40d0-8b14-9f47bc42e901 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=7a9267e0-a13e-40d0-8b14-9f47bc42e901 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

title Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

Note the example above for Windows. Somewhere in the, there will be a title for Windows not commented out. Comment out ( # ) that section, taking care not to modify any other listings in there. It should include 'title','root','chainloader'. There may be a couple other depending on your setup. Save the file.

Still in terminal, type 'sudo grub-install /dev/sda1' That will reload the MBR for grub. If anything goes wrong, or you decide in the middle you may not want to continue, in terminal, type 'sudo rm /boot/grub/menu.lst' Then in terminal, type 'cp /boot/grub/menu.test /boot/grub/menu.lst' That will replace your grub file with the original. If you had reloaded the modified version of grub, in terminal, again type 'sudo grub-install /dev/sda1'.

That's it, good luck. Remember though, if you aren't in need f the partition which has Windows on it now, it won't hurt anything to just leave it as it is. One of my favorite sayings, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" LOL. ~John~

[ahurd]

Re: Need advice in deleting win2000 dual boot

Many thanks.