Installed dual-boot Xubuntu but now want to remove Windows XP

[Xubuntist]

Hello

I am becoming more and more linux-savvy and I have installed Xubuntu 13.10 dual-boot on an old Lenovo PC and it's working like a dream. But now I want to remove the Windows XP partition and the last and previous times I did this I simply ran Gparted from the LiveCD (a bit laborious) and deleted the Windows partition but having done this a few times now on different computers this has caused me various problems, primarily:

• Can't boot any more because grub got deleted or corrupted
• The grub menu keeps returning even though there is now just one OS on the pc

So, would it be possible for somebody to tell me the correct procedure to

• Remove the now unneeded Windows XP
• Re-allocate all the freed-up space to Xubuntu

Many thanks in advance for your patience and persistence with my noob questions.

[fantab]

Lets see your partitions. Post the output of:

sudo parted -l
sudo fdisk -l

[Xubuntist]

I'm sorry that it's in French, I hope this doesn't cause you a problem.

PARTED

Modèle: ATA WDC WD1600AAJS-0 (scsi)
Disque /dev/sda : 160GB
Taille des secteurs (logiques/physiques): 512B/512B
Table de partitions : msdos

Numéro  Début   Fin    Taille  Type      Système de fichiers  Fanions
 1      32,3kB  107GB  107GB   primary   ntfs                 démarrage
 3      107GB   155GB  48,3GB  extended
 5      107GB   154GB  47,4GB  logical   ext4
 6      154GB   155GB  937MB   logical   linux-swap(v1)
 2      155GB   160GB  4861MB  primary   fat32                diag

FDSIK

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 têtes, 63 secteurs/piste, 19457 cylindres, total 312581808 secteurs
Unités = secteurs de 1 * 512 = 512 octets
Taille de secteur (logique / physique) : 512 octets / 512 octets
taille d'E/S (minimale / optimale) : 512 octets / 512 octets
Identifiant de disque : 0x75adc3f6

Périphérique Amorçage  Début         Fin      Blocs    Id. Système
/dev/sda1   *          63   208693825   104346881+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2       303082290   312576704     4747207+  12  Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda3       208695294   303081471    47193089    5  Étendue
/dev/sda5       208695296   301248511    46276608   83  Linux
/dev/sda6       301250560   303081471      915456   82  partition d'échange Linux / Solaris

Les entrées de la table de partitions ne sont pas dans l'ordre du disque

[Bucky Ball]

I would personally delete sda1, expand sda2 into the free space and run Boot Repair from a live install disk or USB to reinstall grub.

Get Boot Repair:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/boot...urce=directory

Use BR:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

Yannbuntu's thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1769482

[Xubuntist]

Thank you very much for the reply.

The problem is that I've run Yannbuntu's Boot Repair on two PCs where I had this problem, and on both (one was a Windows Vista partition and the other was a Windows XP partition) it was unable to repair grub and on both machines I was forced to reinstall Xubuntu - which is clealy not the ideal solution. I am now scared of willy-nilly deleting partitions like that.

This is why I am asking if there is a recognised "correct" way to deal with this.

[Bucky Ball]

Did you use the 'Advanced Options' and tell it where you wanted to reinstall grub, or did you hit 'Recommended Repair' to try and repair the existing one?

There's some pics of what I mean here: http://www.howopensource.com/2012/05...4-live-cd-usb/

[Xubuntist]

I always used "Recommended Repair".

[Bucky Ball]

There's some pics of what I mean here: http://www.howopensource.com/2012/05...4-live-cd-usb/

Reinstalling grub is the go. You can also do that from the Live CD (or install Boot Repair if you can get online).

http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-repair...ubuntu-live-cd

[Xubuntist]

I will try that and get back to you!

Thank you!

[fantab]

Don't delete the XP partition, just format it as ext4 and use it as a data parittion. Do this from xubuntu and use Gparted. If its not available then install it.
After formatting the said partition:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc

and install Grub to the HDD ie, /dev/sda.

Reboot.

If xubuntu does not boot then:
Boot with xubuntu dvd/usb- try xubuntu without installing
and follow the instructions HERE.