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How do I remove Ubuntu Linux without removing vista
I have vista and ubuntu on the same hard drive, If i use partition manager to delete ubuntu, windows becomes unbootable (put on ubuntu again to get the partition manager back). What other techniques can I try?
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The two things you need to do are
1) removed the ubuntu partition(seems you know how to do this)
2) restore the mbr(master boot record) to boot the windows partition
If you have your windows install disc you can use that to restore the mbr, or you can use a tool such as the one found at http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-next-generation.htm to both remove the partition and restore the mbr. Instructions to do so can be found in the cited source. Also as a warning, if you have windows sleeping/hibernating and you make any of these changes you stand a serious risk of corrupting your install and making windows completely unbootable. ALWAYS shut windows down completely before using any of these tools to make changes.
1) removed the ubuntu partition(seems you know how to do this)
2) restore the mbr(master boot record) to boot the windows partition
If you have your windows install disc you can use that to restore the mbr, or you can use a tool such as the one found at http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-next-generation.htm to both remove the partition and restore the mbr. Instructions to do so can be found in the cited source. Also as a warning, if you have windows sleeping/hibernating and you make any of these changes you stand a serious risk of corrupting your install and making windows completely unbootable. ALWAYS shut windows down completely before using any of these tools to make changes.
Remove Ubuntu using the MS Windows tools not Linux tools..for some reson they are different enough that it causes problems.
In the future use this technique that I use..use wubi to install Ubuntu rather than messing with partitions. right now my wubi Ubuntu install lives in one file on my MS Vista..no messing with partitions and I can boot back into MS Vista when I need to..
In the future use this technique that I use..use wubi to install Ubuntu rather than messing with partitions. right now my wubi Ubuntu install lives in one file on my MS Vista..no messing with partitions and I can boot back into MS Vista when I need to..
I had the same problem. I don't really know how to mess around with the MBR so what I did was download GAG a boot loader from http://gag.sourceforge.net/ I just burned it to a CD on a friends computer and used it as a boot disk. It will let you install it if you want and will allow you to boot up into whatever you want.
What you would need to do once you remove the Linux install is repair the windows MBR. I've never done it with Vista, but I assume it's much like XP and 2000. You have to boot from a Windows CD/DVD, and start up the recovery console. After logging onto the console, you have to send the following commands.
fixmbr (adds bootloader)
fixboot (makes sure it's working)
it probably wouldn't hurt to also do the following
bootcfg (configures and finds Windows install)
I think that should do it for you. If you want to do it before removing Linux, it should also work, just so you don't lose anything before you kill the Linux MBR. Hope that helps.
fixmbr (adds bootloader)
fixboot (makes sure it's working)
it probably wouldn't hurt to also do the following
bootcfg (configures and finds Windows install)
I think that should do it for you. If you want to do it before removing Linux, it should also work, just so you don't lose anything before you kill the Linux MBR. Hope that helps.
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There are linux distributtions that will boot from a floppy or a CDROM, without installing anything on your hard drive.
The distribution called TomsRtBt is good. It boots from a floppy, or a wallet sized CDROM. Once it is booted you can use the "dd" program to copy your master boot record.
If you decide the 2nd operating system was a mistake boot from you TomsRtBt floppy again, and restore your previously saved MBR.
Your master boot record is 64 x 1K blocks long, at the very beginning of your first hard drive.
Using linux terminology to address your first hard drive you would refer to "/dev/hda". Your existing Windows operating system is typically installed on your first partitiion -- "/dev/hda1"
You could copy the master boot record to a floppy. That would be
dd if=/dev/hda of=/def/fd0 count=128
Count =128 because dd's default record size is 512 bytes, and you want 64K. "if" is the name of the input file. "of" is the name of the output file.
If you want to save the master boot record as a file on your windows parition you would have to "mount" it first. The command:
mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt
Would "mount" the windows partition over top of the linux directory "/mnt".
So "/mnt/My Documents" would refer to a file or directory called "My Documents" and you could then issue the command:
dd if=/dev/hda of="/mnt/My Documents/copy of MBR" count=128
To restore a previously saved MBR you would invoke:
dd if="/mnt/My Documents/copy of MBR" of=/dev/hda count=128
Booting from a TomsRtBt and using "dd" can be handy for other tasks.
If you are giving away an old computer, and you really want to make sure the new owner can't access any fragments of your old files...
dd if=/dev/rand of=/dev/hda
/dev/rand is the linux random number generator. This will rewrite your entire hard drive with random numbers.