grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

[shokoreito]

ok, i'm as noob as noob can be, let me make that clear... the thing is, i didn't have any problems with kubuntu, all issues i had were solved (many of them thanks to this forum) so, now that kubuntu meets all of my needs, i'm ready to uninstall ubuntu. now, i've never dealt with grub before so i don't know what to do... i'm afraid if i remove ubuntu without changing the grub i won't be able to run kubuntu...

a little info: i have two hard drives, both 80gb SATA. on the original disk, i made a 15gb partition using the kubuntu cd so i could try this OS. works perfect, love it. now, on the boot menu at start, i have 6 options... 3 for each OS, i have no idea why... either way, the default OS is kubuntu, meaning that if in 10 seconds i don't choose any OS it's kubuntu the one that loads.

given this info, do i have to change the grub before removing ubuntu or not? if so, how do i do that?

[Qqmike]

Re: grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

Here's my toolkit that tells you:
How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0
The part about dual-booting two Linux distros.

The key is this: which OS did you install lastly (second)? THAT one is the one the overwrote your MBR with GRUB and so controls the booting. Either way -- you can re-install GRUB to the MBR using the GRUB files in Kubuntu and it will work perfectly.

You don't really have to "remove" Ubuntu, but I know what you mean -- you do not want to count on it being in place on your disk, you want Kubuntu to boot independently of Ubuntu's GRUB.
You can use GParted Live CD to simply reformat the partition Ubuntu is on, and that will "get rid of" Ubuntu.

GParted: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Menu.lst Removing Unnecessary entries from menu.lst Rog131
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3082556.0

So:

First, reinstall GRUB using the GRUB in Kubuntu (see my how-to). Do that from within Kubuntu, at Konsole.

Then test it to see if it boots OK (re-boot the PC).

Then use GParted Live CD to reformat the Ubuntu partition.

Then use Rog131's how-to to clean up menu.lst (you do not have to remove Ubuntu kernels -- just delete Ubuntu entries in menu.lst)

Post back if you get stuck or have questions. If I'm not around, plenty of good helpers are!
Let us know.


No need to read my how-to for now ...
Here:

In Kubuntu,
Open Konsole
sudo grub
grub>find /boot/grub/stage1
now pick the partition (hdx,y) that you know Kubuntu is in, NOT the one Ubuntu is in.
GRUB counts hard drives hdx starting at zero: hd0 = first hard drive; hd1 = second HD;
it also counts partitions y starting at zero: partition 0 (y=0) is the first partition.
So take that (hdx,y) that is the Kubuntu partition and put it here:
grub>root (hdx,y)
grub>setup (hd0)
grub>quit
$exit
That will re-install GRUB to the MBR of the first BIOS boot drive using GRUB files from Kubuntu.

re-boot to test it.

[shokoreito]

Re: grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

thank you so much, i'm gonna try that right away...

[shokoreito]

Re: grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

hi, i have just made the time to actually work on this issue, i've run all the backups and i'm ready to format the partition... i burnt the gparted live cd and also a kubuntu 8.10 live cd... now, regardless of how happy i am with his OS, i'm really very inexperienced on it. so, here comes the silly question:
i restart the computer with the live cd inside and whether it's gparted or kubuntu 8.10, neither boot... it just goes straight to the OS, as usual. what do i do? this issue is driving me mad, i don't know what to do...

[flarson]

Re: grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

You need to adjust the BIOS settings in your computer to boot from the CD drive. That said, it is not necessary to boot from a CD to repartition a disk or partition that you are not using. As long as you do not have your ubuntu partitions mounted when running Kubuntu you can use gparted, parted, fdisk or cfdisk, whichever you prefer, to get rid of the ubuntu partition and use it for something else.

[shokoreito]

Re: grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

i figured i could, problem is kubuntu does not recognize the cd... it's almost as if it weren't mounted at all, when it is... and i've tried the cds on other pcs and they boot just fine... can you (or anyone, really :P) tell me how to format the disk partition? because this issue is really driving me mad... sorry, i'm a real noob XD

[shokoreito]

Re: grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

hey, nevermind, i just downloaded gtparted and successfully formatted the partition.... hah! it was so easy, after all i feel kinda stupid, thanks anyway for trying to help a mike, your tutorials are still very useful, thank you very much! i'll whine back if i have any other issues XD

[shokoreito]

Re: grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

ok, i'm about to tear out my hair one by one... i used qtparted, iWAS able to format the partition... but now i cannot access the disk. on dolphin, every time i click on the hard drive icon, it gets mounted and i see only one folder: "lost+found." i cannot delete this folder, i cannot paste or create any files inside or outside this folder and when i actually click on the folder i get an error message saying "unable to access /media/disk/lost+found."
i seriously don't know what else to do... i'm about to just format every single drive and get it over with... but i'm afraid it would only make things worse, given the situation... what do you suggest??

[flarson]

Re: grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

It is not a problem. When you create an ext2,3,4 filesystem it creates a lost+found that is accessible only by root where it will store inodes that become disconnected if you have filesystem problems. In the creation process you could have set the size. Basically, you created anew partition and formatted it and everything worked exactly as it should.

[shokoreito]

Re: grub issue: i have ubuntu 8.10 and kubuntu 8.10 and want to remove ubuntu...

oh, yeah, i forgot to mention that... it IS accessible to root... god, i cannot even bring myself to say this, but: i don't know how to access it as root... i have a user that i created during the installation of kubuntu and i have all privileges... the one and only thing i cannot do is change the permissions or access that disk, because of what you say... can you tell me how to do this, please?