Dual booting is the process of running multiple operating systems on the same computer, be it Windows, Linux or Mac. It works great for many and users can enjoy the benefits of these OS’s on a single computer, without the need to purchase a separate computer.
When dual booting, you would normally get a prompt to select which OS you want to boot to. But let’s say you’re dual booting Windows and Linux and then later on you find that Linux is not good for you. What would you do in such a case to remove Linux from your computer? Would you simply format the Linux partition? Well, if you do this then it is a bad idea because once you install Linux, it also installs a bootloader which will create problems if you simply format the partition.
That’s why, here are step-by-step instructions if you want to remove Linux and want to use Windows as your “only” operating system.
Note: Before we start, I would recommend you to take a backup of your important files. Also follow the instructions minutely, as you don’t want to mess up anything here.
Tutorial For Keeping Windows And Removing Linux
This tutorial is for those who want to stick with Windows as their main OS. I assume that you have installed Windows and Linux on the same hard drive.
1. From the Start menu (for those on Windows XP, Vista or 7) or from Start Screen (for those on Windows 8), search for “Disk Management” and then launch the program. Alternatively, you can also right-click on your “My Computer” and click on “Manage.” Next, click on “Disk Management”.
2. Next step is to find the Linux partition. Windows doesn’t recognizes the Linux file system and that’s why you’ll need to find the Linux partition by its size. Also in the “File System” column of that partition, you’ll find that there won’t be anything mentioned. That column would just be empty which means it’s a Linux partition, but it is a good idea to check the partition’s size also, just to confirm.
3. Right-click on the partition and choose “Delete Volume.” This will delete the Linux partition from your system. You might get a volume saying free space, and in such a case, right-click on it and choose “Delete volume” again. You’ll now be able to see “Unallocated space.”
4. You can now create a new partition out of this volume or extend it to your Windows partition. To do this, right-click on your Windows partition (or any other partition) and click on Extend volume.
5. Next, insert your Windows recovery disc and boot from it. Choose “Repair Your Computer,” go to “Troubleshoot,” and then enter Command Prompt. Type this command:
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
This command will remove Linux’s bootloader and replace it with Windows.
Now you can reboot your computer and you’ll find that it boots directly to Windows, with Linux partition being deleted from your system.
If you’ve completed all these steps correctly, then you’ve just got rid of Linux.
Bonus tip: Next time when you want to use Linux, try out Live CD/DVD of distributions like Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, openSUSE, etc. The amazing thing about Live CDs is that you can try out Linux without even installing the OS in your system. The complete OS runs from the CD/DVD or USB drive, eliminating the need to install anything to your hard drive.
