Ubuntu

how to remove a linux distro

Asked by Dave

I have window XP, Ubuntu and Kubuntu on one hard drive. I have problems with kubuntu. the user accounts dont have sound and I can't use the terminal konsole in the user accounts with su to correct this and since it isnt as handy as ubuntu for me to use I'd like to remove it from the system. I would also like to know how to clean up the grub menu.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Answered
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Jim Hutchinson (jphutch) said : 		#1

Just delete the partition. There is no real way to uninstall an OS. You delete it or overwrite it. Open gparted from the terminal

gksudo gparted

and then you can remove the kubuntu partition. You will have to be in ubuntu to do that and if it's mounted you will have to unmount it. There is a menu option to do that in gparted. Depending on where that partition is you may be able to resize one of the others to reclaim that space. I've had some trouble doing that with gparted if I wanted to reclaim space to the "left". If you can't either I'm not sure what to do except reinstall. There may be other partitioning tools out there but I'm unaware of them.

Next, open up /boot/grub/menu.lst and delete the entries you don't want.

gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

That should pretty much get you what you want. If not, post back.

Revision history for this message
Dave (imdks) said : 		#2

jim is there a program i can get to actually graphically view the disk partitions and their content. for me the partitions were easy enough to trust with the installation disk but id rather be able to fix kubuntu and use that as well ,and still then there are other enteries on the menu which are duplicates. some i was able to remove but I can't remember how. the only reason I'm brave enough to try some things without experience is I have 4 computers (3 of which I built from barebones) so I have something to use if all goes haywire but others here can only use XP so I can't risk totally messing up that OS and those files for now. I've also tried Linux XP which looks good but isn't nearly as handy as ubuntu to use. Thanks

Revision history for this message
Tom Haddon (mthaddon) said : 		#3

Slightly tangential comment, but you don't need an entirely separate OS to run kubuntu. Just install kubuntu-desktop in your Ubuntu OS (or vice versa).

sudo aptitude install kubuntu-desktop

You should then get a choice of whether to run Kubuntu or Ubuntu at the login prompt.

Revision history for this message
Jim Hutchinson (jphutch) said : 		#4

Dave, I'm not sure I understand. You can graphically view the partitions with gparted but what do you mean by viewing contents? Usually you do that with a file viewer like nautilus.

I wouldn't bother fixing kubuntu. Do like Tom suggests and just install the kubuntu-desktop on Ubuntu and you can have one install with two (or more if you want) desktop environments.

To edit the grub menu just

gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

and remove the entries you don't want. Just make a backup in case you mess something up.

sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.bak

Can you help with this problem?

Provide an answer of your own, or ask Dave for more information if necessary.

To post a message you must log in.