how to uninstall windows or linux after dual-booting

7/27/2019 How to Uninstall Windows or Linux After Dual-Booting

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May 20, 2013, 04.30 PM IST

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Li n u x Af t e r D u a l -B o o t i n gWhitson Gordon

We've talked a lot about running multiple operating systems onthe same computer-whether it's Windows and Linux, Windowsand OS X, or something else-but what happens when it's time to

get rid of one? Here's how to delete Windows or Linux from yoursystem after you've dual-booted them.

The process is actually quite simple, but many of you ask us thiswhen you go through your first dual-booting process, so we'vedecided to lay out the instructions here for easy access. All youreally need to do is delete the partition on which your unwantedOS is installed. That process will vary a little based on which OSyou're keeping, so here are three sets of instructions.

Note: Before you start, make sure you have an up-to-date backup

of the system you want to keep. If you make one tiny mistake inthe steps below, you could end up deleting the wrong partition,which would be very very bad!

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Keep Windows and Remove LinuxIf you've given Linux a shot but you're ready to stick withWindows as your main OS, you'll have to go through a few extrasteps. This assumes Windows and Linux were on the same drive,and the partitions are located next to each other. Here's what youneed to d

ead to the Start menu (or Start screen) and search for""Disk Management."" Open up the Disk Management tool.

1.

ind your Linux partition. It won't be labeled since Windowsdoesn't understand the Linux file system, so you'll need tofigure out which one it is by size and where it is on your harddrive. Make sure you have the right one before continuing!

2.

ight-click on the partition and choose ""Delete Volume.""This will delete the partition from your hard drive, leaving free

space.

3.

ight-click on your Windows partition and choose ""ExtendVolume."" Extend it to fill the free space your Linux partitionleft behind.

4.

Lastly, insert your Windows recovery disc (or recovery USBdrive) and boot from it. Choose ""Repair Your Computer,"" goto ""Troubleshoot,"" and then enter a Command Prompt. Typethe following command:

boot r ec. exe / f i xmbr

This will remove Linux's bootloader and replace it withWindows'.

5.

Reboot your computer and you should find that it bootsdirectly into Windows, with no Linux partition to be found.

6.

If you set up your dual-booting differently, your instructions mayvary slightly-like if you put Linux on a separate hard drive, or ifyou have other operating systems on the drive. But for mostpeople, these instructions should suffice.


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TAGS WINDOWS PARTITIONS OS X MAC OS X MAC LINUX HOW TO

DUAL BOOT UBUNTU THE REST

Keep Linux and Remove WindowsIf you're the adventurous type and have decided to go to Linuxfull time, then your job is pretty easy. Instructions may vary bydistro and your specific setup, but for the traditional Ubuntusetup, it should look something like this:

Insert a live CD or USB for your Linux distribution and startup its partition manager (like Gparted). Find your Windowspartition in Gparted's menu-it'll be listed as an NTFS drive.

1.

Right-click on that Windows partition and choose ""Delete""from the menu. Your machine may have other Windows-related partitions as well, like ""System Reserved"" andrecovery partitions. If you want, you can delete these as well(but make sure you have recovery discs handy if you're goingto delete a recovery partition).

2.

Right-click on your Linux partition and choose""Resize/Move."" Resize it so it takes up the rest of thenow-free space on your drive.

3.

Click the ""Apply All Operations"" button in the toolbar toperform the selected tasks. It may give you a warning saying

that your computer may not boot, but with most Linuxinstalations this shouldn't be a problem (though if it is, checkout this article to fix it). This process may take some time, solet it be!

4.

When it finishes, you should have a hard drive with nothing butLinux on it. Your boot menu will still have some Windows entries,and it'll work fine if you leave them there, but if you want toclean things up, just open up a Terminal in Linux and run:

sudo updat e- grub

to remove them.

Like we said, every dual-boot setup is a beautiful and uniquesnowflake, so you may have to adjust some of these instructionsas you go to work with your specific settings. Hopefully, thisshould give you a good guide, though. Always remember to backup first, and good luck!


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