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I am dual-booting Windows 7 and Ubuntu, both installed on separate partitions. I don't need Ubuntu anymore. How can I remove the Ubuntu partition(s) and add the reclaimed space to my Windows 7 partition for saving files in Windows?

ish
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Sudheesh
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7 Answers7

18

Well, the Ubuntu community is sorry to see you go ... :)

  • Press Windows Key + R to get the run box, type diskmgmt.msc and press enter

enter image description here

  • As in the screenshot, you'll see one or more "healthy" partitions next to your C: drive.
  • Right-click the Linux one(s) and "Delete Volume"
  • If Windows 7 was preinstalled on your computer, please ensure you don't remove recovery partitions, etc.
  • The space formerly occupied by Linux should now say "Unallocated".
  • Right-click on C: and "Extend Volume" to increase the size of drive C using the unallocated space.
  • If you were using grub to dual-boot (most probably), then you may need the Windows CD to fix the boot manager and make Windows 7 bootable again.
ish
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    After this you may encounter Booting issues with windows 7 make sure you have Windows cd to Fix the Boot manager. – atenz May 17 '12 at 07:44
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    @Sudheesh Two additional things you might also consider. When Ubuntu was installed it may also have created a swap partition. You could also delete this. (Just be sure it is the swap partition you delete!) Secondly, you will not be able to reclaim the space if it is inside a "logical partition" and the windows is in a primary partition. Or vice-versa. (It is hard to provide general advice. If we knew more about how your drive is currently partitioned it would be easier to make suggestions.) – irrational John May 17 '12 at 12:27
  • The ubuntu partition is now considered a "Recovery Partition" and does not allow me to delete it. What do I do? – Navigatron Feb 15 '13 at 13:41
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    After doing this, the regular GUI option for "repair my computer" from the Windows 7 disk did not work. However, fictional_reality's solution below did work. – BenB Nov 12 '13 at 17:48
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You need to first fix your boot manager

  1. boot your system using windows installation cd
  2. go to "repair your system"
  3. use command prompt
  4. type bootrec /fixboot then hit enter
  5. type bootrec /fixmbr then hit enter
  6. exit

This time your system will boot directly into windows after doing this you can delete the partition as mentioned above.

This is the safe way to uninstall Ubuntu.

Salem
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fictional_reality
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  • This also works after following izx's solution.

    The normal GUI "repair my computer" did not work, but this did.

     – BenB Nov 12 '13 at 17:48
4

You dont need to use the original Windows CD to fix the MBR (and remove GRUB ) - you can quickly create a system repair disc from the Windows OS itself - I just did this and its a nice easy process. Im actually removing Ubuntu ( which was a new in stall I did not make big enough ) and then I'll reinstall Ubuntu with a bigger partition

SimonSolar2C
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    What if I don't have an optical drive? Can I create a repair disk in an USB? – Maria Ines Parnisari Mar 05 '14 at 05:03
  • I am in the middle of removing an Ubuntu partition on my laptop right now as well. Here is a website that walks you through creating a recovery drive through Windows on a USB. http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-create-windows-8-recovery-drive/ – TheBrockEllis Jun 10 '15 at 20:06
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Go to 

Start->Control Panel->Computer Management

and find

Disks management

Just click with right mouse button on the Ubuntu partition, and choose to Delete Partition.

VERY IMPORTANT: BE SURE THAT YOU CHOOSE THE PARTITION YOU REALLY WITH TO DELETE

PS.: I have translated names of menus from my language to english, so they might be little different.

Misery
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0

You might find Boot-Repair-CD helpful. http://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair-cd/home/Home/

It also includes OS-Uninstaller, a simple tool to remove an operating system in 1 click. http://sourceforge.net/p/os-uninstaller/wiki/Home/

You can use also GParted (which is also on the CD) to delete or resize partitions.

Alternatively, if you don't want to use Boot-Repair-CD, your computer may have a recovery disc or recovery partition that you could boot from that might be able to fix the Master Boot Record to point at your Windows loader.

Eleanor Ellis
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If you installed ubuntu using the .iso file via mounting the image and installing it(like I did) and then chose to reboot when prompted to only to be horrified that it immediately booted ubuntu instead of windows then here is what I did.

  1. Turned off system
  2. Rebooted system and went into bios menu then exited
  3. Was prompted which operating system I would like to use in my case Windows 7 or Ubuntu
  4. Chose windows 7
  5. Once OS had booted up i remounted the virtual image and then ran the disc
  6. It informed me that a former version of ubuntu had been installed before it and needed to be removed
  7. Select okay it then moves onto next stage of instillation click cancel
  8. I then rebooted my system to check if it had removed the ubuntu OS it booted straight into windows 7
  9. Make this current post with great enthusiasm

I apologize if this is not the correct response to your question or formatted correctly I only hope that somebody in my same situation finds this helpful.

Horus321
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    Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. Maybe it's just me, but I'm a bit confused with your response. I have a few questions: From what system did you mount the iso-file to install Ubuntu? Why do you enter the BIOS in step 2? What is this virtual image you speak about in step 5? Did you use wubi to install Ubuntu? – MadMike Nov 18 '13 at 08:01
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diskpart solved my problem

BUT IT EXCLUDE ALL PARTITIONS FROM DISK. it's good to clean secundary disk (when you did dual boot with SO in each disk

open cmd from Start -> Run

diskpart
select disk X
clean

X is your disk number. you can see in

list disk

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-comman

ohrlando
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