Uninstall Linux dual boot

Hello everyone !

I first want to mention thant english is not my first language, so, sorry if I make mistakes and am not clear enough !

I just received a second hand computer with windows10 and linux installed on it. The person I got it to told me it would be easy to get rid of the linux part but I am a bit lost.

I went to the disk managment application, I know linux partitions are supposed to be after the windows ones, but I have no idea where the "border" between them is ! Could you help me figure this out ? Should I also delete the "Restore" partition ?



Second problem, when booting, I see linux grub, I saw tutorials about rebuilding the MBR and people commenting that does not work for GPT. How do I know if my disks are MBR or GPT ? How does it works in the second case ?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help !

Welcome to the forum. I can't see enough detail but I would expect to see Linux formatted partitions. You can install some Linux in a Windows partitions I wonder if that's what been done in Linux file manager can you see were the Linux files are?

I have no idea how the linux installation has been done. I have no contact with the person who did it.
And I have no idea on how to know where Linux files are and how to know it. That's kink of why I am here asking for help !

What are you not seing properly ?

From your picture it looks like they made a second EFI partition (488MB partition 6) that is not used by Windows so you can delete that.

You can also delete partitions 7,8,9,10 as they are not assigned letters by Windows so it will work fine without. Windows Disk Management will show a partition as "Primary" even if it has no idea of the format (Linux, Linux Swap etc).. You can definitely delete them.

I would do a clean install personally but you can delete 6-10.

Note that if you delete them outside of Windows they may move one to the right (so 7-11 not 6-10) as Disk Management does not show all partitions so double check the sizes.

For Windows to work as a minimum you need partition 1 (100MB EFI) and the C: volume (partition 3 if looking from Disk Management or partition 4 if looking from anywhere else) which is 342.97MB. Don't delete them.

You should probably keep partitons 2 and 11 (recovery partitions) but they are not vital.

Thank you for your answer !
I have two questions:
- Clean install ? Do you mean re-install Windows completly ? I do not have anything to re-install it from scratch...
- Delete them outside of windows ? I was planning to do it directly from Disk Managment. Do you have a better option ?

Elisa said:

Thank you for your answer !
I have two questions:
- Clean install ? Do you mean re-install Windows completly ? I do not have anything to re-install it from scratch...
- Delete them outside of windows ? I was planning to do it directly from Disk Managment. Do you have a better option ?

Have you got a spare USB key? You can download Windows installation media from Microsoft here and it will automatically put it on a USB key: Download Windows 10

There are instructions how to install it here : Clean Install Windows 10 | Tutorials

It is really easy - boot from USB, delete all partitions and install. If your license is valid you will remain activated - just say "I don't know" if asked.

I would always wipe a second hand computer just to be safe(er) but up to you.

Oh, great, thanks !
I had no idea it was possible to simply do that !

I will do so as soon as I get home then !
Thank you very much !

Edit: should I mark the problem as solved or keep it until I reinstall windows properly if I break everything ans need help ??

Elisa said:

Hello everyone !
Second problem, when booting, I see linux grub, I saw tutorials about rebuilding the MBR and people commenting that does not work for GPT. How do I know if my disks are MBR or GPT ? How does it works in the second case ?
Thanks a lot in advance for your help !

There is no EFI partiton in MBR. So, removing Grub requires a supplementary task after deleting 6 to 10.
Otherwise, the computer won't boot anymore. There are several methods to do so in UEFI.

But, your installation is kind of weird and deleting Linux may end in an unusual result. This is my favorite one, in commmand prompt admin mode, after or before deleting Linux partitions. In your case, delete partitions first.

This method restores Windows bootloader and deletes Grub (UEFI only):

Code:

mountvol U: /s

Code:

del /f /s /q U:\*.*

Code:

bcdboot C:\Windows