I have this diskspace complication. I have installed Linux with limited diskspace, meaning that 1.9 gigs have been installed, but it is 1) not allowing me to install updates, because the Linux partition is filled up, 2) not allowing me to resize the Windows partition because, 3) it will not let me unmount the Windows partition, neither in YaST or the Konsole. I can only guess that it is not letting me perform some of these functions because crucial updates have not been downloaded. I have 1.7 gigs freed up in the Windows partition that is just sitting there ready to be used. I have tried unmounting it from the root, to no avail. From what I have read, I should be able to reallocate some of my Windows partition to be used by Linux software, if it would allow me to unmount the Windows partition in the first place.

It's almost like I am being forced to just Fdisk the whole hard drive and start all over from scratch. Is there any way that I can uninstall Linux partitions and reinstall the whole thing, using the correct parameters that I choose rather than the defaults that are designated automatically, getting rid of Windows when I want to, at my pace?

hi,
so you have dual boot machine.
If you are using lilo bootloader, run
#lilo -u
to uninstall lilo from MBR, so you have access to windows only. After this from the disk management utility of windows, format the linux partition and make it bigger and then install linux again with its bootloader in MBR>

If you have grub bootloader or if you don't want to use the above mentioned way then you must boot the machine using bootable cd of windows.
After getting inside the "recovery" mode, run
#fdisk /mbr
#/fixmbr

google a bit for these two commands.

one more thing you can do.
Since you will install a fresh copy of linux, so no need to remove the bootloader first.
just boot the machine using the bootable cd of your linux distro, using fdisk or cfdisk, make new partition and install linux there and its bootloader in MBR.
this would suit you most.

regards

Yes, I was already reinstalling from the CD. When I do that, it shows me the partition tables and it allows me to edit any and every parameter regarding that. Still not sure why Yast will not allow that from within the program. Obviously, I will have to format the two Linux partitions in order to delete what is already there and start over. The Format attribute for the Swap partition is pretty straightforward. There is a setting designated Swap. However, for the root partition, I am not sure which File System to use, as there are a number of choices.

Ext2
Ext3
Reiser
FAT
XFS
Swap

I have not yet found which default file system is used on the root partition, so that is probably my one question, at this point. Anybody???

Looks like it is Reiser.

go for riserfs (if your distro has support for it), otherwise you can opt for ext3.

regards