deleting and os

[Les Gray]

On Monday 13 August 2007 08:28:10 James Takac wrote:
> Hi Guys
>
> Have a friend that I have finally got used to Ubuntu. He's sick and tired
> of having to fix windows and this time it would need a complete reinstall
> to fix. So what he wants is to get rid of windows entirely (sys is
> currently set to dual boot) but I don't think a complete reinstall of
> Ubuntu is necessary as he thinks it to be. Can I in effect just redo the
> current windows partion and format it ext3 or so and just modify the
> entries in /boot/grub/menu.lst. Or will I need the live cd to boot from and
> the re setup grub from there?
>
> James

Hi James,

I think that should be OK, as long as by "just modify the entries 
in /boot/grub/menu.lst" you mean just removing the entry for Windows, and not 
touching the Ubuntu ones. If grub was installed in the master boot record you 
shouldn't need to reinstall it in that situation.

The only possible problem I can see is whether formatting the Windows 
partition will change the 'UUID' of the Ubuntu one. Current GRUB is set by 
default to find disk partitions according to UUID (that long number you see 
in menu.lst). If this number changes, Ubuntu won't boot. You would then have 
to reinstall GRUB using the live CD.

Next release I would also wipe the drive and install the new Ubuntu on the 
first partition, as it's always better to have your OS on the fastest part of 
the drive.

Les