Quote:
Originally Posted by schtocker
I'm going to partition my hard drive (I think!!)between Pinguy and Windows, but give Pinguy the vast majority.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EricTRA
The most logical first step would be to resize the Windows partition from within Windows itself
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If you want to shrink the Windows partition by a large amount, it is best to disable the paging file before shrinking the partition and reenable it later. I provided more detail in this earlier post:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...9/#post4841162
Quote:
Originally Posted by schtocker
Now, once I've partitioned my hard drive, will there ever be a way to remove Pinguy AND give Windows the entire hard drive again?
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When you install Linux, it is typical and easiest to install the first stage of grub (the Linux boot loader) into the MBR, so the dual boot is controlled by grub. When you want to uninstall Linux, you should fix the MBR back to Windows-only before you delete the Linux partition. There are Windows programs available to fix the MBR. You could research the details of doing that before installing Linux if you are paranoid enough, or wait until you decide to uninstall Linux.
So your three steps to uninstalling Linux are:
1) Fix the MBR for Windows
2) Delete the Linux partitions
3) Grow the Windows partition.
Step 2 is easiest using the GUI partitioning tool in the liveCD mode of the Linux install CD. But it is also possible to do inside Windows. Step 3 is easiest inside Windows.
If you know how to use the dd command in Linux, you can back up the first 512 bytes of the drive (after shrinking the Windows partition) to a file inside that partition, using the liveCD mode of your Linux install CD, before installing Linux. That file could be used later with dd from the same liveCD mode to fix the Windows MBR when you want to remove Linux, so you wouldn't need to find the Windows program for fixing the MBR. In your situation, I would do it via dd. But most people would just wait until they need to fix the MBR and then find the program that does it. That program is normally run from a Windows install CD because by the time you discover you need it you can't boot Windows. It is easier if you run it from the installed copy of Windows before you delete the partition containing grub. Once you delete grub, you can only fix the MBR from a CD.