MacOS – How to uninstall Linux from a MacBook properly

command linedisk-utilitymacospartitionunix

There are a lot of questions by those who have already bricked their macs trying to remove Linux so their questions usually stem from a position where one of the disk is labelled FFFF-FFFFFFFF-and more F's.
They come from the angle of having already done something wrong.

I'm not in that position, and I'd rather not start by bricking my mac.

Does you have any ideas on how to properly remove Linux from my mac (this includes the hidden FFFF partition)?

Any help explained in a very basic manner would be much appreciated.

diskutil list below

It may also be worth mentioning that in both
/dev/disk0 and /dev/disk1 there are gpt partitions when looked at via recovery mode.

to address the suspicious MBR sector I've used the command

sudo fdisk/dev/disk0

to give an inside look

Best Answer

Evidently, the tricky part is the removal of the Linux partitions (disk0s3 and disk0s4).

The last partition (disk0s4) is the Linux swap partition. The following command can be used to return this partition free space. This should also remove the hybrid partitioning in the Master Boot Record (MBR) Partition Table.

sudo diskutil eraseVolume free none disk0s4

The command below should return the remaining Linux partition (disk0s3) to free space. However, when tested under High Sierra (macOS 10.13.6), this command failed to work properly.

Note: When tested under Catalina (macOS 10.15.2), command below did work properly. However, after participating in discussions posted at this question, I can report the command may still fail under Catalina.

sudo diskutil eraseVolume free none disk0s3

The alternative way to remove this partition is to boot to macOS Recovery and use the command shown below. I would recommend using the command below over the above command. After entering the command below, you can boot back to macOS.

gpt -f remove -i 3 disk0

The next command returns the free space back to the APFS container (disk0s2).

sudo diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk0s2 0

The next command mounts the EFI volume (disk0s1).

sudo diskutil mount disk0s1

The next command removes the linux boot files from the EFI volume. This will prevent Linux from appearing in the Startup Manager. With some versions of Linux, this folder may not exist.

rm -r /Volumes/EFI/EFI/BOOT

There will be other boot files remaining in the EFI volume. You do not have to remove these files if you do not wish to. The files will be in a folder named after the Linux that was installed. For example, with Ubuntu the command would be as follows.

rm -r /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Ubuntu

The next command unmounts the EFI volume (disk0s1).

sudo diskutil unmount disk0s1

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How to fix the partition table after messing it up trying to install Linux Mint

You first have to remove the swap partition and the visible Recovery HD with gpt and then you will be able to resize your Macintosh HD with Disk Utility.

Boot to Internet Recovery Mode by pushing altcmdR while booting.

Then open Terminal.app and enter (assuming disk0 is your main disk):

gpt -r show /dev/disk0

Unmount your main disk with:

diskutil umountDisk disk0

First remove the Linux swap partition with:

gpt remove -i 5 disk0

(which means: remove the partition with the index number 5 on disk0).

and then the Recovery HD with the GUID 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC:

gpt remove -i 4 disk0

The Recovery HD with the GUID 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC is the proper one. Don't delete this one.

Finally remount disk0, quit Terminal, open Disk Utility, verify/repair your main volume "Macintosh HD" and finally expand it to the full size of your disk with the slider.

How to properly install Kali Linux on MacBook Air (dual-boot with El Capitan)

I set up a MacBook Air 2013 from scratch and tried to install Kali Linux 2.0. The install was successful, the big problem is the Broadcom wireless card though. But that's probably a second question.

Here is what I did:

First I made a fresh install of El Capitan 10.11.1 after repartitioning the internal drive to 1 partition with a GUID partition table.
After configuring El Capitan I downloaded Kali Linux and rEFInd 0.9.2
Then I dd'ed the kali iso image to a thumb drive:

First get the disk identifier of the thumb drive and unmount it:
```
diskutil list
```
My thumb drive had the disk identifier disk2.
```
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
```
then dd the iso to the thumb drive:
```
sudo dd if=/Users/your_user_name/Downloads/kali-linux-2.0-amd64.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m
```
The thumb drive will be bootable without installing rEFInd.
Then I booted to Recovery HD by holding cmdR while booting. Disable System Integrity Protection in Terminal with
```
csrutil disable
```
Reboot to Internet Recovery Mode by holding altcmdR.You will see a spinning globe animation while booting.
Since you probably have a CoreStorage partition after installing El Capitan you have to resize it. I doubt that the disk partition tool in the Kali Live USB drive succeeds with that. Open Terminal and enter:
```
diskutil cs list
diskutil cs resizeStack lvUUID size
```
lvUUID is the UUID of the Logical Volume. It's the last one listed in the output of diskutil cs list. The size has to be in t, g, m or k. Example: If your main disk has 250 GB and you need 40 GB free space to install Kali Linux to, enter 210g.

If you don't have a CoreStorage stack on your Mac you may choose Disk Utility to resize the main volume. The Recovery HD should be moved automatically in both cases.
Reboot while holding the alt key. Boot to the Windows partition of the thumb drive. Choose Graphical Install and configure the locale settings. The network interface install will probably fail. Choose none. Use the defaults of the disk partitioning tool. It will choose the empty space on your main disk to create a small boot partition for grub, a main partition and a swap partition. Then Kali Linux will be installed. Install grub to the mbr of your main disk.
After a reboot the Mac will boot to OS X. Eject the Kali Linux installer thumb drive.
Install rEFInd:
```
cd /Users/your_user_name/Downloads/refind-bin-0.9.2
./install.sh
```
Rename the refind folder and the efi file:
```
cd /Volumes/ESP/EFI
mv refind boot
mv boot/refind_x64.efi boot/bootx64.efi
```
Immediately after installing rEFInd the EFI volume is mounted at /Volumes/ESP and the install script fails to unmount it. If you mount disk0s1 later manually (e.g. after a reboot) with diskutil mount /dev/disk0s1 it will be mounted to /Volumes/EFI! Then you have to use cd /Volumes/EFI/EFI instead.
Quit Terminal and reboot while holding alt
Choose EFI Boot at the Mac boot screen and then Kali Linux at rEFInd boot screen.
Set up Kali Linux

Everything except the WLAN interface (and AFAIK the webcam) works now.

To further set up Kali Linux check the following resources:

HOWTO : Kali Linux 1.0.6 on MacBook Air (Mid 2013) 13 inches

To get the Broadcom chip to work check:

How to install Broadcom BCM4360 on debian on Macbook pro
How do I install build-essential without an Internet connection?
Kali 2.0 Installation Tips for Macbook Pro 2015 Retina
Broadcom firmware
Installing Debian On Apple MacBook Air6-2
b43 and b43legacy

Until now I haven't been able to get WLAN working but I'm investigating that and I will extend the answer as soon as I'm successful.

After setting up everything successfully boot to the Recovery HD again and reenable System Integrity Protection in Terminal with

csrutil enable

Best Answer

Related Solutions

How to fix the partition table after messing it up trying to install Linux Mint

How to properly install Kali Linux on MacBook Air (dual-boot with El Capitan)

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