How do I get rid of a linux system without losing the boot for the others?

[gotnexusbluz]

I have Windows 7, Xubuntu, and I thought I would try Edubuntu as well. Now I've decided to stick with Xfce, but Edubuntu has made itself the default system to boot. If I just delete the Edubuntu partition, will this brick my laptop? I suspect it will, and I am wondering what software is good for reconfiguring my boot record, and how it could be used.

[papibe]

Hi gotnexusbluz.

I'd recommend taking a look at Boot-Repair. It is usually used from a Live media.

Hope it helps. Let us know how it goes.
Regards.

[Moose]

I'll have a go at explaining what pabibe left out. You can't uninstall a Linux system without harming the boot sequence. You will need to fix the boot sequence some way or another after you delete the Linux system. (Using third party software like pabibe mentioned.) If you have a copy of Windows XP lying around you can use the CD to fix the boot, or if you don't you can just search google for a boot-repair bootable iso. (Or something along the lines of that.)

[deadflowr]

Could you post the results of

sudo fdisk -l

(That's a small L)

This will tell us where everything is, in terms of what partitions are set to boot.

[gotnexusbluz]

Could you post the results of

sudo fdisk -l

(That's a small L)

This will tell us where everything is, in terms of what partitions are set to boot.

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000c31f6


Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 488508799 244254368+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 488509438 976771071 244130817 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 968962048 976771071 3904512 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 488509440 586165689 48828125 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 586166272 683821055 48827392 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 683823104 781477887 48827392 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 781479936 968959999 93740032 83 Linux


Partition table entries are not in disk order


Disk /dev/mapper/cryptswap1: 3998 MB, 3998220288 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 486 cylinders, total 7809024 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x22589431


Disk /dev/mapper/cryptswap1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

[layers]

another vote for boot repair !!!!

[Wim Sturkenboom]

My approach would be to boot into Xubuntu and run the command below.

sudo update-grub

This will update grub with the information from the Xubuntu install; it will still pick up the edubuntu install and add that as an option to the menu.
Next reboot to see if you can get into Xubuntu and Windows without problems. If it works, remove the Edubuntu partition from Windows or Xubuntu, run the above command again in Xubuntu and you should have achieved what you wanted.

As said, that is how I would do it.

And a note: fiddling with disks is always a little risky; user mistakes, power failures, ... I therefore strongly suggest that you have up-to-date backups of anything that is valuable to you, whichever approach you use.

[nerdtron]

I have Windows 7, Xubuntu, and I thought I would try Edubuntu as well. Now I've decided to stick with Xfce, but Edubuntu has made itself the default system to boot. If I just delete the Edubuntu partition, will this brick my laptop? I suspect it will, and I am wondering what software is good for reconfiguring my boot record, and how it could be used.

Here's what I would do:
Boot into Xubuntu, and run on the terminal

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Assuming sda is your first hard drive, this command will install Xubuntu's GRUB and will takeover the boot process. Then run

sudo update-grub

This is make sure that GRUB will scan all avail operating systems. You can now delete the Edubuntu partition. Run update-grub again to remove the entry for Edubuntu.