Removing LVM partitions from a non-functioning Fedora system

[Cicero480]

Hi. I helped a friend install Fedora Core 6 for a dual-boot setup with Windows XP. Unfortunately, the FC6 installation doesn't boot properly -- after FC6 is selected from GRUB, it displays an infinite stream of two characters until the power is killed. It would previously work intermittently, with the same problem sometimes happening, and at other times it would freeze during startup or while running YUM.

The current problem is that my friend wants to remove the LVM partitions that were created on one hard drive during the installation of Fedora and reclaim the space as a fresh partition for the Windows system. I'm not sure how this could be done: it seems to be impossible to boot to Fedora; Windows doesn't recognize LVM, so it refuses to reformat those partitions (which it reports as "raw"); and I've just learned that GParted can't be used for LVM. I believe it would be sufficient to simply destroy the Fedora partitions (i.e., convert them to unformatted space on the drive) so that a new partition can be created later under Windows or with a tool like GParted.

Is it possible with the Fedora CDs to use Disk Druid (or anything else) to simply remove the partitions without (re-)installing Fedora? If not, can anyone recommend a live CD or similar utility that can remove the partitions, preferably graphical and simple to use? (I'm not very experienced with command-line things and I'd hate to accidentally mess the system up worse than it already is.) Please ask if there's any other information I can provide that might help you answer my questions. Incidentally, any information on what might be causing the aforementioned failures to boot would be appreciated as well. Thank you very much.

[Thecowking]

I used an Ubuntu live CD to remove my LVMs. Worked a treat.

[stoat]

And another idea... Windows XP may not format the LVM partitions, but it will delete them.

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management > Right-Click on the Linux partition > Delete.

[SlowJet]

The F6 (and maybe the FC5) livCD has the LVM gui tool on gnome, admin menu.
The 8e partition type is only a flag (like any piece of data) and OS can ignore it, understand it, or screw it up.
The 8e is not really a partition but a partition comverted into a PV (Phyical Volume), and there for can not be deleted as a partition untill all the LVM components are removed.
All LV (Logical Volumes - which are Logical Partitions containing the actual F/S (file system, such as ext3attr) must be removed bfore the VG (Volume Group - indicating that this PV is part of a gourp of volumes) can be removed. The VG must be removed before the PV can be removed. I'm not sure what happens when more than 1 PV is involved but I think an export may work. It is impostant to properly remove the VG's and PV's so the Linux system will forget about the uuid of the VG.
Aftert he LV, VG, PV is removed and then 8e partition flag becomes just another partition that can be deleted by the old tools like fdisk.

As you can see, having LVM on a Linux only system is a more secure partitioning scheme.

Volume managers are used in SUN (for ufs and the LV' are called slices), FreeBSD (for UFS2 and LV's are called slices), for ZFS over ufs and the LVs are automagic, the VG are vitual F/S and the PV's are a ZPOOL.

The rule to remeber - create the partition with the OS that will use it and remove the partition with the OS thet used it.

SJ

[Cicero480]

Originally Posted by stoat

And another idea... Windows XP may not format the LVM partitions, but it will delete them.

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management > Right-Click on the Linux partition > Delete.

I forwarded this advice and it did the trick -- thank you. There's still one partition of about 100MB that causes some weird behavior when my friend tries to delete it in Windows, so I'll see about deleting it using the FC6 live CD or an Ubuntu disc. But the bulk of the disk space has been reclaimed, so we're happy.

Thank you to everyone who replied; all this information will be good to have in the future.

[stoat]

For that last stubborn partition, try KILLDISK. I have rarely had to use it, but I keep it around for situations just like this. And, others have reported success with it elsewhere in this forum. It can be used from a bootable floppy or CD. There is a free version available.

P.S.: As with any tool like this, warn your friend to be careful with it.