Remove windows from duel boot

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NumNuts
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Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:04 am
Location: Sunny Scotland

Remove windows from duel boot

Post by NumNuts »

Hi,just reinstalled Mint, BBC iPlayer now works!.
I have two sata HDD one for linux and a small one for windows and other stuff, which when I need windows I select as primary boot in the bios.
However I left it plugged in when I reinstalled mint and I now get the duel boot menu at boot up.
How do I get rid of the windows selection when booting up?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
AK Dave

Re: Remove windows from duel boot

Post by AK Dave »

So you reinstalled Mint, and by default unless told to NOT do this it installs grub if it sees another OS. You didn't want grub. You got it now.

You could get rid of it. I don't know how. Fred probably does.

But I'm guessing you'd be just as happy if it just "disappeared" and never popped up. Thats something I know how to do, but seeing as I'm at work on an XP box I can't give specific exact step-by-step instructions at the moment. So I'll simply ask:

Would it be "good enough" if grub had a zero-second delay, booted instantly and automatically to Mint, and never showed its menu for more than a split-second? But at the same time, you could still interrupt grub if you absolutely had to boot "safe mode"?

Also, wouldn't it be much easier to boot Windows from grub than by playing with your BIOS?
NumNuts
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:04 am
Location: Sunny Scotland

Re: Remove windows from duel boot

Post by NumNuts »

Hi AK Dave thanks for the reply.
I hardly ever need windows these days only very occasionally for some work related stuff.
I know its only on screen for a few seconds, but I'd rather be rid of any Windows and boot straight into
mint. Can I edit grub to remove the windows bit?
msuggs

Re: Remove windows from duel boot

Post by msuggs »

NumNuts wrote: Can I edit grub to remove the windows bit?
You can just edit out the Windows entry in the menu.lst by putting # at the start of the relevant lines

In a terminal

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
AK Dave

Re: Remove windows from duel boot

Post by AK Dave »

You can also edit the delay in grub so that the screen doesn't stay up and goes to the default immediately.
NumNuts
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:04 am
Location: Sunny Scotland

Re: Remove windows from duel boot

Post by NumNuts »

Tried that but won't let me save my changes. How do I get permission to do that?
AK Dave

Re: Remove windows from duel boot

Post by AK Dave »

Edit the grub menu:

Code: Select all

gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
Bypass the menu by default:

Code: Select all

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
hiddenmenu
Decrease the grub delay:

Code: Select all

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 1
Remove XP from the grub menu options. Find this section and #comment every line:

Code: Select all

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/hda1
title           Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root            (hd0,0)
Save the file. Reboot.
msuggs

Re: Remove windows from duel boot

Post by msuggs »

NumNuts wrote:Tried that but won't let me save my changes. How do I get permission to do that?
You have to use gksu or sudo in a terminal.
NumNuts
Level 2
Level 2
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:04 am
Location: Sunny Scotland

Re: Remove windows from duel boot

Post by NumNuts »

Hi, sorry it took so long to reply, I was on holiday for the week.
Have edited the grub and everything is as desired, thanks for the help.
It's another nugget of info learned.
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