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I'm thinking about making a partition to test out Mac OS X on my own computer hard drive and don't think it would suffice if I used it through VM. So how would I go about returning to single boot Ubuntu after I decided I didn't want the Mac Partition anymore?

I already know how to make the partition and work Gparted, but I have a few basic questions as well.

1) To boot to another Partition I would have to make it a Primary partition correct? 2) In the case that I deleted the partition and re-formatted it back to my main ubuntu Partition, how would I go back from Dual Boot to Single Boot?

I know in windows to change the boot options I would have to clear the Boot paths so that any partition that wasn't existing on it previously wouldn't continue to prompt me on what OS to boot - does Ubuntu require that I do that as well? If so, then how?

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  1. No. You can boot from a primary or from a logical partition

  2. There's nothing magical about "dual boot", and no switching between "dual boot" and "single boot" necessary - this is just a matter of adding another entry to GRUB's boot menu and setting a non-zero boot menu timeout :)

After installing OSX it won't appear in the GRUB's boot menu automatically - you'll need to edit GRUB configs to add an entry for it. See this for more details - the magic word is "chainload".

After you're done with OSX, you delete the partition and edit the configs again, removing the entry.

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  • whats the worst case scenario when editing GRUB menu? is there a failsafe? Also, which is better? GRUB 1.99? or GRUB 2? Mar 5, 2012 at 5:09
  • The worst case scenario is that machine won't boot so you'll have to boot from Ubuntu LiveCD and reinstall GRUB (you likely will need it anyway after installing OSX). Ubuntu uses GRUB2. I'm not sure how they come up with this versioning scheme, but Grub 1.99 is Grub2.
    – Sergey
    Mar 5, 2012 at 5:26
  • Oh alright. good stuff. I'm not fresh installing OSX, dual boot. Mar 5, 2012 at 5:29
  • quick question how will I do this with Grub systemstartup package for 12.04? Mar 5, 2012 at 10:20

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