Restoring the MBR after uninstalling Ubuntu

March 2, 2008 4:49 PM

I need to uninstall Ubuntu, but I'm confused by the uninstallation of GRUB on the Super GRUB Disk. Help!

Hello all, I just tried an upgrade to Ubuntu Gutsy which went wrong and now Ubuntu is messed up. So I'm going to remove it and install again, allowing me to rearrange the Ubuntu partitions on my hard drive (something I've been meaning to do anyway).

I'm dual booting XP and Ubuntu. Originally it was an Ubuntu only system but then I installed XP.

When I'm using the Super GRUB Disk and choose the "Fix Windows Boot option" it asks me which OS I had installed before Ubuntu. Do I choose XP here? I think so but I'm not entirely sure as there isn't an Ubuntu option, and I thought I should ask before messing up my MBR!

Thanks for your help!

posted by edbyford to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Why don't you just reinstall Ubuntu over the old install? I've done this a couple of times when I've messed with things I shouldn't have. You can change the sizes of the partitions during the install - again something I've done on multiple ocasions.
posted by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 5:03 PM on March 2, 2008

If your ubuntu install is still intact, ie you installed windows to a different partition, you can just re-create the boot record like so.
posted by jjb at 5:34 PM on March 2, 2008

Response by poster: I want to uninstall Ubuntu! At some point later I want to reinstall it, but not right now. And I want to move the partitions around.

So I don't want to reinstall and I don't want to re-enable GRUB. I just need to know what OS to tell the Super GRUB Disk that I originally had in order for it to fix the MBR.

Thanks
posted by edbyford at 12:51 AM on March 3, 2008

Stop mucking about with that CD (which duplicates something that the Ubuntu installer would have done for you anyway) and get your XP MBR back the right way.

You can delete the Ubuntu partition, or reformat it, in Windows. Partition Magic or the Win32 version of gparted will let you marge the partitions together if you want to.
posted by genghis at 10:06 AM on March 3, 2008