Undo a dual boot from within Linux?

[goodash 0]

So I have a dual boot set up right now. A small partition set up for Linux (mandrake 10.0) and the rest for windows (on one hard drive). I just wanted to test out linux and now I'm set to switch completely over.

 

Here's the problem.

 

When I boot up in windows, it loads and right when it seems to be about done, Norton seems to have found a virus and the whole thing reboots.

 

What I want to do is kill windows completely and use up all the space for Linux.

 

Is there any way I can manage this from within linux (since this is the only way I can currently boot up)???

 

Thanks for any help (very much a newbie).

[danleff 0]

Nice to see that you like Mandrake and would like to switch over. Let's consider some things first.

 

What version of Windows are you running, XP? If so, are you running windows XP on the NTFS filesystem? The current linux partititoning tools don't always handle NTFS filesystems correctly.

 

Are you sure that the issue is a virus and not a problem with the hard drive itself? What leads you to believe that there is a virus infecting Windows?

 

Realize that grub is now set up to boot in a dual boot environment. What this means, is if you delete the Windows partition and take the whole disk for Mandrake, then grub's entry to boot Mandrake from it's correct partition is not correct and needs to be altered. if you really have a virus on the Windows partition, then you want to reformat that partition.

 

One solution, would be to install Mandrake, or better yet, Mandriva 2006 to format and take over the NTFS partition. This way, you still keep you data on the current Linux partition.

 

Or, it is possible to resize the Windows partition to recover some space, keep the current grub mbr inact and leave a small amount of space on the Windows partition, so that grub does not get confused. See this article and pay attention to the section about resizing the partition with Knoppix.

 

Just to make sure that you don't have any other potential issues, Please note what make and model system that you have. Or if you built your system yourself. Why, do I ask?

 

If you have a Compaq or HP system with Windows preinstalled, there are sometimes issues with recovery partitions on these systems that may be resident, or that may be present as part of the bios information.