how to remove RHEL 5.0 on dual boot machine

Mrugesh · 08-19-2009, 03:02 AM

i install windows vista (Licence copy)& RHEL 5.0 on my machine but now i want to remove linux but my friends says if i delete linux my windows get corrupted. i don't want to format my pc because of 2 reason
1. it is a licence copy
2. i have large amount of important data in it

pls help me friendssssssssss

thax in advance

vishesh · 08-19-2009, 03:24 AM

Dear murgesh
Real problem start if you remove grub boot loader that present in /boot partition of linux. Deleting / and other partition will not distrub your vista at all.
I think rewriting mbr will also solve your problem. To restore mbr boot windows in recovery mode.

thnks

Kroutt · 08-23-2009, 01:56 PM

Could you be more specific, please?
I installed Mint 7 on a separate drive with Vista present (on a second drive). Apparently Linux placed an entry in Vista's boot loader that points it to GRUB when PC boots. I'd like to keep Linux on a separate drive as it is, but I 'd like to be able to do one of the following:
1. set Vista as the FIRST choice of boot drive, OR
2. Remove Linux boot screen and still be able to boot to Linux via BIOS boot option.
Any suggestions?
Thank you

jschiwal · 08-23-2009, 02:30 PM

One of the first few lines of /boot/grub/menu.lst will indicate which entry should be booted by default:

Code:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Thu Aug 20 23:52:49 CDT 2009    
default 0                                                                 
timeout 8                                                                 
gfxmenu (hd0,5)/boot/message

However, if this /boot partition is something you want to get rid of, then you will need to replace the current MBR with the XP's MBR using the recovery console. This is done by booting to the Windows XP install disk.

The linux /boot partition may have a backup of the original MBR. Double check the filesize. If is is 512 bytes, it will also contain the partition table of the original mbr. The boot strap loader is in the first 440 bytes. Please read through this Wikipedia article on the MBR:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record before doing anything. Also keep in mind that if Linux was installed previous to this last one, this backup_mbr may contain an old Linux MBR. You can restore an mbr with "dd if=<backup mbr filename> of=/dev/sda bs=440 count=1.
Be sure to use "fdisk -l" and "fdisk -lu" and save the results on a pendrive, or print them out. This will save the information on your partition tables. If your MBR partition tables become damaged, this will allow you to use fdisk from a live distro to rebuild the old values.
Doing this for every backup would be a good idea as well, so you are sure to backup any changes. You can also backup your MBR as well.

Also google for "NT Grub dual boot" for web pages on how to use the XP's loader to chainload Linux. This entails installing the grub MBR to a partition or disk with Linux, cutting it out to a file on your C:\ drive, and editing C:\BOOT.INI so there is a Windows boot menu with a Linux entry. This will leave a pristine MBR on your main boot drive. For Vista, there isn't a BOOT.INI file, but if you create one, Vista will use it.

jschiwal · 08-23-2009, 02:31 PM

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux - General and has been moved accordingly to help your question get the exposure it deserves.