The use of virtual machines and the presence of Hyper-V technology in all editions of Windows (Hyper-V can also be installed in Windows 10 and 11 Home), leads users to use these solutions to run one or more Linux distributions “on top” of the Microsoft operating system. Many, however, prefer to opt for the dual boot, a historic approach that consists of installing a GNU/Linux distro “next to”, for example, Windows. Bootloader and boot manager then allow you to choose, when starting the machine, which operating system to run from time to time.
When setting up a dual boot setup Linux-Windows, the only aspect to take into due consideration is the division and structure of the partitions on the disk drive. Likewise, when you decide to remove Linux from dual boot and back to booting only Windows, setting partitions plays a crucial role. By acting roughly, you risk that Windows will no longer start correctly. The good news is that, barring any major errors, the situation can be fixed quite simply.
Remove Linux by undual booting with Windows
Per remove Linux from dual boot with Windows, it is necessary to juggle a procedure that develops in two parts. We assume that we are dealing with a UEFI based system (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) and not su legacy BIOS.
First you need to change the boot sequence by accessing the UEFI interface in order to assign maximum priority to Windows Boot Manager. As a second step, you can then proceed with removing the Linux distribution partition.
Change the boot sequence with UEFI
When installing Linux in dual boot configuration, GRUB or others bootloader they “self-configure” themselves as primary startup managers. When Windows is already installed on the system, you will have to deal with two bootloaders: the “free” one (for example GRUB) and the one developed by Microsoft for its operating systems.
The advice is therefore to access the UEFI configuration and set Windows Boot Manager as the item to load first when the system starts. The way to access the BIOS may vary from system to system. However, to immediately bring yourself into the BIOS UEFI While Windows is running, we suggest pressing the key combination Windows+R then type the following command:
shutdown /r /fw /f /t 0
You don’t have to simply press Enter once you’ve typed the command into the field You open but rather CTRL+MAIUSC+INVIO so that the instruction can be executed with administrative rights.
The system will reboot and the UEFI BIOS interface will be automatically offered. Here you need to select the option Boot sequence or Boot priority order (or similar) then use the appropriate keys (usually the arrow keys) to set Windows Boot Manager come first boot option. The option GRUB, Ubuntu or any other distribution name must follow.
As a final step, you have to save the configuration of UEFI and reboot the system (Save & Exit).
Delete Linux partitions from Windows
The change applied to the UEFI BIOS configuration causes Windows to boot normally, without the appearance of GRUB dual boot.
Once the system has restarted in Windows, you must press Windows+X then choose Disk Management. Usually identifying Linux partitions is pretty simple: when you install Ubuntu or other distributions, you usually have a root partition, a swap partition, and a home partition.
By right clicking on each of the Linux partitions then on Remove volumes, you can get rid of the partitions attributable to the penguin. However, it is a good idea to check what you are doing over and over again, to avoid removing partitions that you instead want to keep.
You can possibly help yourself with the following command, to be issued in the command prompt window (cmd):
wmic logicaldisk get caption, description, providername, volumename, filesystem, size, deviceid
What to do if you have problems starting Windows
If something goes wrong and Windows doesn’t start, for example due to the appearance of a error message regarding GRUB (Grub rescue, no such partition), you can fix the boot process using the Microsoft operating system installation media.
Boot media can be generated with the Media Creation Tool or by downloading the Windows 10 or Windows 11 ISO file then using a program like Rufus. Here we saw how to download the Windows 11 ISO image; in another article how to download the Windows 10 ISO.
Leaving the inserted USB support with the Windows 10 or Windows 11 installation files, depending on the operating system installed on the machine, and restarting the system, when the screen for choosing the language, time and currency format, keyboard layout appears, you must simply click the button Avanti. In the following screen you must choose instead Reset the computer.
With one click your troubleshootingyou must then select Startup Repair so let the routine Windows Setup automatically fixes problems that prevent the operating system from loading normally. The suggestion is to repeat the procedure 3 times, possibly restarting the machine between one attempt and the next.
If he Windows automatic recovery If this doesn’t work, you can follow the instructions to restore Windows on UEFI systems. In fact, by pressing the key combination MAIUSC+F10after having booted from the Windows installation media, you can apply the advice given starting from step n.8) in the previously suggested article.
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