removing windows from dual boot

**oldfred** · July 23rd, 2012

Cannot make out screen shot.

With Windows the boot flag is the active partition or the one the system boots from. Up until Windows 7 that was always the system partition also. Windows 7 often uses a separate boot partition that has the boot flag.

So I am pretty sure your install is in hda1 or the first partition.

**Ubun2to** · July 24th, 2012

Originally Posted by johnplov

I finally managed to get gparted onto the old machine. None of the ubuntu distros would load, and gparted by itself wouldn't load. I tried Puppylinux 5.2.8, which I like, but it wouldn't load on the old machine either. Finally I got puppy linux2.15 and it loads fine. Gparted shows the drive as:
/dev/hda 18.65 GiB
with the partitons:
/dev/hda1 Fat32 6.00 Gib total, 2.92 used,3.07 unused, boot, lba

/dev/hda3 ext3 7.39 GiB, 6.89 used, 511.09 MiB unused

/dev/hda2 extended 4.16 Gib lba

/dev/hda5 fat32 3.77 Gib, 2.20 used, 1.57 unused

Now, I realized I'm not quite sure which partition has the windows ME on it, and I don't want to make a mistake and delete the wrong one. I'm guessing the two partitions with fat 32 are windows C: and D: Is that right. The worst that could happen is that I delete Ubuntu, but give that I've had so much trouble getting a cd to boot, I don't want to make that mistake, so I'm asking for advice first.
Thanks for your help. This has been a lot harder than it would probably need to be, if I wasn't fumbling in the dark.

Well, Linux distros use either ext2, ext3, or ext4 usually. I have no idea what data the other partitions would have.
Windows uses the Fat32 and NTFS filesystems-I think it is safe to delete the Fat32 partitions.
I have a feeling the extended partition could be swap space, although, because of the size of the partition compared to your memory, I think it might not be. Swap space on older machines can usually be calculated as 2x the amount of memory. This is 4.16 GB. So, the swap space should be 0.5 GB, unless you were paranoid about running out of swap space, although 1 GB should be enough for even an extremely paranoid person. So, I'm not sure about the extended partition right now, since there are no used/free space stats available.

**johnplov** · July 24th, 2012

i left a partition off of the list: /dev/sda6 linux swap 392.15 MiB.
I haven't figured out how to post the screenshot full sized, and the thumbnail isn't readable..
I did manage to get puppy linux up on the old machine, using puppy pfix-ram so it doesn't mount the partitions, but still can't manage to resize the /dev/sda3 partitio. I can make it smaller, but it has a maximum size of 7570, and I haven't figured out how to change that. the two fat32 partitions will let me change them no problem, but I tried to delete the /dev/sda5 and it wouldn't let me.
I think it's the D: backup drive for the windows, and I can just shrink it down and leave it in place, so I'm not worried about that, but I do need to figure out how to increase the maximum size on the sda3.

**Ubun2to** · July 25th, 2012

Originally Posted by johnplov

i left a partition off of the list: /dev/sda6 linux swap 392.15 MiB.
I haven't figured out how to post the screenshot full sized, and the thumbnail isn't readable..
I did manage to get puppy linux up on the old machine, using puppy pfix-ram so it doesn't mount the partitions, but still can't manage to resize the /dev/sda3 partitio. I can make it smaller, but it has a maximum size of 7570, and I haven't figured out how to change that. the two fat32 partitions will let me change them no problem, but I tried to delete the /dev/sda5 and it wouldn't let me.
I think it's the D: backup drive for the windows, and I can just shrink it down and leave it in place, so I'm not worried about that, but I do need to figure out how to increase the maximum size on the sda3.

Are using a live CD? (Not sure if Puppy Linux has them.) If so, use that when editing partitions.
Try unmounting the partitions before editing them.
If you still can't do anything, you might have to wipe the drive and start over (but you should wait until other people give you the green light about wiping the drive-you shouldn't make any rash decisions when dealing with something like this).

**johnplov** · July 25th, 2012

I'm booting with and iso cd of puppy linux 2.15, using the command puppy pfix=ram so it just boots in ram. The partition with linux is unmounted. It gives a maximum size and there doesn't seem to be any way of raising the maximum. I've had trouble getting any other puppy distro or ubuntu to boot up, maybe because there isn't room.
I suppose I could wipe the drive and start over, but I'd rather not. All I want to do is create enough room so that I can upgrade the Ubuntu. THe four year old version I'm using now works okay, but won't handle Chrome, which I like much more than Firefox.
Thanks for your help

**Ubun2to** · July 26th, 2012

Originally Posted by johnplov

I'm booting with and iso cd of puppy linux 2.15, using the command puppy pfix=ram so it just boots in ram. The partition with linux is unmounted. It gives a maximum size and there doesn't seem to be any way of raising the maximum. I've had trouble getting any other puppy distro or ubuntu to boot up, maybe because there isn't room.
I suppose I could wipe the drive and start over, but I'd rather not. All I want to do is create enough room so that I can upgrade the Ubuntu. THe four year old version I'm using now works okay, but won't handle Chrome, which I like much more than Firefox.
Thanks for your help

Have you resized your Windows partition?