Migrating to full Ubuntu after dual installation on WinXP

I previously ran 12.04 alongside WinXP to see how it performed on my mom's older laptop. i also migrated her email to Thunderbird. If I now convert from dual WinXP/Ubuntu to only run Ubuntu will things like her Thunderbird emails be transferred as part of the Ubuntu full install? Or must I do something else? I am fairly tech aware, but not a full IT boffin!

Solution 1:

You don't have to do a fresh install if you already have a working Ubuntu. I'm assuming you did not use WUBI. In that case I would go for a backup of everything, including Thunderbird mails, and a fresh Ubuntu install. You can migrate a Wubi install for a full install if you are willing to go through this procedure.

If on the other hand you have Ubuntu installed alongside Windows in a separate partition with Grub as bootloader then you can simply delete Windows CAREFULLY.

To delete Windows I would:

1. Backup all data on the Windows partition.
2. While logged in your Ubuntu install you could format your Windows partition or delete it if you want to (later) increase the size of your Ubuntu partition. How to do this depends on your current partition table. Type sudo fdisk -l and add it to your question for more specific help.
3. IMPORTANT: DO NOT REBOOT BEFORE THIS STEP! In a terminal type: sudo update-grub

Now you can reboot your PC, Windows is no longer there. If you decided to simply format your Windows partition you're done.

If you decided to increase the size of your Ubuntu partition with the space left over by the Windows removal you will need to boot from a liveDVD or liveUSB to do the necessary changes. What is needed depends on your current partition table. Again, you might need to repair Grub after doing these changes.