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How to completely remove Linux. How to Remove Windows from a Dual Boot System

Using the Ubuntu distribution as an example. In this article, we will look at the reverse process, which sooner or later those users who are not to their liking for Linux will have to resort to. How to remove Linux installed on the same Windows computer? How to get the Windows bootloader back?

To completely get rid of Linux, you need to restore the Windows boot loader, delete Linux files and resolve the issue of the future fate of the disk space that was allocated for installing this operating system (swap partition and partition with Linux files itself). Below we will look at 3 ways to remove Linux and return the Windows bootloader. Two of them are methods for computers based on a regular BIOS; they will differ in the tools used. The third method is to remove the Linux boot loader from the boot list of computers with UEFI BIOS. All operations described below are carried out inside Windows.

1. Bootice utility and Windows disk management

For the first method of uninstalling Linux and restoring the Windows bootloader, you will need two utilities - the third-party free Bootice and the standard diskmgmt.msc (disk management).

1.1. Recovering the Windows bootloader using Bootice

First of all, download the Bootice utility from its official website. For computers based on a regular BIOS, the 32- or 64-bit edition of the utility does not matter. After unpacking Bootice, launch it. On the first tab, select the desired hard drive from the drop-down list if there are several of them connected. And click the “Process MBR” button.

In the window that appears, for Windows 7, 8.1 and 10, select the “Windows NT 6.x MBR” option. In the case of Windows XP, you need to select the option above - “Windows NT 5.x MBR”. Next, click the “Install / Config” button.

We confirm.

Windows boot loader has been restored.

1.2. Removing Linux partitions in Windows Disk Management

After restoring the Windows bootloader, we go to the standard disk management utility. Press the Win+R keys and enter its name:

In the utility window, we delete two Linux partitions - specially prepared before installing it manually or automatically created by this system. In the latter case, as a rule, the Linux partitions on the hard drive are located immediately behind the Windows system partition. Without understanding the Linux file system, the Windows operating system does not assign letters to its partitions, and, accordingly, they cannot be displayed in Explorer. But in any case, it is better to focus on both these signs and the sizes of Linux partitions. To delete Linux partitions on each of them, you need to call the context menu and select “Delete Volume”.

The freed disk space can then be organized here, in the disk management utility, into a partition or several partitions acceptable for Windows (in the NTFS file system format). You can read more about creating simple partitions using standard Windows tools in.

2. AOMEI Partition Assistant

An alternative way to get rid of Linux and return the Windows boot loader for users of computers based on a regular BIOS can be offered by a functional program for working with disk space AOMEI Partition Assistant. All the tools necessary for these purposes are available in the free Standard Edition of the program. In the AOMEI Partition Assistant window on the side toolbar, in the “Disk Operations” block, select “MBR Recovery”.

In the window that appears, from the drop-down list, select the type of bootloader for the corresponding versions of Windows.

The program will warn you that after the planned operation, Linux will stop loading. Click “Yes”.

Then we apply the operation with the green button at the top of the “Apply” window.

We go through a couple of stages to confirm our intentions.

That's it, the operation is applied.

We confirm the deletion of each section.

And we arrange the freed space into a partition (or partitions) with a file system understandable for Windows. In the context menu on the unallocated space, select “Create partition”.

If only part of the space is allocated for a partition, indicate the required size. Click "Ok".

We apply planned operations.

3. Removing the Linux bootloader from the BIOS UEFI boot queue

To remove the Linux boot loader on computers with UEFI BIOS, we will use the Bootice utility mentioned in paragraph 1 of the article. But in this case, you need to download its 64-bit edition. This includes a special “UEFI” tab. Go to this tab, click the “Edit boot entries” button.

On the left, select the Linux bootloader, in this case Ubuntu. And press the “Del” button at the bottom.

The bootloader has been removed from the UEFI boot queue.

Operations for deleting Linux partitions and forming new partitions with a file system understandable for Windows can be carried out using any of the methods described above - in paragraphs. 1.2 and 2 articles.

Have a great day!

Ubuntu offers the user basically the same functionality as Windows, allowing you to browse Internet sites using a browser, receive mail, and work with office and graphics applications that are in no way inferior in their capabilities to their Windows counterparts. However, not everyone is ready to migrate to Linux, relearning to work with an unusual operating system and new applications. Experiments on switching to Linux also do not always satisfy the users who started them with their results. In addition, sometimes it is necessary to remove Ubuntu just to try installing some other Linux distribution, such as Gentoo. This means that very often it occurs, Ubuntu with or.


In order to remove Ubuntu, you must:


  1. Download Ubuntu.

  2. Make a backup copy of all important files, archives and other files, the loss of which could be an unpleasant surprise. It is better to put them on some external media, for example, or a disk other than the system disk installed on your Ubuntu.

  3. Run the command sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg

  4. In the configuration file that opens, delete the Ubuntu-related lines.

  5. Restore the Windows bootloader. This can be done using the Recovery Console by running the command fixmbr and fixboot c:

  6. As a result, after a reboot, the Ubuntu boot option will be absent, and you will be able to boot into Windows (of course, if this operating system is already present as an alternative).

If there is no Windows on your computer, then simply install this operating system in the standard way.

To permanently remove Ubuntu, after booting into Windows, format the corresponding disk partition to NTFS. This will free up space previously occupied by Ubuntu to accommodate Windows files and folders.

Sources:

  • how to find out which ubuntu I have

Users who switch from the Windows operating system to Linux Ubuntu will probably immediately notice a difference in the installation process and uninstallation of programs. It is because of this that many users return to the more familiar Windows. But in fact, there is nothing complicated in this procedure.

You will need

  • - a computer running Linux Ubuntu.

Instructions

One of the easiest ways to get rid of a program is to uninstall it using the "terminal". To do this, open the Application menu. To do this, click on it with the left mouse button. A list of sub-items will appear. From this list, select “Standard”, then “Terminal”.

Next, in the terminal command line, enter Sudo apt-get remove. After the word remove, you must enter the name of the program you want to remove. For example, you need to remove the Midori Internet browser. Accordingly, enter the command Sudo apt-get remove Midori into the terminal command line. After this, you must enter the user password. The process of uninstalling the program will begin.

Another way to remove program- is to use the Synaptic tool. Select System. Next, go to “Administration” and select “Synaptic Package Manager”. After this, the main menu of the application will open. In it, select “Everyone”. A list of all installed programs will appear. If necessary, you can also select a list of installed applications depending on the category (“Text editors”, “Games”, etc.).

Find program which you will delete. After that, right-click on it and select “Cancel to delete” in the context menu. Another dialog box will appear. In this window, click the “Apply” button. This program is now marked for removal. Next, in the Synaptic main menu, also click “Apply”. The application will be deleted.

If necessary, you can configure the settings for uninstalling programs. To do this, select “Settings” from the Synaptic menu, then “Options” and “Files”. A window will open in which you will have the opportunity, for example, to configure the storage settings of the program distribution or clear the cache after removing it.

The Ubuntu operating system attracts many users with its original solutions and ease of installation. In the age of total distribution of Windows, free Ubuntu not only maintains its market share, but also increases it in the segment of large industrial systems.

Preparing a USB flash drive for installing Ubuntu

To create a bootable USB flash drive with Ubuntu, use the WinSetupFromUSB program. You can download the WinSetupFromUSB 1.0 installation file from numerous Internet resources absolutely. Install the program on your computer and run it. Confirm the selection of the desired USB storage device. Select the Auto format it with FBinst command. Next, select the Linux ISO/Other Grub4dos compatible ISO item and specify the path to the Ubuntu disk image. After this, the computer will display a dialog box asking for a name in the boot menu - enter a custom name. Click the Go button to create an Ubuntu installation flash drive. Keep in mind that during the download, any files that may have been stored on the flash drive before will be erased.

Computer settings

To authorize installation from a flash drive, you need to make changes to your computer settings. To do this, boot into the BIOS and set the USB flash drive as the first hard drive and first boot device in boot device priorities. Don't forget to save your changes when exiting the BIOS and reboot your computer.

Installing Ubuntu

Immediately after booting from the flash drive, the computer will display a dialog box for selecting the language and options for use: installing Ubuntu or launching it without installation. Confirm the selection “Install Ubuntu”, you can select Russian as the system language. In the next step, the installation wizard will ask you to check for free space and ask you to confirm the installation of third-party software. This software is related to codecs and it is better to download it. Follow the onscreen instructions until the installation wizard prompts you to find another operating system (Windows). There are several options: Windows can be removed or Ubuntu can be installed as a second operating system. The third option concerns experienced users and is self-partitioning of the hard drive.

The most convenient option is to install Ubuntu as a second system. Select this option and follow the installation wizard instructions. Please note that clicking the “Install Now” button will make changes to existing disk partitions and create new ones. This process will take some time. In the next steps you will need to select the current time zone, keyboard layout and create an account.

After entering all the data, the installation of Ubuntu on your computer starts. Once installation is complete, you will be prompted to restart your computer.

In Ubuntu and its derivatives operating systems, the guest login feature is enabled by default after installation. This feature allows anyone to log into your PC without a password. Even if the guest session is limited and a stranger will not be able to access your data, not everyone will like this feature. Fortunately, it can be easily disabled.

You will need

  • -5 minutes time.
  • -Command line skills.

Instructions

Launch the terminal emulator.

Let's open the lightdm display manager configuration file for editing with superuser rights. To do this, run the command in a terminal window:
sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/10-xubuntu.conf - for xubuntu or
sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/10-ubuntu.conf if you are using ubuntu.

Enter your password when prompted.

Add the line allow-guest=false to the end of the file, as shown in the screenshot. Exit and save: press Ctrl+X, then Y in response to the save request. Reboot the computer.

note

The user on whose behalf editing is performed must have administrator rights (root) on the computer. By default, the first user created during installation of Ubuntu\Xubuntu is this user.

Helpful advice

To write commands faster in the terminal, use the TAB key to complete commands. For example, by entering:
sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/ and pressing TAB, you will ensure that the terminal ends the line by adding the only file in the folder to the end of the command, thus getting sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d /10-xubuntu.conf. If there are several files in the folder, the terminal will display their names to you and you can thus manually complete the command without errors.

A person who has recently switched to using Linux often does not know how to perform even the simplest operations at first. One of these operations is formatting flash drives and memory cards. To do this you will have to use the command line.

Instructions

Before connecting to a computer, set it to write-enable mode. It is carried out by such a miniature switch located on its body. If there is no such switch, the drive is always in this mode.
The same switches are sometimes found on SD cards, as well as on adapters for installing Mini SD and Micro SD cards into card readers.

After connecting a flash drive or installing a card in a card reader, do not rush to start formatting right away. Be sure to transfer all data from it to your computer's hard drive. If the file system is corrupted and formatting is being done precisely for this reason, remove at least those files that can be formatted.

If very important data is stored, but it was not possible to extract it in full, contact a data recovery specialist before formatting. He may be able to extract some more files from the media.

After completing data extraction, unmount the flash drive or card using the umount command. Without this, you will not be able to start formatting. But do not disconnect the media with the elect command - after this it will stop responding to requests until the next reconnection.

Usually, when connected, the card is automatically assigned the designation /dev/sda, and the only partition on it is /dev/sda1. Sometimes there are several sections on the media. Check if this is the case using the fdisk utility:
fdisk /dev/sda
It allows you to view sections, delete them and add new ones. The procedure for using it differs little from the procedure for using a utility with the same name in DOS and Windows, and therefore does not require explanation.

Perform full formatting with the command:
mkfs.vfat -c -F 32 /dev/sda1
If necessary, replace /dev/sda1 with a different partition name. Please note that full formatting is a lengthy process, regardless of which OS it is performed in, but it allows you to check the physical integrity of the media. If you are confident in its physical integrity, perform a quick format that takes no more than two minutes. To do this, run the same command, omitting the "-c" switch.

If you installed Linux and then realized that you are not yet ready to work in an unknown environment, then you will definitely have a question about how to get rid of the new system. Let's see how to remove Linux if it was installed next to Windows or was the only installed system on the computer.

Uninstalling Linux

The easiest way to get rid of Linux is to install Windows on top of it by formatting the disk. Let's look at the procedure using the example of installing Windows 7 (you can read more about this in the article on how to install Windows 7 from a flash drive). After selecting the installation type and accepting the license agreement, the wizard will prompt you to specify the partition on which the system will be installed.

You can partition the disk again or use existing partitions. In any case, after installing Windows, there will be no traces of Linux on the computer. Instead of Windows, you can install another version of Linux. The principle is the same: during installation, you need to re-partition the disk, deleting all old data.

Uninstallation in Windows environment

If you have a Windows system installed, then to uninstall Linux you need to delete the corresponding partitions of your hard drive. This is done like this:


When you delete a partition, all information that was stored on it will be destroyed. Therefore, if you had any important files on Linux, throw them onto a flash drive or transfer them to those partitions that are used by the Windows system. After deleting partitions, unallocated space will appear. To start using it in a Windows environment, you need to expand one of the remaining partitions by adding free space to it.

  1. Right-click on the section you want to expand.
  2. Select the "Expand" option.
  3. Specify the volume to be added to the existing partition.

It is not necessary to expand the existing volume - you can simply create a new partition, assigning it a different letter. In any case, the main difficulty awaits you ahead - after restarting the computer, Windows will not start. The reason is described above: the bootloader was removed along with Linux. You can resolve this error using the Windows installation disc.

We have already discussed in detail how to restore the startup of Windows 7. Let's try to apply the knowledge we have gained to solve a specific problem - after removing Linux, Windows does not boot.

  1. Connect the installation flash drive (disk) with the distribution kit of installed Windows.
  2. Go to the "System Restore" section.
  3. Select the Command Line tool.

To restore the bootloader you need to enter two commands. After entering each command, do not forget to press Enter:

  • bootrec /fixmbr – creates a boot entry.
  • bootrec /fixboot – writes a new boot sector to the system partition.

The Windows bootloader has been restored and you should no longer encounter any problems when trying to start the system. If you decide to install another version of Linux, then the whole story will repeat itself: the Windows launch parameters will be registered in the common bootloader of the two systems.

Finally, a little theory.

Deleting a boot entry is not an error. This is a consequence of installing Linux next to Windows.

During installation, Linux sees that there is a second system and puts it in the list so that when users turn on the computer they can choose which environment to boot into. When you uninstall Linux, you also erase the bootloader program in which the Windows boot record was stored. Therefore, you then have to use the installation disk to restore the boot.

It happens that in order to solve certain problems it is necessary to install Ubuntu on top of the existing Windows operating system on the computer. After some time, the need for it may no longer be necessary, and then you need to remove Ubuntu so that it does not affect Windows in any way. Many users have difficulty with this issue. In this article, we'll take a closer look at how to safely remove Ubuntu without uninstalling Windows. Let's figure it out. Go!

If you try to insert a Windows boot disk and boot from it, you will see a prompt on the screen to install Windows. In this case, you must select “System Restore”.

After the command line window appears on the screen, enter the following commands:


The first one adds a boot entry to the system directory, and the second one adds a new boot sector.

Executing these two commands will cause the PC to immediately boot into Windows. But it is necessary to get rid of residual files (artifacts) of Ubuntu. More on this below.

There are several ways to solve this problem. The first is that you need to open the “Run” window using the Win + R hotkeys, and then enter the “msconfig” command. Next, go to the “Boot” tab and activate the “Set as default” option for the OS you want to keep. Then go to the “Control Panel” and select the “System” section. In the window that opens, open the “Advanced” tab. Below in the “Boot and Recovery” section, click on the “Options” button. Clear the checkboxes from the items “Display a list of operating systems” and “Display recovery options.” Click OK.

Now enter command prompt mode with administrator rights and run the command:

With this system utility you can remove Ubuntu from the operating systems boot menu. Right-click on the Ubuntu ID, after which a context menu will appear, and you need to select “Mark”. Then a flickering cursor will appear with the arrows “right”, “left”, “up”, “down”. It is used to move. To select text, press and hold the Shift key along with the right arrow. Next, by calling up the context window, copy and paste the text where necessary using a similar action. If you are an inexperienced user, it is better not to resort to the bcdedit application, so as not to create additional problems. If you are confident in yourself, go ahead.

Now you know how to remove Ubuntu from Windows 7 or Windows 10. Write in the comments if you managed to cope with this task, tell other users about your experience, and ask any questions on the topic of this article.

Linux is an operating system created by Linus Torvalds. Today there are a lot of Linux users, but there are also many who know little about this operating system. There are also those who tried to work in Linux, but never got used to this OS. In this case, it is useful to know how to uninstall Linux. Now we will describe to you several options for removing this OS.

How to uninstall Linux? Before deleting, you should keep in mind that not only the operating system will be deleted, but also information from the hard drive, so you first need to save the necessary data on other media. After this, we begin the Linux removal process.

Turn off the Swap and Native segments. To do this, use the integrated Fdisk program. To boot your computer, use the installation floppy disk or Linux disk. At the command line, write Fdisk and press Enter. Then, to get information about any of the sections, type "p" and press Enter. To turn off the segments there, type "d" and press Enter again. After this action, a window will appear asking you to delete the partition. To delete, enter 1, etc. This will delete all segments on that operating system. At the command prompt, type "w" and Enter. The computer will give an error. Don't attach any importance to this. You need to do some work on the command line. To do this, type "q" and press Enter.

There is another method that will tell you how to remove Linux from your computer. This method is suitable for you if you want to install Windows. Simply install from a Windows boot disk and begin installing this operating system. During the installation process, you will see information about the disk segments that are located there, indicating their types. You will then need to continue with the installation, following the instructions in the Windows installer. To remove the master boot record, after booting from a floppy disk or Windows disk, you can run the command fdisk /mbr, which will make it possible to return the Windows master boot record to the disk. If you figure this out, then you can easily answer the question of how to remove Linux from a laptop, because the procedure is the same.

Linux Mint

How to uninstall Linux Mint? You can turn off segments using the Fdisk program. Remove the Linux native, swap, and boot partition segments. Boot the device from a floppy disk. Type fdisk at the command line. Press the Enter button. To get information about segments, enter “p” at the command line and press Enter. At the top there is information about the main partition of the hard drive. Type “d” at the command line. Press the Enter button. A window will appear in which you need to specify the number of the partition to be removed.

Linux Ubuntu

How to uninstall Linux Ubuntu? If the user wants to remove Ubuntu, it is necessary to format the disk partition on which the operating system is installed. After this, you need to set the user's computer to boot from the drive in the BIOS. As part of the Microsoft OS installation, you need to take the terms of the agreement, then click on the “Next” button, find the partition for installation that covers the previously installed Ubuntu operating system, it needs to be formatted (it’s better to do this in the NTFS file system format). Here's how to remove Linux, then, if you wish, you can install another OS, for example, Windows.