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Currently, my computer is dual-booting Linux and Windows 7. A series of unfortunate events has led to me needing to restore Windows using a restore disc.

I want to know if this can be done without formatting my entire hard drive, as I don't want to get rid of my Linux partition. That is, I want to reset Windows - which already has a partition on my hard drive - without affecting any of my other partitions on my drive.

wjandrea
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Kae
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  • The restore could overwrite the Linux partitions (I don't know)..... just make sure you make a backup of all your important data before running the restore. – Wilf Jun 06 '15 at 20:49
  • The information in this link may help answer your question [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootSectorFix] If you Windows recovery disk was created after you installed Ubuntu, it should not hurt your Ubuntu partition. If done before, there is a good chance you could lose your Ubuntu partition, if it does, in fact recover Windows. – RCF Jun 06 '15 at 21:02
  • possible duplicate of How do I install Windows 7 alongside a pre-existing Ubuntu installation? – psusi Jun 06 '15 at 21:05
  • Is this not a Windows problem? (ie. asking about how Windows' restore works should be asked on a Windows forum) – Rinzwind Jun 06 '15 at 21:13
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    @psusi - he's asking about restoring, not installing – Askar Jun 06 '15 at 22:51
  • You have a UEFI setup, right? – wjandrea Apr 15 '17 at 18:53
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    The short answer is that it depends on what reset method you use. You should ask for details on a suport site for Windows, like http://SuperUser.com. – wjandrea Apr 15 '17 at 18:55
  • I have a few UEFI Windows installations booting alongside Ubuntu and Fedora, I have not run factory reset from inside Windows 10 but installed the point releases and insider build updates which is very similar to my knowledge (it unpacks the windows 10 image contained in the Windows partition to the drive). I had no problems and Grub was mostly untouched (moved down in boot priority some times, easily fixable with Linux live image and efibootmgr). Ones mileage may vary, but that's due to choice of hardware and methods to solving problems. :) @wjandrea That is for Windows 7, not 10. – LiveWireBT Apr 16 '17 at 23:05
  • @LiveWireBT I know that question is different, just mentioned it in case OP is considering a clean reinstall or using a recovery partition/disc, instead of Windows reset/restore. – wjandrea Apr 28 '17 at 05:32

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Restoring Windows will almost definitely break grub, and likely overwrite your linux partitions. You need to backup everything before the restoration, as you'll most likely be reinstalling Ubuntu after it's finished.

  • While it is possible to install Windows alongside an existing install (of Windows or Linux), by default it expects to replace anything else. That is more a question for a Windows support forum, not AskUbuntu. I would only recommend attempting if you can gain suitable technical understanding of how to control the Windows installer. – david6 Jun 07 '15 at 02:38
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    You're probably right that it isn't impossible, but for someone who has to ask, it is going to be a lot easier to just reinstall Ubuntu after the Windows restoration. Ubuntu was made with dual booting in mind, Windows was not. –  Jun 07 '15 at 03:40
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  • There should be no problems on default Windows 10 installations (UEFI).

    I just had to reset one of my Windows 10 installations due to a Windows update error (which I could fix this way) and none of the Grub installations (one SSD with Ubuntu; one HDD with Windows 10, Ubuntu and Fedora) were touched.

  • Method used: Settings → Recovery → Reset this PC → Keep my files

enter image description here

Thomas Ward
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LiveWireBT
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  • What if I am dual booting Ubuntu and Windows 10 on a single hard drive using 2 different partitions. Also within Windows, I have 2 more partitions, the C drive has the Windows installed and the D drive has all the data that I want to keep. Will resetting just the Windows partition cause any loss of data from the other partitions, also will this affect the GRUB bootloader. – Ghos3t Feb 28 '19 at 02:11
  • With UEFI the Linux bootloader should be left untouched. Windows should not make modifications to your data partition only your Windows partition and keep you data if that option is selected. You should be prepared for the worst case though and have a recent and valid backup, just in case you encounter a bug, which has happened to other users before. – LiveWireBT Feb 28 '19 at 05:06
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    Yeah, I took a leap of faith and did the Windows reset with the option to keep my files. It worked, my Windows 10 installation was reset without affecting my D drive or my Linux drive and the Grub bootloader remained intact. – Ghos3t Feb 28 '19 at 21:50
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    I just ran that option with "remove everything" and it only touched the C drive (I only had a C drive) as far as I can tell. The grub menu is fine. This works for a Windows 10 / Linux dual boot setup with UEFI. I hope this helps someone who's worried about their partitions like I was, due to the confusing language about cleaning "drives". –  May 27 '19 at 16:43
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    restore windows from a system image means it is going to rebuild the disk partition table. Since windows do not backup any data from non-windows partition. All the information including the partition structure and formats in those partitions (ext4, xfs ...) will be lost after the system restoration. So you should not exclude the disks which contain non-windows partitions. There are situations the windows happen not to touch the gpt data where the non-windows partitions are resided. But we should not depend on this. – Wang Oct 26 '19 at 13:29
  • Backup your partition table before system restoration can be much safer. If windows destroyed your other partitions, you can still try to bring them back via restoring the partition table. But there are still some chances that the windows recovery app actually write into your non-windows partitions though very unlikely to happen. – Wang Oct 26 '19 at 13:36
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No, you cannot. Windows restore DVDs will wipe your entire hard drive!

You should:

Option 1:

  • Copy your data from the Windows to the Ubuntu partition
  • Delete Windows
  • Assign the free hard disk space now to Ubuntu

(This is what I did nearly 2 years ago and haven't looked back)

Option 2:

  • Back up all your data (Windows and Ubuntu)
  • Restore the machine using the Restore DVDs
  • Reinstall Ubuntu
  • Restore all your data

Option 3:

  • Buy a retail version of Windows in a store/on-line
  • Re-install Windows (do not format any hard drives)
  • Download all drivers from the manufacturer's site(s)
  • Install them as well
  • Pray to the gods of Gates&Balmer that the retail version will not wipe any data
  • Run the boot-repair disk
Fabby
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  • If this answer helped you, don't forget to click the grey ☑ at the left of this text, which means "yes, this answer is valid"! ;-) – Fabby Jun 08 '15 at 13:14