I want to retain mywinXp and remove Ubuntu and install OpenSUSE 11.3,
but if i remove Ubuntu partitions from my harddrive, then boot loader will be gone and machine won’t find winXP, so I want to remove unbuntu and install oensuse without losing any of my data and winXp, how to do it ?
Someone suggested me that , by running openSUSE installation, we can remove all linux partitions already present on the machine, but by doing so , would there be any problem with booting menu ?? or are there any chances that my win Xp will no more be accessible ???
While installing openSUSE it also installs the bootloader. It doesn’t install itself in the MBR by default however by choosing advanced you can instruct him to do so. If you have the bootloader (GRUB) installed in the MBR most likely you’ll be able to boot windows and openSUSE (for me it’s the easiest way to to this and it has never let me down) . Just be sure not to delete your winXP partition while removing the ubuntu one
If you install openSUSE, won’t delete the windows partition and you still won’t be able to boot winXP it is quite easy to repair this. You would just have to read a bit more about GRUB.
In most cases - and specially with XP - there is no problem at all !
I would choose the third and last method while installing openSUSE “Edit partition setup”, as you do have partitions for Linux already, pick your Linux partitions one by one, select filesystem and mount points, check ‘format’, install Grub in MBR (or not). An entry to boot Windows XP should be added automatically. If not, report back and we’ll get it fixed.
So you mean to say that i can start installing opensuse, and there i can remove alll linux partitions(i.e. ubuntu) and after successfull installation of opensuse, i would be having a normal as it is system , with winxp and opensuse , is that what you mean ???
Could also throw more light on MBR ???
Yes that’s what I mean. If you remove the linux partitions you will have to create at least one for openSUSE to reside on and one swap partition.
You could also leave the ubuntu partitions as they are and just reformat them.
I agree with that choice. Be aware that it is two clicks away from Main menu, as it is not the default.
You don’t have to delete any partition, unless you decide to because you want to change their size, or remove or add partitions. If you’re happy with your current partition scheme (maybe you are), you don’t need to modify the partition table, just pick your Linux filesystems (of course not the Windows partition!) and format them new.
Yes you can do that or you can use PartedMagic, or openSUSE setup. But if you are familiar with Windows disk manager, go on! You should create a 2 GB partition for swap … then it depends … it’s a philosophical question again. But most people have just /home and /. If this is the option you choose, use ext4 format for both.
No no, format them as FAT32 or leave them unformat (I don’t know if it’s possible with XP disk manager however). Then, select them and reformat them in openSUSE setup. There is a difference between creating and formating a partition. When you create a partition, you’re writing its geometry (offset and size) to the disk (more exactly to the partition table in MBR for primary or EBR for logical partitions). When you format a partition, you’re just filling it with a new filesystem, like NTFS, FAT under Windows or EXT3, EXT4 (or some others) under Linux.
I chose “Edit partition setup”,
I also chose GRUB: change locaiton to “MBR” enabled
installation summary was something like this, shrinking sda1 to 13.02 and sda5 to 12.3 Gb, swap partition to sda3 (old linux), root partition to sda6(old linux),
then began installation, and after sometime, while shrinking done with sda5, when started with sda1, it showed the following error-
Failure occured during following action:
Shrinking partition /dev/sda1 to 13.03 GB (progress bar might not move)
System error code was: -3027
Now, currenly, i am not able to have my winXp back, during booting it shows:
error: no such partition
grub rescue>_
So help me, what to do, I need my winXp as it is and also need to install openSUSE 11.3
Boot off your XP installation disk, press R (repair) enter the following;
fixmbr
Y to confirm, then exit and reboot and you’ll boot straight back into XP.
There are plenty of third party disk ultilites, Diskwizard for example that you can use to delete and format the linux partitions and merge to your C: (If you wish to)
After this remove all the ubuntu partitions from windows by going to the control panel, administrative tools, computer management. In this select disk management from the left side of the window. It will show you your compters hard drives. You’ll see the windows partions as well as the ubuntu partitions. Delete the ubuntu ones if you are sure you are not loosing anything worth keeping. After you have deleted them you will have unpartitioned space on your hard drive which the OpenSUSE installer should detect and use. Now FULLY SHUTDOWN windows. Don’t leave it on hibernation or standby as this will render access to the partition impossible and cause a similar error as you experienced earlier.
Be sure the partition setup suggested by the OpenSUSE installer does not format your Windows hard drive but I think you should be ok. As always with installations be sure you know what’s happening befor you click ok!
