Problems unmounting partition
 

Hi, I'm a total newbie in Linux, so patience please.
I've managed to get Ubuntu up and running and love it so much I want to wipe out my Windows XP partition. (Right now I boot from startup and choose Ubuntu.)
But when I open up Gparted it only shows me one "host" partition, a ntfs file system, and no reference to linux anywhere. More troubling, I cannot figure out how to "unmount" the partition. I've tried to boot from a CD unsucessfully, not sure why, but can't get the download to unzip, I think. Sorry, I said I'm a newbie.
Thanks for any help.

How long have you been using Ubuntu?
You may just want to keep windows around for awhile just in case.

Otherwise, You might just consider backing up any thing important (pics, documents, music, etc.) from both linux and windows, and doing a fresh install with the Ubuntu CD/DVD so you can use all the disc space (assuming you want only ubuntu) in a format Linux can use.
NOTE: This will format the drive, and get rid of the windows partition.

Which CD are you trying to boot from? I assume the Ubuntu but want to be sure ... and what download can't unzip?

Did you install Ubuntu using the live-cd, or Wubi?
If you're not able to boot from cd you most likely need to change boot priority in bios, or the cd wasn't burned right.
In winsxp I use cdburnerxp upon installation set as default iso-burner.

Problems unmounting in Ubuntu
 

OK, I feel more dense than ever. (Though I did know enough to back up all my files and Windows stuff that I want.)
I've now properly burned CD's of both Ubuntu and Gparted and I thought set my system to boot from CD. But I can't get either to show during boot. Is this because I already loaded Ubuntu on the computer via Wubi?
I also down 7Seven zip to unzip the Gparted on a CDRW but don't ever seem to be able to find it in Ubuntu to use it.
Very frustrating. Would it be faster/better to just reload Ubuntu via Wubi and can I tell it to take the entire disk and wipe out XP? That's really all I want to do on this old laptop.
Thanks.

If you have an Ubuntu or GParted live cd and want to boot with either, you need to burn it to a CD as an image. 7zip or unzip won't fit into the picture.

Also, you can't install Ubuntu with the wubi method and take the entire disk because with that method it is just a program inside windows. Burn the Ubuntu CD correctly as an image and boot from it and begin the installation.

I've done everything that you're doing including 7-zip.
There's nothing gained from frustration.
Ok you've installed Ubuntu using Wubi & would like to remove winsxp & install ubuntu.
You say that all you're seeing is Ntfs partition, Ubuntu usually creates ext4 atleast 10.10 does.
While booted in Ubuntu open terminal & issue command
"fdisk -l" and that will list partitions.

If you've downloaded and installed cdburnerxp & set as default iso burner all of the iso files that you have downloaded in the past and the future downloads will look different as they are now associated with cdburnerxp.
If you use the ubuntu-live-cd there's an option for "side by side" or "erase and use whole drive".

Make & model of laptop?

Problems Unmounting - solved!
 

Thanks everyone!
I finally understood what was going on with Wubi and correctly made bootable CD. So I started over and everything seems to be working fine and reimported info in just Ubuntu.
The different answers I'm sure reflected my unclear descriptions of situation and everyones efforts to help. Much appreciated and I look forward to becoming a more knowledgeable Linux user who can hopefully help someone else some day.

Congrats glad to know you've worked it out.