The proper way to uninstall OpenSUSE 11.2

[oz]

For removing GRUB, I usually do one of the following and it always works well for me:

To clear the MBR (master boot record) only, leaving partition table alone, go to a terminal and run:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1

To clear both, the MBR and partition table, you can run the following command from a terminal:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

Note that you will need root permissions, or you'll need to run the command from a liveCD. With either command, you should get a short message about records in and records out, and that should clear the MBR, leaving you able to install the Windows bootloader by whatever method you choose.

[lindsey]

Can you explain to me what ther partition table is?

And what is the difference between clearing both MBR and partition table as opposed to just one or the other?

[oz]

Partition table is the current partition layout on the disk.

Clearing MBR only leaves current partitions alone. Clearing MBR and partition table means you lose whatever resides on MBR and on the current partitions, although the partitions can usually be recovered if you don't write too much to the disk before attempting recovery.

If you aren't sure what to do, clear the MBR only because you can always delete partitions when ready.