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I used to have Windows XP on my computers smaller partition but it seems the bootloader is located on the bigger one.

After replacing my OS with Linux Mint, I kept being asked as to choose whether XP or Mint.

I tried deleting boot.ini, didn't work. I cannot afford to delete all my backup files.

How can I get rid of the Windows bootloader? Especially manually.

TPS
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Ibrahim Ersoy
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1 Answers1

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First of all it is important to understand where the bootloader that you want to remove is physically located on the disk. It can either be installed:

  • on the first sector of a partition (unlikely for Window$ XP systems);
  • on the Master Boot Record, and that is a reserved zone of your hard drive that can either be empty or contain a bootloader; it is most likely that the Window$ bootloader that you want to remove is located here.

Assuming that the Win bootloader is in the MBR then, you just need to erase the MBR in order to remove the bootloader. Then you should take care of flagging the partition containing your GNU/Linux bootloader as bootable.

Since you want to do that "manually", there is actually more than one way to do it. You may start a live MS-DOS environment from a floppy disk and issue

fdisk /mbr

and that is better explained here.

Or you may as well do that from a GNU/Linux system using dd (beware, it is a powerful command!) to erase the first 512 bytes of your primary hard drive -- because that is technically the MBR. More info here.

Rui F Ribeiro
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wizclown
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  • Whoa!! If he uses fdisk /mbr he'll rewrite the MBR with a Microsoft one. If Linux Mint had installed Grub on the MBR, then it will fail to boot. Although it's difficult to fathom out what 'the smaller partition' and 'the bigger one' actually is. – garethTheRed Jul 11 '14 at 13:30
  • @Ibrahim - Paste the output of sudo parted --list here so we can see your setup. – garethTheRed Jul 11 '14 at 13:31
  • @garethTheRed Yes, he will overwrite the MBR with a Microsoft one but it will not fail to boot because that command is not altering the partition table at all. So assuming that he correctly sets a bootable flag for the partition where its GRUB/Lilo/whatever GNU/Linux loader is installed, he will be able to boot correctly. But I totally agree with you on the fact that there is a need for more information in order to give an exact reply, and the OP should specify what he/she intends when writing "Windows bootloader". – wizclown Jul 11 '14 at 14:38
  • @garethTheRed Forgive me, I totally missed your "If Linux Mint had installed Grub on the MBR, [...]" yeah of course in that case it would fail. :) I assumed that he had installed the GNU/Linux in some partition != MBR, otherwise the main question does not really make sense to me :/ – wizclown Jul 11 '14 at 14:47
  • @Ibrahim In case you do not have parted installed you can paste the output of sudo fdisk -l which is supposedly included in the majority of the distributions. – wizclown Jul 11 '14 at 14:51
  • In shouting "Whoa" I did make the assumption that GRUB might be located on the MBR (better safe than sorry etc). We need more info before we can undo that "Whoa!" I was thinking that it's installed on the MBR and he's getting both options in the GRUB menu. Difficult to tell until OP posts more info... – garethTheRed Jul 11 '14 at 15:06